Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
Many people may just now be hearing the name Edward Blum in the news.
If I were asked to describe what Edward Blum does, I would say he uses his wealth and influence to dismantle public policies that were put in place because Black people in America were being discriminated against. He actively goes after policies that level the playing field for Black Americans.
In his own words, Blum says, “I am focused on one area of public policy, and that is race and ethnicity.”
If you don’t know, Blum is the person behind the pair of lawsuits that led to the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action in college admissions, which declares that colleges may no longer take race into consideration when making admission decisions.
The lawsuits he brought against both Harvard University and the University of North Carolina used Asian Americans as the face of those suits and made the claim that giving preference to Black and Latino students made it more difficult for Asian students to gain admission.
It wasn’t his first time trying this lawsuit. He did it before in 2012 with a white girl, Abigail Fisher, who didn’t get into the University of Texas. That case flopped, and Blum obviously set out to find a more sympathetic face to use for his cause.
Blum was also the architect behind Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court case that essentially dismantled the Voting Rights Act.
Blum recently filed a new lawsuit in…
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