The Tilt-A-Whirl

In 2015, I had a vertigo attack that has never completely left me. Explaining my wobble, I tell my friends I feel like I am living on a Tilt-A-Whirl. Swirling in saucers over unlevel planes is dizzying. Unsettling. Scary. The unlevel plane is no place to live.
 
Yet, life is full of unlevel planes. People do not start life from the same vantage points. Rather, there are some who start life from advantage points. There is a game played with young people who stand in a line as questions are called out. For each “yes” answer, the person takes a step forward. 

Some of the questions are: Did you eat breakfast this morning? Are you wearing clean clothes? Do you have books in your house?  Do you have both parents living with you? Do you have plans to go to college? Do you feel safe in your community? As the questions are answered, differentiations are revealed - and not just along color lines. Privilege outs itself as the game is played. 
 
There is almost a caste system in America. There are people stuck in situations, maybe not of their own making, but by accidents of birth. Or color of skin. Or minimal educations. Or poverty. Affirmative action began to level up a playing field. For too many people, the American dream is buried in a reality of drudgery, disappointment and disillusionment. 
 
With the gutting of the Affirmative Action Act, where will the doors be opened now? A high and mighty Supreme Court opinion, led by Justice Roberts and Justice Thomas (who by the way was a beneficiary of affirmative action), spouted a magnanimous ideal. They said, “We hold enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles that all men are created equal and must be treated equally before the law.” And how has that worked for us in a country that increasingly is taking rights away from minority communities and women? 
 
Maybe it’s the originalists who poo-poo and ignore a reality of racism and sexism that exists and appears to be rising among us. The originalists, like the fundamentalists, treat the Constitution, and the Bible, as if the words are written in stone. Static, unchanging. They cannot even imagine a concept of a living word, an ever-expanding revelation and understanding.  My daddy, who had a degree in Chemistry, tried to teach me principles of Chemistry. When he learned them in 1938 there were only around 85 elements on the periodic table. Today there are about 118, and discovery is on-going. Nothing is static; everything is dynamic. Like it or not.
 
Another part of the story of affirmative action is the number of young people admitted to elite schools as legacy students. Alumni and big donors have a leg up in college admissions. Harvard is even being sued – with plaintiffs using the same language to make their case that the justices used to crush the Affirmative Action Act. Talk about what goes around comes around? Where is fair and equal in legacy admissions?
 
The plaintiffs in the Harvard case say, “Why are we rewarding children for privileges and advantages accrued by prior generations?” The case states, “the practice of legacy admission is no longer defensible without affirmative action providing a counterbalance.” The court says we cannot reward students for injustices suffered in previous generations, so shouldn’t that same logic apply to legacy admissions? The Tilt-A-Whirl is spinning!
 
The ideal of fair and equal under the law is in all our hands to realize. Level playing fields are where the real games are played. Some people may be afraid of fair and equal. The unequal one just might be me. Or you. Where is the American moral conscience? How can I take a hand up if the person next to me isn’t offered a hand? The Tilt-A-Whirl is no place to live. 
 
Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com