Statement on Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action and Race-Conscious Admissions
Amplify Asian America is disheartened by the Supreme Court’s ruling on two cases concerning affirmative action & race-conscious admissions: Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. The decision has detrimental consequences for students of color—particularly Asian American students—reversing years of progress toward racial justice in education.
The data are clear: Asian Americans stand to benefit from this crucial tool that levels the playing field. Asian Americans continue to face disparities in education, with Vietnamese, Hmong, Burmese, Lao, and Bhutanese Americans being less likely to hold a bachelor’s degree compared to U.S. adults of all races.¹ Being from immigrant and refugee communities, coming from low-income and first generation families, not having the resources and connections that many White students benefit from, and experiencing bias and discrimination are only a few of the barriers faced by Asian American students that race-conscious admissions seeks to address. Race-conscious admissions allows us to close the gap between White students, who benefit from historical advantage, and students of color.
Still, our communities have been weaponized and targeted by efforts to end affirmative action and race-conscious admissions, with its opponents perpetuating a false narrative of the practice being a form of unfair discrimination toward “high-achieving” Asian Americans. The truth is, race is not the only factor considered in race-conscious admissions, and the vast inequalities among our communities are proof that we are not a monolith. We must instead have conversations about practices that truly undermine educational equity, such as legacy admissions and standardized testing.
At Amplify Asian America, we imagine a world where young Asian Americans are empowered to fight for their communities. Equitable access to education opens doors for the next generation of Asian American advocates and activists to construct systems for civic participation that are accessible to all. We refuse to allow our communities to be reduced to a model minority, to be manipulated to work against our best interests, or to be pitted against other communities of color. We will always stand for educational justice, and that means recognizing that race matters.
