Many may view yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on Michigan’s affirmative action ban as a setback, but an honest evaluation shows that it is a fair application of equal rights.  Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King famously stated "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”  He did not say that he wanted his children to be thought inferior because of their skin color; he wanted them to be evaluated based on merit.

Granting rights to a segment of society based on physical characteristics, like gender or skin color, is prejudicial.  It basically says that despite your actual ability society views you as not being able to perform as well as a person of another gender or skin color.  Your are prejudged as inferior.  The granting of extra consideration based on these physical characteristics is usually positioned as a way to make the playing field "level.”  Again, this is an admission that the view of society is that your gender or skin color makes you inferior.  

If someone requires extra consideration beyond merit for a job or admission to a school is it fair to put them in a circumstance where they will be at a competitive disadvantage?  Economists have questioned if this is really making the playing field “level" or simply setting up people for failure.  Students admitted to more academically challenging schools based on affirmative action may not be able to compete for top grades and workers getting jobs in part due to their race or gender may not be able to maintain the job or effectively compete for promotions.  These types of results are contra to the supposed intent of affirmative action and exacerbate the problem.  

Neither skin color nor gender is the problem and special consideration based on such is not the answer.  Those seeking to use color or gender as the answer simply are ignoring the real underlying problems.

-  If areas are plagued by bad schools try vouchers so children may have an opportunity to go to a better school.

-  Where single parent households are prevalent, communities need to support the family and government policy needs to stop encouraging single parent households.

-  Citizens need to take pride in their communities by not allowing blight and crime to take over thereby making them attractive for economic development.

The ruling by the SCOTUS brings us closer to fulfilling Dr. King’s dream.  If we really intend to live in a colorblind society we need to remove laws that only see people based on color.  As a society, we need to look to how to improve people’s ability to complete on merit.