Ep. 52: Attacks on Affirmative Action and the Commodification of Diversity
Added 2018-10-03 14:50:09 +0000 UTC"Diversity" is a simultaneously important and buzzword-y term beloved by the media, corporations, real estate agents and elite universities. It’s something to strive for and take pride in, a symbol of inclusion and tolerance.
While diversity is a noble feature – and something all large systems should strive for – it originally was not supposed to be an ends in-and-of-itself. Diversity, in this vein, has morphed under capitalism into a PR industry, supplanting notions of equity, decolonization and desegregation for something much more sanitized.
The term is now often used as a catch-all for making white people feel better about the schools they go to, businesses they run, neighborhoods they gentrify. It largely exists, in its current iteration, to ameliorate whiteness rather than confront it, allowing for the commodification of the idea while giving existing power structures a glossy patina of liberal race-awareness.
We are joined this week by journalist and author Jeff Chang, Vice President of Narrative, Arts, and Culture at Race Forward.
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Guest
Jeff Chang is a writer, journalist and new Vice President of Narrative, Arts, and Culture at Race Forward. He is the co-founder of both ColorLines and Culture/Strike, former executive director of Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts, and author of a number of books, including Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation and, most recently, We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation.
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Show Notes
Jeff Chang | June 27, 2016 | Slate
Is diversity for white people?
Carlos Lozada | September 29, 2016 | The Washington Post
How Elite Schools Stay So White
Natasha Warikoo & Nadirah Farah Foley | July 24, 2018 | The New York Times
Audrea Lim | January 6, 2018 | The New York Times
Asian-Americans Face Multiple Fronts in Battle Over Affirmative Action
John Eligon | June 16, 2018 | The New York Times
Affirmative Action Battle Has a New Focus: Asian-Americans
Anemona Hartocollis & Stephanie Saul | August 2, 2017 | The New York Times
How to Protect Diversity During Trump’s Presidency
Richard D. Kahlenberg | January 4, 2017 | The New Republic
The real reasons the U.S. became less racist toward Asian Americans
Jeff Guo | November 29, 2016 | The Washington Post
Has ‘Diversity’ Lost Its Meaning?
Anna Holmes | October 27, 2015 | The New York Times Magazine
A Campus More Colorful Than Reality: Beware That College Brochure
Deena Prichep | December 29, 2013 | NPR
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References
Gov. Rauner drinks chocolate milk to demonstrate his commitment to diversity
Kim Janssen | February 23, 2018 | Chicago Tribune
Editorial Board | June 19, 1977 | The New York Times
“The America We Know Doesn’t Exist Anymore”: FOX’s Dog Whistle Becomes An Air Horn
Tina Nguyen | August 10, 2018 | Vanity Fair
Bill O’Reilly: The Left “Wants Power Taken Away From The White Establishment”
Tina Nguyen | December 21, 2016 | Vanity Fair
The Faces of American Power, Nearly as White as the Oscar Nominees
Haeyoun Park, Josh Keller & Josh Williams | February 26, 2016 | The New York Times
What’s Going On With New York’s Elite Public High Schools?
Syed Ali & Margaret M. Chin | June 14, 2018 | The Atlantic
Nancy Leong | February 24, 2012 | Harvard Law Review
Affirmative Action and the Media
Karen Miksch and Mark Pedelty | October 2010 | University of Houston Law Center
Affirmative Action as Culture War
Jennifer Hochschild | July 13, 2001 | Princeton University
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here.
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Comments
Make some merchh. I wanna throw on a Citations Needed with Adam Johnson and Nima Shirazi hoodie on my hog body
2018-10-06 05:44:02 +0000 UTCReally great episode guys! As a half-asian, I'm super conflicted about how to think about the Harvard lawsuit but thought this was a great discussion witha lot of context. Jeff was an excellent guest.
Andrew Calder
2018-10-05 14:34:11 +0000 UTC
