In Reply to: Jamelle Bouie always says posted by blindness on April 30, 2026 at 11:48:34
When Pete Wilson ended affirmative action in California, I was deeply upset and sought out a highly respected civil rights activist for perspective.
He told me that sometimes progress requires a setback—people don’t fully engage until something is taken away. That idea has stayed with me. If you look at University of California, Los Angeles today, African American students are graduating in comparable numbers, with strong completion rates, and across the UC system there are higher graduation and graduate school attendance rates among these students.
At the same time, California’s political landscape has shifted dramatically—the GOP has little chance of winning a major statewide election.
You saw in this election blacks and Hispanics lean towards Trump.
Over time, I’ve found some reluctant comfort in the idea that meaningful change isn’t always smooth. Sometimes a system—or a community—needs a jolt to force adaptation and progress.