Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision overturning affirmative action and ending the systematic consideration of race in the college admissions process. This ruling has significant implications for Americans who have been historically discriminated against and marginalized in society.
Let us begin, again, the work we started generations ago—the work of liberating ourselves—the American people. Oh, but this time, let us identify more clearly who the beneficiaries of this moral pursuit will be.
If time has taught us anything it would be this — the welfare of every man, woman, and child is contingent on our ability as human beings to heal and evolve. Being at war with ourselves threatens our survival, as it interferes with the natural order of life and is therefore an unsustainable approach to resolving the social dilemmas confronting us today. Our self-preservation, as a collective, requires us to make space for and intentionally support the most vulnerable among us.
So, let us return to a place of unity and of good judgment. Let us, once again, be a nation who understands that the most valuable currency we possess as Americans is our diversity. Let us protect it, once more, with a fierceness so great it overcomes blind opposition and allows for the rebuilding of consensus where it no longer exists. Together, we can find our way through these difficult and complex matters of racial equality and justice.
There are those who refuse to see the irreparable harm of today’s ruling. They seek only confirmation of their implicit bias. Accordingly, I offer no rebuttal to their position. Instead, I will remain steadfast in my opinion that repealing an imperfect solution before finding a more effective alternative is to delight in folly; and we the people are no fools.
Therefore, let the people choose a path that more adequately serves us all. Let us restore the precious alliances that our ancestors toiled for years to build and take no worry in replacing leaders who sow dissension with those who have demonstrated an aptitude for peacemaking.
Our contempt for one another has come at too great a cost to us as a nation and has now placed our global standing in grave peril. The petulant fights in which we entangle ourselves have consumed us to the point of not only stagnation but regression. May today be evidence of that claim.
Still, all is not lost. Hope persists. Within that hope, new things are possible. We need only to act.
This, my friends, is a time for great courage—courage to think differently, more collaboratively, and more inclusively. It is a time to insist on being better for one another that we each may experience to the fullest extent what it means to be alive—free—human.
Together, we can fortify the belief that true equality comes only by recognizing and atoning for the systemic inequality deeply rooted in the foundations of our public institutions. In the process of reinvesting ourselves in one another’s suffering we will satisfy the innate longing within every American to be seen, heard, included, and valued in society.
This is our way forward, as a liberated people— free to live harmoniously as neighbors while boldly resuming our rightful place as the beacon of hope—that glorious city on the hill, shining bright for the world to behold—America the great.