I'll go first, O.K? Since we all know that racism, discrimination, and, inequality are bad things in a democracy, and, if we're ever going to come close to achieving a fairer, more egalitarian society this problem must be solved. Unfortunately, we're not dealing with mathematics, or, chemistry, where, if we only find the missing number, or, symbol, the equation is solved, and, everyone's happy. "Inequality," however, will never be solved, at least, not 100% as in math, or, chemistry.  

So, I hope that we can agree that as difficult and ingrained our problem is it must be solved, or, at least solved to the greatest degree possible. And, I hope we can also agree that we're a long way from reaching that goal. We tried passing laws eliminating discrimination, but, 100 years of Jim Crow proved how silly that hope was. Nope, if you put perverse, unyielding racism in a ring with Laws, Racism wins every time. And, if a democratic, humane society can't score a knock-out victory over racism with Laws, we'll just have to do it on points. It's not quite as satisfying as a knockout, but, it may be as good as we're going to get.

Now, getting back to the issue of Affirmative Action in our schools, specifically, as it relates to colleges/Universities. Let me remind everyone how well (snark) anti-discrimination laws worked in the case of Police/Fire, and, other, historically, "White Male Only" Departments. No matter how many laws were passed, and, no matter how disproportionate the prevailing population was, white males, overwhelmingly, filled the employment rolls. Judges became more, and, more frustrated by this seemingly intractable situation. "How can you say you're an equal employment entity when you're your new hires are all white men?" Employment managers cried back, "we're doing everything in our power to hire more females, and minorities, but, it's not our fault that only white men can pass the entry tests."

I won't make this post any longer than it's gotten to be by going through all the machinations that were forced onto those stubborn, dug-in employers. Somehow they (were forced to) figure out how to make fair, duty specific tests, and, as they say, the rest is history. Females and minorities entered those, once forbidden, fields, and, have performed as admirably, dutifully, and, bravely as the once all-white-male employees that came before.

Now, I've just scratched the surface in discussing this topic. My main point is that relying on the innate goodness of our people is a no-brainer; it ain't gonna work. Yes, it will have to mandated, and, also yes, a small fraction of deserving people will be denied their first preference. In horse racing they put weights in the saddles to even out the burden each horse will carry; in employment, anti-discriminatory practices (not just wishes) must be in place........and, our kingdom has not collapsed. The law refers to "de facto de juro." In layman's terms, "wishes don't make it so."

One Mo Time: Affirmative Action ain't perfect, but, until someone comes up with something better, it's as good as you're going to get.