June 2023
Overall statement:
In this country, where no policy is race-neutral, we are responsible for ensuring opportunity for people who have been historically blocked from accessing resources. These/This ruling(s) will have a devastating impact on the lives of millions of Black families across the country. Black children deserve joy and justice. They deserve every chance to achieve their fullest potential. History has its eyes on us, all of us. We must ensure the challenges we face today aren’t the obstacles holding children back tomorrow.
Eliminating affirmative action will do irreparable damage to Black children by limiting access to vital resources to which every American child has a right. History and research show who stands to lose the most when we restrict our environments to only allow some to thrive. There is no assurance that access to higher education will be equitable for black children and families, furthering disenfranchisement from access to fundamental needs and to society. Dismantling affirmative action will weaken some of our most vital resources—equitable healthcare, access to education, upward economic mobility—these things add up. And Black children will bear the brunt of the cost.
“There are no predictive leaps required for understanding what happens next for Black children and families. We need only reflect on where we were before affirmative action protections were put in place. Pervasive racial discrimination prevents Black children and families from having general access to a quality education at every stage of development, starting with maternal fetal health and the most vital early years of a child. In a reparatory maneuver to correct for these ongoing societal and institutional barriers for Black children, affirmative action ensured consideration of the implications of systemic racism. An imperfect remedy as it was, we can only expect to further exacerbate existing segregation in college campuses nationwide where Black students are already woefully underrepresented. This will undoubtedly lead to profound implications for Black household incomes, which already lag staggeringly behind the median net worth of corresponding White families, in addition to compounding the limitation of access to social mobility for future generations of Black families
Student loan forgiveness allows Black families to give their children brighter futures and further academic achievement. The evidence is clear; the impact of student loan debt reaches far beyond just the borrower —it robs Black children of their futures by eliminating access to resources that can ensure a thriving family unit.
Anti-discrimination laws are a necessary safeguard for equality. The LGBTQ+ community and any marginalized community deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Black children deserve a future where they can express themselves as they are, not as the world sees them. The recent Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ+ protections has left Black LGBTQ+ people, especially Black children, vulnerable to physical harm and cut off from employment opportunities and essential healthcare.
