Almost 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine in education -- and nearly 40 years after passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the issuance of Executive Order 11246 -- we should be celebrating our progress, our success. But, instead, we find ourselves in a tremendous struggle over the future of affirmative action. 

We must be clear about this debate. It is not about the myths of reverse discrimination, quotas, preferences, lowering of standards, or selecting the unqualified. It's about unequal opportunities people of color still face in economic development, education, and employment. It's about the expanded pool of qualified candidates of all colors competing for jobs, contracts, and admission to our educational institutions. It's about the emergence of an increasingly large and visible middle class of color.

It's about the continued persistence of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. It's about the opportunistic efforts of politicians to use this discussion as a wedge to divide people along racial lines. Most important, it's about the dismantling of the real system of preferences that has benefited Whites for hundreds of years. Until White America comes to grips with its "privileges" and admits that racism is a reality, change will be difficult, if not impossible.  Increasingly, this debate is about the "haves" and have-nots. It's about a country that has been reluctant to change, reluctant to bring about true equality. It's about whether or not we have the social and political will to change.

But we do not have the luxury to wait for "the right thing" to be done. We must understand that no significant social progress ever has been achieved in American society voluntarily. We have always had to rely on our own initiative and legal and regulatory intervention to ensure our rights.

The elimination of affirmative action will only further polarize our country along racial and ethnic lines and set back the significant progress that has been achieved during the last 50 years. We must not minimize the importance affirmative action has played in the past and its importance for the future. 

We must look at the broader social implications of exclusion and the possibility of returning to the old days of legal segregation. The very fabric of our society will be threatened if we allow the exclusion of people of color from our institutions of higher education, from the economic mainstream, and from employment opportunities. 

Affirmative action remains an important tool to assist in bringing about the kind of country we claim we want. But we cannot rely solely on words, on rhetoric. We must become advocates for social change.

Dave Barclay is a retired vice president of Hughes Electronics Corporation.

01/02/02