2023 ESSENCEFest: VP Kamala Harris Speaks On Supreme Court Decision Restricting Affirmative Action
NEW ORLEANS: On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris graced the city of New Orleans with her presence at the 2023 ESSENCE Festival of Culture.
Speaking at the Global Black Economic Forum alongside moderator Thasunda Brown Duckett—president and CEO of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA)—the VP discussed the state of Black America, with a specific focus on the recent Supreme Court decision that restricts race-based affirmative action in higher education. As previously reported by The Root, the ruling is expected to curb admissions of students of color at top universities—most of which use race as a factor (among many others) when determining admissions. As a result of today’s decision, colleges will now have to figure out other, more concrete ways to ensure that they still foster diversity, without being able to take an applicant’s race into account during the admissions process.
Read more
Aside from Halle Bailey, Here Are Other Black Disney Actors and Characters We Love
15 Priceless Black Twitter Moments Worth Remembering [Updated]
Taking a moment to first encourage the audience to read the dissenting opinion of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson—of whose writing she described as “beautiful” and “compelled by logic,”—the Vice President said:
“The disappointment is because this is now a moment where the court has not fully understood the importance of ‘equal opportunity’ for the people of our country. And it is in so very many ways a denial of opportunity. And it is a complete misnomer to suggest this is about colorblind, when in fact, it is about being blind to history.
Being blind to data. Being blind to empirical evidence about disparities. Being blind to the strength that diversity brings to classrooms, to boardrooms. I think that there is no question, there’s so much work to do. And the President spoke so eloquently earlier today about this. Our administration will use all the tools in our power to continue to applaud policies that understand the importance and the significance and the strength of diversity in all of those places.”
She continued: “One of the points that the President also made is the point of encouraging our educational institutions to now be very purposeful in thinking about how they will prioritize the importance of diversity including: looking at students backgrounds in terms of finding access to financial strength and benefits; where they went to high school; where they grew up. And also, the President, I thought was very clear about saying to Corporate America that we would expect that this decision will not, in any way, cloud their judgement about the importance of diversity in the workplace.”
More from The Root
Sign up for The Root's Newsletter. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
