What is color-blind affirmative action?
That is the pursuit of racial diversity without actually using race explicitly. But that doesn’t actually prohibit universities or firms from pursuing racial diversity tacitly — underneath the radar. For example, suppose in college admissions we have two attributes we can choose on: test scores and how well people shoot free throws (laughing). Color-blind affirmative action says you can’t look at race anymore, but free-throw ability could be distributed differently among black and whites. So to the extent that there is variation there, then colleges can put weight on free-throw shooting in a way they never would have before. It will guarantee them a certain amount of diversity in their entering class. So color-blind is not going after race exclusively, but it’s not color-neutral. Q: Yes, it’s color-blind with a Seeing Eye dog. A: (Laughing) Yes, with a seeing-eye proxy! Q: Would you call being black in America a condition? In other words, does it limit you or can it advance you? A: Th
