The Supreme Court ruling on June 23, 2003 that colleges and universities may utilize affirmative action to admit Black and other minority groups, represents a historical “win” for affirmative action. The divided vote was 5 to 4, including the swing vote of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, to uphold the University of Michigan law school’s affirmative action program for minorities and setting the standard for public and private colleges and selective high schools throughout the country. The decision to retain affirmative action was heavily supported by university administrators, civil rights leaders, retired military officials and the Fortune 500 corporate community, like General Motors, who cited that diversity was critical to maintaining global competition. Justice Clarence Thomas, the only African American on the court and a product of affirmative action himself, voted against the decision to support affirmative action.

However, California, with the passage of Prop 209 in 1996, will not be affected because the Court only says if a state chooses to, it may use race in the admissions process. With Prop 209, led by Black UC Regent Ward Connerly, California chose not to consider race. As a result, the admission of Blacks and Hispanics to the UC system was decimated. As an example, San Francisco attorney Eric Brooks was the only African American in the 1997 first-year class of 270 at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. With this “win” in the Supreme Court, affirmative action supporters are already considering a campaign to overturn Prop 209.

Ironically, on the same day the Supreme Court re-emphasized that affirmative action provided a compelling need for racial and ethnic diversity in the leadership ranks of this nation, the foremost affirmative action advocate in business and contracting collapsed and died at the Regan National Airport in Washington, DC. Maynard Jackson was the first African American Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia in 1973. He laid the ground work in succeeding years for the inclusion of African Americans in city contracting by informing white businessmen that, “If you are going to have a contract with the City, you have got to have a minority joint venture partner.” In 1978, I was President of the National Association of Minority Consulting Engineers when it presented him an award as the nation’s “Most Outstanding Advocate for Minority Business.” Later in 1998, when the San Francisco Black Chamber gave an award to the San Francisco Airport Expansion Project for its 42% minority participation for engineers, architects and consultants, Airport Chief Engineer Jason Yuen acknowledged it was based on the 60% minority business model of the Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport Expansion under Mayor Jackson.

A frequent visitor to the Bay Area, this year Jackson helped shape a 50% minority business participation plan on the $150 million SF Airport West Field Cargo Facility as the project’s Financial Bond Council. “He was a champion of inclusion for all people,” states the current Atlanta Mayor, Shirley Franklin, who served as City Manager under Jackson. “He never wavered on his commitment to affirmative action.”