Why do we still need affirmative action in college admissions

          Colorblindness used to be thought of as a sex-linked gene carried on the X chromosome.  It has slowly evolved into a surprisingly more serious condition that largely affects millions of people in their daily lives.  Colorblindness, mentioned in The New Jim Crow, is discussed as the act of ignoring race and not discussing it in an attempt to create a level playing field.  The ignorance of race does not equal a level playing field as seen in institutional discrimination practices.  These policies that are made to seem race neutral but end up discriminating against a certain race, are very closely related to the colorblindness that is seen in many things today. 

            In Strauss’s article “Why we still need affirmative action for AfricanAmericans in college admissions”, colorblindness is the first problem that is discussed.  Comments are made that “indirect approaches are no substitute for a frontal attack on what is ailing us as a nation.”  The importance here is that the problems faced by African Americans in a colorblind society are larger than many believe.  The African American identity is a lot thicker than people recognize and it is easy to see how their backgrounds factor into many aspects of their lives and not all by choice.  Just making affirmative action necessary will not solve the larger problems.  

“The whole purpose of affirmative action was to help students who come from underprivileged backgrounds.”  The point of affirmative action has been lost after all these years of attempting to ignore race, even to a judge who has the power to decide the fate of many African Americans.  Originally, the purpose was to make up for the wrongs done to blacks during slavery, but now affirmative action has morphed into something aimed to helped minorities that are more socioeconomically disadvantaged.  One of the most important thing that Strauss’s article points to, is the lack of representation of middle class African Americans in colleges due to the favoring of low socioeconomic blacks on applications and the fact that more affluent blacks do not need the help because of their inherited wealth.