Immigrants and Affirmative Action

At a reunion of black alumni of Harvard University in 2003, Lani Guinier set off a discussion on a sensitive subject: whether black immigrants are the beneficiaries, perhaps undeserving, of affirmative action. Insidehighereducation.com has a story about a study by Douglas S. Massey, Margarita Mooney and Kimberly C. Torres of Princeton University, and Camille Z. Charles of the University of Pennsylvania that looks at immigrants and affirmative action, including Asian, Latino, and Black immigrants.  Click here to see the story.  Thanks to Keith A for this news tip!

Note that the study may well be relevant to the discussion whether Barack Obama, whose father was an immigrant from Africa, is an “authentic” African American candidate for President.  For an idea of the kind of talk on this issue, see the Time article “Is Obama Black Enough?” (Feb. 1) by clicking here and “Black Like Me” by Peter Beinart in the New Republic Online (here).

KJ