Tech Must Embrace Racial Justice in the Wake of Affirmative Action - 猫咪社区! Magazine Solutions Journalism

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action. Now, nearly one year later, we see how rolling back affirmative action has massively impacted . We鈥檙e currently amid the first admissions cycle since the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling, and it鈥檚 likely that next year, even fewer Black and Brown students will be admitted to elite, predominantly white institutions. The repercussions of this ruling , entrenching racial divisions systemically from university access through hiring and into the workplace.

Alongside the white supremacist narrative of gaining legal traction, we鈥檝e seen increased attacks against programs designed to dismantle structural oppression, including gutting (DEIB) initiatives across the tech industry; introducing legislation that about and in ;and proposing in multiple states across the U.S.

In the tech sector, there鈥檚 growing backlash against anti-racist work, including efforts to away from organizations working for racial justice in the tech sector, including , where I serve as executive director.

An unregulated tech industry is an industry driven by systemic racism.鈥�

Over the last year, have disproportionately impacted Black and Latinx talent and entire DEIB departments have been gutted. Moreover, we鈥檝e seen the tech industry embrace while CEOs enact aimed at silencing dissent and bolstering systemic racism. Indeed, industry giants are firing employees for protesting the use of their labor as fodder for genocide: for participating in peaceful protest against the company鈥檚 . An unregulated tech industry is an industry driven by systemic racism.

Universities and workplaces alike are not neutral spaces. They are, in fact, shaped by systems of power, inflected with the history of racial hierarchy and white supremacy that is foundational to the U.S. We need to understand these initiatives as successfully orchestrated attacks on anti-racist work, and we need to stand together, flanking each other through the coming months of what will undoubtedly be marked by increasing attacks on racial equity.

We know the Supreme Court is using the idea of race-neutral policies to uphold systemic racism. We know 鈥渞ace neutral鈥� is coded language for white. We know that ruling is part of a concerted effort to position the work for racial equity as discriminatory. We can even see structural racism at work in the ruling itself: The court ruled that race cannot be considered as a factor in admissions procedures, yet legacy remains part of the admissions process. Legacy operates as affirmative action for the white, class-privileged people who have long been filling elite universities.

Meritocracy is a fiction designed to uphold white supremacy. Sanctifying 鈥渞ace-neutrality鈥� in admissions denies the existence of racism, affirming white supremacy in a cruel denial of structural advantages awarded to whiteness. Associating affirmative action with racial preference, while distancing it from its , is part of a racially motivated strategy to

Years ago, Code2040 had a partnership with a college program called in California. The program primarily serves Latinx community college students who study computer science and helps them transition their coursework to a local four-year college, enabling them to graduate with a computer science degree in three years.

At the time, the vast majority of the participants were children of the migrant farm workers who work in back-breaking conditions for low wages. Those students had no connections in higher education or the tech industry, but they knew a computer-science degree could be a life-changing catalyst into economic security for themselves and their entire families. (CSin3 has a 70% graduation rate within three years and successfully connects 83% of its graduates with internships in the tech industry.)

When I think about the students enrolled in the CSin3 program, I remember how many of them were first-generation college students, English secondary language learners in primary school, working significant hours to help support their families, and caretaking for elders in their multi-generational households. They did not have parents who graduated from Ivy League schools to support their case for . They did not pay for professionals to write their college applications.

Race-conscious college admissions intended to counteract these disparities by affirming that Black and Brown applicants deserve space, historically denied, in prestigious universities.鈥�

These are the gaps affirmative action policies helped bridge by addressing the structural disparities that shape access to higher education, and in turn, economic mobility and security. Race-conscious college admissions intended to counteract these disparities by affirming that Black and Brown applicants deserve space, historically denied, in prestigious universities. Despite the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling, those of us who are continuing to find ways to create pathways and bridges into higher education and economic opportunity for low-income students of color.

Each June, Code2040 launches its annual , offering nine months of racial equity advocacy training, skills-building opportunities, connections with industry leaders, and internships. The majority of our fellows are first-generation college students from low-income households, and many of our fellows are immigrants. The program is designed to create a pathway into the industry while also fostering community.

Despite persistent attacks on racial equity, the 2024 鈥淲e Are the Future: Welcome Weekend鈥� united 75 Black and Latinx computer science majors, industry leaders, program alumni, and Code2040 community members for connection, workshops, and celebration. Welcome Weekend lays the foundation of community that makes the fellows program so impactful. While job skills, networking, and racial equity advocacy tools are central, the space for celebration, joy, creativity, and imagination fosters long-term possibilities for radical change.

Starting with Welcome Weekend and extending through the nine-month program into the workforce, this community supports Black and Latinx technologists in navigating racial inequities in tech, dreaming, creating, and thriving together.

Black and Latinx college students are the next generation of technologists. They are our future and deserve our full support to flourish. We do what we do because the power of community means standing in the gap for one another, supporting each other as we navigate the inequities and imbalanced power distribution in our industry.

We know how to survive in the hardest of conditions, and we know how to build power. We will continue to make our way into inhospitable spaces, and we will continue to bring others along with us.鈥�

These Black and Latinx students are entering college during a time when affirmative action policies were in place, and will eventually graduate after they have been struck down. They will also vote for the first time in a presidential election, entering the voting booth and the tech industry after spending their formative years watching this country, and the industry where they鈥檒l spend their career, gut protections and support for Black and Latinx people. Yet, our people have always been resilient. We know how to survive in the hardest of conditions, and we know how to build power. We will continue to make our way into inhospitable spaces, and we will continue to bring others along with us. And when we do, we will change the material conditions that have kept us out.

Working for racial equity is about being a part of a movement for systemic change. . Because the tech sector shapes our world, we view our work for racial equity in tech as part of a movement for racial justice everywhere. Systemic racism is the connection between ongoing police violence, the banning of education, and the overturning of affirmative action.

We will not know racial equity until we live in a world free from police violence. We will not know racial equity without a legislature that protects Black and Brown people. We will not know racial equity until Black and Brown people everywhere are thriving. As long as oppressed communities remain under attack, we will not know racial equity.

As we inch closer to the November elections, we need to understand the Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling as part of a concerted backlash against the racial justice uprisings of 2020 and prepare to fight for racial equity everywhere, including the tech industry: Our future depends on it.

Mimi Fox Melton (she/her) is the CEO of Code2040, an organization addressing the racial inequities and imbalanced distribution of power that Black and Latinx people face in tech.

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