Michelle Obama: I wanted to share some of my thoughts on today's Supreme Court decision...

[demmiblue]

Link to tweet

[Lovie777]

1. K&R......

[Diamond_Dog]

2. K and R

[cilla4progress]

3. So well said,

of course...

[Hekate]

4. KnR

[ismnotwasm]

5. K&R

[pandr32]

6. A thoughtful and classy person as always.

[ancianita]

7. K & R

[2naSalit]

8. K&R

[gratuitous]

9. And even after getting in and holding their own

These students still have to deal with the "You only got in because you're Black" nonsense. Which, of course, doesn't explain why the Black student is getting better grades than the folks who didn't have to negotiate that broken bottom rung on their ladder of success.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Such a thoughtful and hopeful post! She always brings the light to us. ♥

[NowISeetheLight]

11. Absolutely

She is 100% correct.

[moondust]

12. K/R

[republianmushroom]

13. I like it this posting.

[wnylib]

26. So, what are you thanking Michelle for?

She did NOT express the belief that you expressed in your post, that race should never be a consideration.

So, what is the thanks in your post about?

[AlexSFCA]

31. pointing out how she wondered if others thought she got in to college cause of affirmative action

as opposed to her hard work. No one has to wonder or think about it because using race as a factor in hiring or college admissions is opposite of progress and equality. California banned affirmative action decades ago. Minority asian enrollment has increased dramatically in university as a direct, positive result. It is always inherently immoral to use race as factor for hiring or college admissions decisions.

[wnylib]

33. But that was not the point that Michelle was making, so

your "thanks" did not fit her message.

It is immoral to exclude people because of race, too. And that is what usually happens when affirmative action does not exist. You seem to have the misconception about affirmative action that many people have. It does not mean that unqualified people get admitted to college. It means that, among qualified people, those who are included in affirmative action get an additional 1 point to the point scale that colleges use to decide on admissions. That compensates for the fact that Blacks and other minorities are often overlooked or excluded in admissions.

Michelle mentions legacy admissions. Those are really immoral. So qualified Black students (and other students of all ethnicities and races) can be rejected for admission while a.less qualified student gets admitted just because one parent graduated from the college. If affirmative action is eliminated, then legacy admissions should also be eliminated.

Intelligent, capable students from poor families often go to substandard high schools that do not prepare them for college. Some colleges, like the private one that my husband attended, accept good students from inferior high schools and give them tutoring in the summer prior to the start of classes to bring them up to par. Those students were very successful at college and later. They had the ability but through no fault of their own were not prepared for college by their high schools. (My husband tutored those students.)

Systemic racism cuts off some people from opportunities. Affirmative action was designed to overcome those disadvantages.

In a perfect world, race and ethnicity would mot matter in jobs and college admission. But in a racist country, with racism built into the system, it matters very much.

[uponit7771]

40. If racially America had a fair starting point I'd agree but we don't and the consequence to this ...

... unfair racial advantage to this VERY MILISECOND is seen empirically with schools.

We all know this, why is the unfair starting point factor left out of your opposition to affirmative action?

thx in advance

[Artcatt]

41. So...FYI...race is constantly a factor in everything

in this culture. Something that should be apparent to those paying even some attention.

You keep at it, now.

[The Jungle 1]

15. But but but

Little Suzy didn't get accepted because some minority took her spot. It is the excuse every jilted parent screams.

[Solomon]

32. Ayep.

[The Jungle 1]

38. I had to look up Ayep.

Never saw that one. Is it regional?

[Upthevibe]

16. Kick. N/T

[burrowowl]

17. K&R!

[SouthernDem4ever]

18. She's amazing as always

There is not enough Michelle Obamas in this world.

[Blue Owl]

19. K&R

[Oneironaut]

20. Good news, everyone! Racism is over! /s

White people said so! /s

[ecstatic]

21. I'm just now hearing about this, but this is a huge setback

because institutions in this country continue to be racist. When unchecked, institutions in this country will revert to all white environments. Potentially all male as well. No diversity of thought or background whatsoever.

All I can do at this point is sit back and wait for the karma to unfold. Some qOP white women may not be aware that AA is why universities that were dominated by men are now close to 50/50. Gender equality will be the next predictable shoe to drop. All I ask is that they don't act surprised or shocked when the full qOP agenda is completed and they're relegated back to their homes--unable to work, control their own body, or even get a divorce.

[Leith]

22. The third paragraph is the main point

Nobody ever questions legacy admissions - gotta let the kid in the school because one of their parents went there. There has never been a stupider criteria and nobody but nobody ever questions it.

It's the same kind of privilege of the recent news stories about a ferry full of refugees capsized in the Mediterranean not getting 1/10 the coverage that a couple billionaires got by being idiots and happily getting in a homemade submarine to ride to the ocean floor.

Sometimes I hate the species I was born into. Considering the shitty deal people with darker skin tones and no money have received for hundreds of years, it is petty to the extreme for kids from richer families to whine about not getting into the college of their choice. So, fuck'em. Let them pull up on those bootstraps and earn their positions through hard work and exhibiting leadership qualities - and make sure that their qualities are better than the ones they shut out.

[iluvtennis]

24. Well stated @Leith. n/t

[Leith]

25. Thanks

But it was Mrs. Obama who raised the point. I just expanded on it a bit.

[tdot_steel]

23. Proud Americans

Are you proud of your country today?

The racists are apparently taking over and half of the country is ok with it.

[Rhiannon12866]

27. K&R! Thanks!

[wnylib]

28. When I met my second husband, back in the 1970s, he was a grad student

at a Catholic college that actively recruited minorities, most of whom were Black. Some of them came from disadvantaged backgrounds in NYC. They had leadership qualities and the potential for doing well in college, but the schools in the poor neighborhoods where they grew up were substandard. There were academic subjects and course material that they never were exposed to at their high schools.

So the college had a program of intensive tutoring over the summer, after the students had been accepted, to bring them up to par on subjects they needed for success in college. My then boyfriend (later husband) was a tutor for those students. During each semester, the college had a learning center for all students to get help in any subject that they needed help in. Then, on winter break and in the summer, students from disadvantaged backgrounds could again work on subject areas that they had missed in high school.

It was not a "handout" or "racial favoritism." Those kids worked hard over the summer while others were hanging out on beaches or focused on dating. The students had the intelligence and persistent goal orientation to succeed. They only lacked preparation, through no fault of their own. They did well in their college studies.

At the end of her address on the end of affirmative action for colleges, Michelle mentioned scholarship programs established for specific student groups, e.g. Native Americans and African Americans. She asked that people donate to those programs. That will help students who need financial help for college.

But there is a need for other programs, too, to help fill the gap between students whose parents can pay for tutors to prepare their kids for entrance exams and interviews, and those families who lack the funds for such additional tutoring. There is also still a need for programs to help promising students get the course material that was missing in their high schools.

So, I believe that everyone who believes in equal opportunities can donate time and money to establish tutoring programs staffed with volunteers to prepare minority students for entrance exams, interviews, and any subject material missing from their high schools.

When minorities have equal preparation and funding, they can compete with non minority students on an equal basis. Colleges will have no excuse for not accepting them.

[happy feet]

42. This!

My experience.

[wnylib]

43. To make this happen, communities around the country

need to get such programs set up. Churches might be a good place for the programs to get established. My church has an after school program 3 days a week to tutor grade school kids from disadvantaged backgrounds on basics. The materials come out of the church budget and are not expensive - books, paper, snacks, and educational toys. There are some retired teachers who are members of the church who act as volunteer tutors. The school that the kids come from provides a school bus to deliver them and pick them up. The school's teachers provide workbooks and worksheets with notes to the church's tutors on what the kids need help with.

Similar programs could be set up for high school students who want to get into good colleges. Volunteer retired and active teachers could work with them on writing skills, math and science courses, social studies, literature, etc. The science courses might need labs, but maybe arrangements could be made to use the labs at a better equipped high school or a nearby state college campus.

Volunteers could also do practice interviews with the kids and coach them on entrance exams.

Other organizations besides churches might get involved in such programs. YWCA and YMCA, Boys and Girls clubs, public service clubs (Elks, Moose, Lions) could have such programs in communities that need them, or at least raise money for them for materials. Businesses that might become future employers could form groups to sponsor tutoring programs. Black businesses and professionals could be role models for the students, offering summer internships for the kids to get hands on experience in their areas of interest. Same for businesses and professionals in other ethnic and racial groups.

By bridging the gap between disadvantaged students and privileged ones, academic preparation groups can give students a more equal playing field for acceptance into higher ed.

It takes commitment and willpower. It can be done. It should be done.

[dchill]

29. If you think THAT'S good...

...just wait 'til Melania responds!

[BComplex]

30. ❤️ That woman is a national treasure.

She said it so beautifully!

[RainCaster]

34. The Thurgood Marshall College Fund...

A reminder of how low SCOTUS has fallen.

[SunSeeker]

35. The colleges need to turbocharge affirmative action based on economic disadvantage.

That will keep the colleges diverse, and SCOTUS explicitly said that kind of affirmative action was acceptable. But then colleges also need to support such students with scholarships and housing.

[soldierant]

36. Anyone who opposes affirmative action on the grounds

that race should not be consiered is woefully ignorant.

Race is ALWAYS considered. That's how, without affirmative action, so many B-list and C-list white people get into colleges and, later, jobs that A-list minorities are not allowed to have.

That was true in the 1950's, and the 60's, and the 70's, and the 80's, and the 90's. It was true thoughout the 00's and the 10's and is still true today, and it is about to get worse. Much worse.

I have a suspicion that what "an affirmative action hire" really means - even if the hiring official doesn't realize it - is "We needed someone seriously competent, and the white gene pool wasn't big enough." I say that as a white person wo has seen tremendous waste of human talent in my 77 years.

[calimary]

37. Those are some very worthy organizations.

She'll always be a great, compassionate, brilliant, and very classy lady.

[madaboutharry]

39. She writes about her years at Princeton in her book Becoming.

She is such a beautiful person, inside and out.