According to Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, African-Americans are not “cut out” for higher education. The statements made yesterday during a hearing around the issue of Affirmative Action, only add to the environment of hate and reaction that is bubbling over from caustic, loathsome figures such as Donald Trump. One can wonder exactly what he meant by “slower college” Whether he explains it or not, the impact of the statement is pretty much undeniable.
It is precisely this set of beliefs that sparked the Mizzou protests and the offshoots that followed them. The notion of inherent intellectual inferiority among Black Americans, in particular, is an old belief. I wouldn’t be surprised if Scalia has a copy of the Bell Curve in his possession. With the idea that Black people don’t belong in certain academic spaces, it’s vital to point out how right the Missouri protestors were in making the noise they made. Although our collective consciousness has been shifted from this to international terrorism, Scalia’s remarks force us to again look at homegrown racism from those in positions of power.
[Originally posted at Polite On Society]