America's Long Experiment in Racial Quotas A 1937 redlined map
of Philadelphia by the city's Home Owners' Loan Corporation.
Racial inequality in housing, health, and education is still a
fact of American life, but many of the programs and policies
meant to combat it are on the chopping block. This year, for
instance, the Supreme Court will rule on a challenge to the
University of Texas’ affirmative action program—from a white
student denied admission—and in doing so, is expected to end
race-based preferences in college admissions. Likewise,
conservative Republicans have mounted an effort to gut the
Voting Rights Act. Their position? That it’s unfair to place
greater federal scrutiny on states with a history of racial
discrimination. This, despite the fact that—over the last two
years—those same states have passed a host of laws that make
voting more difficult for African Americans and other
minorities. At the other end of the hemisphere, however,
politicians and activists are working to combat racial inequali