DIVERSITY CORNER
DIVERSITY CORNER
BRYAN ANDERSON
2023 Diversity Summit – Navigating the End of Affirmative Action ( Continued )
Summit panelists noted that African Americans have lower life expectancy , worse health , higher infant mortality , higher maternal mortality , higher exposure to environmental toxins , and overall worse health outcomes compared to white people . Similar inequities show a deep racial wealth and income divide . Research shows that inequities in health and wealth are in significant part a legacy of structural , institutional and individual racism that predated the country ’ s founding and that persists to the present day .
In the SFFA decision Justice Roberts wrote that “ Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it .” It is difficult to see how eliminating affirmative action in university admissions eliminates stark health and wealth inequities .
Discussing this data and potential federal and state policy remedies exposes Florida professors and instructors to being fired . A chilling effect remains while the injunction against enforcement of the Stop WOKE Act is pending because the results of the State ’ s appeal of the injunction are not known .
One panelist noted a Florida medical school professor who observed that not being able to teach about the causes of and possible cures for health inequity risked students concluding that racial inequity is caused by eugenic racial differences , not the ongoing self-replicating legacy of racism .
Past Florida Bar President and keynote speaker Eugene Pettis reminded summit participants that the summit could take place in a hotel conference room only because attorneys who came before us knew that segregation is wrong and had the courage to act for change . Progress is possible .
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 13