Disability Victory Condemns The Supreme Court’s Decision to Strike Down Affirmative Action

Contact: press@disabilityvictory.org 

Washington, D.C. - Affirmative action was created to fix the disparities in access to educational and employment opportunities, disparities that were created by systemic racism and that particularly impact Black Americans. Affirmative action was later expanded to include other intersections, including gender and disability discrimination. The systemic racism that affirmative action was created to address still pervades American society today. In fact, it is well established that the largest beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women. However, today’s Supreme Court decisions in Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students For Fair Admissions v. University Of North Carolina were clearly intended to undercut efforts to improve higher educational access for BIPOC students and based on the lie that America’s racism is in the past. Meanwhile, legacy admissions continue to grant increased access to those with access to wealth and influence.

Disability Victory condemns the Supreme Court’s decision to ignore the continued legacy of racism in this country when there is so much work to be done to tear down the barriers to educational opportunity in the United States. We stand in solidarity with our United for Democracy coalition partners in continuing to fight on the front lines for the most marginalized. We at Disability Victory understand that the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action for the most marginalized. For individuals that can get admission preferences for legacies, donors, employee families and special recommendations, access remains intact. For everyone else without those privileges, higher education has been put further out of reach.

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Disability Victory is building the political power of disabled progressives through training, networking, and leadership development. We envision a country where disabled people have the information, support, and skills they need to successfully lead as candidates, elected officials, and campaign staff. Learn more at www.disabilityvictory.org.