The purpose of affirmative action isn’t to elevate individual members of oppressed communities, but instead, it is to elevate an entire race and community. The purpose is to end the perpetuated white supremacy in this country. Affirmative action is a way to systematically support, elevate, and give a voice to oppressed groups.

The common charge against affirmative action is racism. This criticism is foolish because we do not live in a color-blind society. Society already takes race into account and has, in turn, put people of color at a disadvantage. To ignore race is to be complacent to a racist society; it is ignoring those who are oppressed and discriminated against for the fear of the double standard society has instilled in us.

To our racist society, when the poverty, infant mortality, and incarceration rates are substantially higher in communities of people of color, that’s not racism. That is just how it is. But when you want to put a focus on helping out those communities, you are labeled a racist because you acknowledge that racism exists by doing something to fight it. That is the twisted logic used against affirmative action and progressive programs.

The institutions that upheld slavery and Jim Crow laws are still around today. And they continue to perpetuate a racially disadvantageous society against minority communities. That is why affirmative action is needed and that is why affirmative action is not enough.

What is needed are full reparations paid to the black community for the labor exploited from slavery, to hold these institutions responsible for what they’ve done.