Trial Magazine

To say that I was shocked by the events of June 29, 2023, would be an understatement. When I learned that the U.S. Supreme Court held that affirmative action programs and policies enacted by institutions of higher learning violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, I could not help but reflect on my experiences as a Black student. To pretend that affirmative action did not influence my academic matriculation would be dishonest.

I immigrated to the United States from the Caribbean with my family when I was 7. My family is originally from Antigua and Barbuda, but we lived on various islands throughout the Caribbean to accommodate my father’s job as a minister. In the Caribbean, I attended schools where 99% of the student body looked and sounded like me. But here, I attended an elementary school where most of the students were white—it was the same during college and law school. I coined myself a “raisin in the Cream of Wheat^®.”

By the time I matriculated at law school, I knew what the term “quota” meant. I knew that great thought was given to the racial demographic of an incoming class. And I, for one, appreciated that. But did I ever doubt that I deserved my placement? No, not once. I knew how hard I worked. I knew that once admitted to a school or program, I had to not just perform—I had to excel. I suspected that through the years, some may have questioned why I was a classmate of theirs. My goal was to ensure that those questions dissipated quickly.

As I continued to absorb SCOTUS’s ruling, I thought about the rich experiences I had as a “raisin in the Cream of Wheat.” I encountered and developed lasting relationships with people I never would have met but for us attending school together. I learned different languages, I developed a taste for different foods, and I became more evolved. I also thought about the many ways that I enriched the lives of my classmates. Was there ignorance? Absolutely. And I quickly shot it down. Enemies became friends as each of our respective walls fell. It was very fulfilling to share with many of my classmates a world outside of America. A world of different foods, different languages, different experiences—but still a world remarkably like theirs.

History has made it clear that diversity and inclusion must be approached intentionally. There is no magic in the formula.

Challengers of affirmative action have said that affirmative action was struck down, but diversity was not struck down. To make the admission process race blind, everyone will be admitted based solely on merit. And somehow, the demographic makeup of an incoming class will magically become diverse. Well, history has made it clear that diversity and inclusion must be approached intentionally. There is no magic in the formula. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was not enough. Additional protections were needed for people of color and other disenfranchised people.

The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment legally requires people in similar situations to be treated equally. You would think that this clause would suffice. But diversity and inclusion cannot rely on magic, so affirmative action policies and procedures were enacted to ensure that a pool of people—students in the underlying case—would be “similarly situated.” In ensuring that students are similarly situated, the goal was to make access to opportunity equal. In the wake of the reversal of affirmative action, how can students of color become similarly situated? If you do not have similar access to opportunity, how will you be found and allowed to compete?

There was a reason I was a “raisin in the Cream of Wheat.” There is a reason this catchphrase still existed, even with affirmative action policies and programs. And that is because despite the academic readiness of a student and despite the intellectual prowess of an applicant, race impacts how a person walks through the world.It determines the obstacles one will face, and it determines the amount of access one may have. And access is everything.

Now that the stool of affirmative action has been kicked out from under diversity and inclusion on our nation’s campuses, what does that mean for the world of academia? For our world generally? How many students will miss out on the beauty of diversity when it will now be much harder to ensure that students of color are given a chance? Is this the end of the Michelle Obamas? The Barack Obamas? The Petra Aarons? Feel free to insert your name, as the list could go on and on. It will have to be our collective work to ensure that access is still provided to all.

Petra L. Aaron is a senior attorney at GDH Law in Lanham, Md., and can be reached at paaron@gdhlawfirm.com.