For 45 years, Supreme Court decisions have allowed college admissions programs to weigh race — as one factor amongst many — to make sure racial diversity in higher education. But last week’s majority opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts striking down affirmative motion ignores the realities of race in America. And as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stated in her dissent, it “stunts that progress with none basis in law, history, logic, or justice.”
There are not any winners in ending affirmative motion on college campuses and little question that this decision will extend to other areas. Black and Latinx students can be denied opportunities to excel of their studies and careers, government and industry may have difficulty constructing powerful talent pipelines, and students will learn in silos — without knowing and understanding other cultures and differences that make us so special. Creative talent can be hit particularly hard, especially in fashion.
We’re three years out from America’s racial justice movement. And while brands and retailers have made progress in improving diversity, many proceed to struggle with racial equity and representation. Race still presents barriers to how people live out their each day lives, and these disparities are magnified for talent studying and dealing in fashion and other creative industries.
Breaking into fashion has been reserved for a long time for individuals with connections and capital to fund coveted (yet low-paid) entry-level positions, or, once they’re ready, to finance their very own brands. Black students are pushed to decide on medicine, math or science (deemed respectable and financially secure) over fashion, and for the brave souls that follow their true passion, they often accomplish that through circuitous routes.
Award-winning dressmaker Irueosa Osadayi Ohanmu entered right into a Ph.D. program in molecular biology before attending Parsons. Ghanaian-American designer Mimi Plange, who has collaborated with Nike and Manolo Blahnik, first obtained a level in architecture before studying fashion design. I started off in pre-med and majored in psychology before transitioning to fashion law years later.
Kenya Wiley
Courtesy
The Supreme Court’s decision will further limit pathways for Black students to make a way in the humanities, with less racial diversity and fewer supportive communities to fuel studies in such areas as fashion design, film and tv, textiles and even fashion law. I personally benefited from Fordham University’s Fashion Law Institute and founder and director Susan Scafidi, who has been critical to protecting industry talent. Fashion and the humanities make us higher people — providing a forum to encourage and educate, express our authentic selves and rejoice our differences. But fashion cannot realize its full impact without diversity, and here’s why:
It’s about opportunity. Education is step one in constructing a racially diverse fashion talent pipeline — providing students without legacy (which might still be considered in college admissions) with internships at brands and retailers, access to special programs and design competitions, and as Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated in her dissent, an “entry ticket to top jobs in workplaces where necessary decisions are made.”
Now U.S. design schools which have prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion of their admissions policies — including The Recent School (which incorporates Parsons School of Design), Pratt Institute and the Fashion Institute of Technology — will not give you the option to think about racial diversity within the applicant process. And though the Supreme Court suggests that students could also be allowed to debate how race has impacted their lives, as Justice Sotomayor noted in her dissent, “the supposed recognition” to think about race in essays “is nothing but an try and put lipstick on a pig.”
It’s about relatability and understanding. Black talent remains to be underrepresented in fashion’s power positions in such areas as finance, law, digital and technology. Micro aggressions are real, and the most effective solution to relate to people of various races and cultures is to get to know us. That can’t occur if higher education is siloed for college students with wealth and legacy connections. How can all fashion talent understand why it’s essential to have a team trained to do curly and coily hair and makeup for all skin tones — or why Congress must pass the Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, or CROWN, Act to ban race-based hair discrimination within the workplace — in the event that they never socialize with people from different backgrounds and experiences? The bulk court repeatedly mentions the term “colorblind” to emphasise that race doesn’t matter. But as Justice Jackson stated in her dissent, “deeming race irrelevant in law doesn’t make it so in life.”
Fashion plays a significant role in how all individuals are represented and valued, not only here in America, but in every single place. Ending affirmative motion will narrow the lens through which many view the world.
I stated on the Fashion Law Institute’s designing diversity panel last November that the battle against affirmative motion isn’t only for universities to deal with. It’ll take everyone — in academia, industry, civil society and government — to make sure a various, equitable and inclusive learning environment for all students.
As Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent: “The pursuit of racial diversity will go on.”
Kenya Wiley is a policy counsel and fashion law professor at Georgetown University, where she studies the intersection of fashion law, race and social justice. She previously served as a director for the Motion Picture Association’s legal department, and he or she designed and implemented MPA’s academic outreach program for colleges and law schools.
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