When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America

by Ira Katznelson

Such utilitarian arguments tend to be shallow. Their ambitions are too small. They fail to make the case for corrective justice except on prudential or practical grounds. Rather than argue forthrightly that the purpose of affirmative action is to put a definitive end to the caste status of blacks in American life and thus also put an end to white privilege, or another such lofty goal, they identify aims that arguably could be attained by other means. Moreover, a pragmatic calculus, once offered, has to be considered in full. After all, it must be conceded, under some circumstances affirmative action can increase racial animosities, reduce standards in hiring and admissions, and damage the self-respect of its beneficiaries. To argue for affirmative action simply in pragmatic terms thus opens its various programs to cost-benefit calculations. Without a larger context of principles and priorities, it usually proves impossible to sort out when a system of preferences is compelling and when it is not.

This history has been missing from public debate. Discussions about affirmative action usually begin with the 1960s, when its beneficiaries shifted from white to black. Such historical amnesia has weakened the case for affirmative action.

Public policies, after all, have been the most decisive instruments dividing Americans into different racial groups with vastly different circumstances and possibilities.