Racial Diversity Seems to Have Become an End in Itself

[Janelle2002 3,865]

I've thought of racial diversity initiatives as a means to an end, but Justice Sotomayor seems to view racial diversity as the desired end of public policy.

May 7, 2014 2:48 p.m. ET

Regarding Daniel Henninger's "Sotomayor's Race Dissent" (Wonder Land, May 1): Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent in Schuette v. BAMN brings into better focus the Eric Holder-President Obama understanding of race and race relations in America. I've thought of racial diversity initiatives as a means to an end, a way to break down the separation that resulted from de jure and de facto segregation, and enable people to experience one another as fellow human beings. In that light I think it has been useful and has enjoyed a degree of success. But Justice Sotomayor's opinion in the Michigan case and the Justice Department's position in the Louisiana school-voucher case and voter-ID disputes seem to view racial diversity as the desired end of public policy. Anything that has the potential of reducing racial diversity, even in the smallest way, is suspect.

This is bizarre. Doesn't such a policy assume that there are inherent differences in people based on race? Doesn't it assume that a majority race cannot be expected to treat a minority race fairly on its own? Doesn't it assume racial conflict as a permanent human condition? Aren't these points of view, in fact, racist? We'll never free ourselves completely from conflict, but we have made significant and important progress in accepting one another as equals. Attempting to maintain diversity in appearance through fiat doesn't help. The Court's decision allows the social process to play itself out with due regard to the facts and circumstances of time and place.

John D. Hatch

Tarpon Springs, Fla.

That racial disparity is still a fact in America is undeniable. The Supreme Court's ruling reminds us of our division on the question of how much government should do to try and rectify it. Let's say we land on one side or the other of that divide based purely on whether we believe government action can be effective. Those among us who believe it cannot be are boosted by the Court's decision. But there's a bigger question for all of us here. If down the road we find racial disparity continues to persist with or without government action, is that OK?

Michael Young

Port Hueneme, Calif.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissenting opinion in Schuette v. BAMN stands in stark reaction to the revolutionary idea that created the U.S. Constitution as a restraint upon the government. Justice Sotomayor envisions the Constitution as a restraint upon the American people.

Morgan Foster

Indianapolis

If, as Justice Sotomayor insists, equal protection of "individuals" must be understood in the context of "membership in a particular group," when can her version of racism be deemed defeated except when a plurality of oppressed "groups" achieves victory over the apparently monolithic "group" that does the oppressing? As the demographic trends of the so-called "minority-majority" accelerate America's coalescence into a country with no racial majority, will the oppressing "group" still be deemed too powerful by progressive elites and their allies in federal government?

By emphasizing individual experience viewed in light of race, the Obama-Holder-Sotomayor race camp may effect a future outcome that is the opposite of what they claim to intend. Whether the Balkans in the 1990s, Czechoslovakia in the late 1930s or Ukraine in the present day, history provides stark examples of individuals acting in the name of "groups."

Kurt Hofer

Altadena, Calif.

A black attorney speaking to my high-school law class more than 30 years ago said that "when minorities start winning the game, those in power change the rules." That is the constitutional wrong that Justice Sotomayor addressed in her dissent and that Daniel Henninger fails to adequately address.

But it was Justice Sotomayor who got it right. Her passionate, perceptive and well-reasoned dissent reminds us that what that attorney said to my class so long ago is still a reality, but one not permitted by our Constitution.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303678404579538304073191372?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303678404579538304073191372.html%3Fru%3Dyahoo%3Fmod%3Dyahoo_itp

Edited May 8, 2014 by Janelle2002

[mota bhai 2,675]

Sotomayor's opinion is an interesting one. I'm kind of glad there aren't more like her on the bench, though.