In the end, Prop 16 failed by a staggering double-digit margin in a state where minorities comprise a majority of eligible voters. Here’s one alternative: reframe the debate about affirmative action and workforce diversity in economic rather than racial terms. Perhaps most importantly, focusing on diversity of economic circumstances avoids essentializing individuals on the basis of immutable genetic characteristics. By contrast, reimagining diversity and empowerment in economic terms rather than racial terms unifies people of all races to fight economic hardship together, rather than pitting one racial group against another. However, there is a silver lining: by virtue of this inequality, economic affirmative action would disproportionately help Black Americans without essentializing Black Americans in the process.

Source: Fox News November 14, 2020 12:00 UTC