North Texans Praise and Criticize Supreme Court Affirmative Action Ruling

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NORTH TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Michael Williams says he felt vindicated after reading the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision rejecting affirmative action for college campus admissions.

“I was right,” he said. “Maybe I was 30 too early, but I was right.”

Prior to running the Texas Education Agency for former Governor Rick Perry, Williams served as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in President George HW Bush’s US Department of Education.

In December 1990, Williams said he caused a stir when he announced that the government considered scholarships based solely on race to be illegal.

“We should not use race to impose burdens on some people and benefits on others based on their lineages,” he continued. “I believed that then, I believe that today.”

But U.S. Representative Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth) disagreed and sharply criticized the majority of justices behind the decision.

U.S. Representative Marc Veasey reacts to Supreme Court reversal of affirmative action

“Education, economic progress in this country for black Americans has just been struck down by this court,” he said. “I think it’s sad and I think it’s really unfortunate.”

Going forward, Veasey said he fears the decision will have a detrimental impact.

“The message that has been sent by the Supreme Court and the six justices today is that if you are black or brown, don’t – unless you can kick a football, or run or shoot a ball very well – don’t apply,” Veasey said. .

But Williams said colleges and universities can always consider an applicant’s family background, economic background and zip code when trying to create a diverse campus.

Former Texas Education Agency commissioner reacts to Supreme Court overturning affirmative action

“Now America can get down to its real business,” he said. “America’s real job is to prepare young people to acquire the learning they need and achieve the merits they can.”

On the other hand, Veasey said: “If we don’t get to the root cause of a lot of this – which includes taking a look, historically, at how we got to where we are right now – so it’s not going to matter.”

Congressman Veasey pointed to the University of Texas at Austin. He praised the school’s outreach efforts, but said that even so, only 5% of the student body is African American.

Williams said the United States needs to do a better job of educating black and brown students, from an early age.

Jack Fink

Jack Fink covers politics for KTVT-TV CBS 11 and has worked for the station since September 2003.

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