US Supreme Court Bans “Affirmative Action”-Except in Military Officer Training here ♦ Workers Need Communist Education, Not Affirmative Action here ♦
US troops in the Vietnam era
US Supreme Court Bans “Affirmative Action” — Except Military Officer Training
LOS ANGELES (USA), July 10— “If the US military is going to give guns to Black soldiers, they want to be sure they are loyal to the system,” said a comrade US veteran.
That’s why the Supreme Court exempted military academies from its ban on race-based affirmative action.
The officer corps has a disproportionately small number of ethnic minority officers. The Department of Defense states that 19% of enlisted personnel but only 8% of its officers are Black. Without affirmative action, there would be even fewer ethnic-minority officers.
This is a problem for US imperialism’s war preparations.
Affirmative Action: Another Reform That Couldn’t End Capitalism’s Racism
The history of affirmative action shows how the government tries to manage the racism baked into their capitalist system. It was introduced in the 1960s. Public consciousness of racial inequality was peaking as the Civil Rights movement spread.
Masses around the world were rising in anti-imperialist rebellions. They were turning their backs on the openly racist USA.
Affirmative action promised opportunities mainly to Black and Hispanic workers and youth. They had been historically excluded from schools and jobs under a racist capitalist system. Affirmative action mandated that schools and corporations set aside seats in universities and jobs for minoritized people.
Fast forward 60 years. Now the bosses are striking down affirmative action to make it seem like times have changed. They claim that things are better, and everyone has the same opportunity. The truth, of course, is the opposite.
Affirmative Action has always been controversial. California banned it in 1996. Voters refused to lift the ban after the George Floyd protests in 2020.
“Students for Fair Admissions” sued Harvard University and the University of North Carolina in 2014. The suit claimed that college admissions discriminated against Asians in favor of Black students.
The US Supreme Court decided that case on June 29, 2023. It voted (6-3) to declare it unconstitutional to consider race as a factor in college admission.
Opportunities have never been equal under capitalism. They will never be equal for the working class, with or without affirmative action. The capitalist educational system is based on competition in order to perpetuate capitalism. Affirmative action has no effect on this essential structure of capitalism.
US Military Says “Diversity” Essential for “National Security”
Military bosses must control their troops to prepare for future wars. Military leaders defended affirmation action in their academies because they fear another Vietnam debacle.
Demonstrations and rebellions broke out during the US war in Vietnam on many US army bases, navy ships and inside Vietnam. Soldiers shot officers. They lobbed fragmentation grenades under officers’ tents. They refused orders to risk their lives engaging the Vietcong fighters.
Black soldiers and sailors led most of these rebellions. They were angry at the racism of the brass and the US bosses. That was their main enemy, not Vietnamese liberation fighters. Many white and Latino troops joined them.
Facing an unreliable US fighting force, the determined Vietnamese forced the US government to withdraw.
The US military then had almost no Black or Latino officers. Now they hope that Affirmative Action in their military academies will mean that troops will fight loyally for US imperialism.
That’s why US rulers are happy to have Gen. Lloyd Austin, who is Black, as Secretary of Defense. But having more Black cops has not stopped mass rebellions against racist police terror.
Soldiers and Sailors: Essential for Communist Revolution
Soldiers and sailors have the opposite interest from the bosses. With communist ideas, they will see that their interests and future lie with joining their working-class brothers and sisters in fighting for a world without racism or wars for profit. A communist world that meets their needs and those of workers everywhere.
There are always more enlisted troops than officers. Most come from among the most exploited communities. These are our working-class siblings. The ruling class is right to worry about their loyalty.
Soldiers, organized by a revolutionary communist party and allied with workers, are crucial to the victory of a communist revolution. Wars around the world are rapidly developing into a world war.
Our Party’s work inside the military has given us the confidence that we can recruit soldiers to play that key role in turning imperialist war into communist revolution.
Read our Pamphlet:
Soldiers, Sailors, Marines: Crucial to a Communist Workers’ Revolution
Workers Need Communist Education, Not Affirmative Action
Media pundits have focused on The Supreme Court Affirmative Action decision as eliminating “unqualified” Blacks from college admission and the promotion of diversity.
The ruling class long has used affirmative action for its propaganda purposes. It pushes the lie that this policy has given unqualified Black and Latinx students unfair advantages over overqualified White and Asian students.
Does Affirmative Action affect admission of applicants who are not Black?
Harvard received 43,330 applications for the class of 2023. It admitted 2009 for an acceptance rate of 4.69%. Do the math: Affirmative Action is not a downside for white and Asian students’ admission. Any applicant’s chance for admission to Harvard is like winning the lottery.
Does Affirmative Action promote diversity?
A 20-year-old Harvard Black student told Rolling Stone, “When you’re on campus, you can feel the legacy and wealth compared to the number of Black students. I’m no stranger to people thinking I’m only here because I’m Black.”
A Black student at Harvard, or any elite university, soon discovers that, like winning the lottery, the promise that your life will be changed for the better is a lie.
Education in the US, elementary through college, is capitalist schooling. It serves the interests of the ruling class. It prepares the children of the rich to be the bosses. It prepares most children of workers to be workers and soldiers.
We need Communist education that will expand relationships of equality and cooperation, not inequality, exploitation, racism, competition, and privilege.
We must work now for Communist class awareness and consciousness of education. Read our pamphlet, “Communist Education for a Classless Society” and Red Flag.
Join an ICWP study action group or book club. Join us in the fight for a communist world.
—Bay Area CA Comrade Retired Teacher
Read Our Pamphlet:
Communist Education for a Classless Society here
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