It would be wonderful to see what might have come to pass if a single historical event had not occurred.
The best example of this concept is demonstrated in the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, in which an angel intervenes just as a depressed George Bailey is about to commit suicide. George is shown what would have become of his beloved hometown of Bedford Falls if he had never been born. The tyrant Henry F. Potter would have dominated and oppressed the people, leading them into a dark place. When George is brought back to reality, he understands the significance of his life; his spirits rise, and his friends save the day.
Second chances are rare, and correcting mistakes can be a painful process.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, Jim Crow racism continued to permeate the South, yet progress was slowly being made. Jason Riley, a black Wall Street Journal editorial page contributor, effectively documents the advancements of black America. The Executive Branch recognized the necessity to accelerate this progress through a series of executive orders, and in the 1960s, the United States Congress passed groundbreaking civil rights legislation. Fueled by Martin Luther King’s nonviolent movement, a new sense of hope emerged for African-Americans. America was finally, albeit slowly, moving toward addressing its troubling history of racism, and Martin Luther King’s vision of a colorblind society seemed attainable. The journey would never be easy, but essential laws and executive orders were put in place.
The courts served as a natural check on the power of the Legislature and the presidency. The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution prohibited other branches of government from using their authority to favor any individual over another based on skin color. Challenges intensified after Martin Luther King’s assassination, but the complicated journey toward a colorblind society continued.
In 1971, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education deviated from its constitutionally mandated purpose of upholding the Equal Protection Clause. It ruled that federal courts could mandate forced busing to achieve racial balance in schools.
Over time, the disastrous failure of forced busing became clear, and the Supreme Court gradually shifted away from endorsing it. As a result, it is no longer in use. However, the effects of busing are still being felt. For instance, Boston’s once excellent public schools are now just a shadow of their former selves, serving as a bleak reminder of judicial social engineering.
In the late seventies, the hubris of SCOTUS was still high. In 1978, the SCOTUS in University of California v. Bakke further undermined America’s constitutionally mandated equal protections by deciding that granting preference to a marginalized American group based on skin color could be acceptable in higher education admissions. This was reaffirmed in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger.
In hindsight, the justices’ glaring dereliction of duty and lack of judicial foresight paradoxically paved the way for years of divisiveness and deteriorating racial relations in academia and beyond. What was likely a good-faith legal effort to support marginalized minority groups created a crack in the Equal Protection Clause — a crack that was pried wide open as the progressive legal community seized the moment to advance its views. The minority population viewed the High Court’s ruling as a “de facto admission that they were entitled to special treatment because of racism, and that they could not achieve success on their own.” The Democrat party capitalized on this, stoking the fires of division and promising they would make things right by spending billions of dollars on welfare that perpetuated the bigotry of low expectations and poverty, securing 90% of the black vote.
The country began to divide without the constraints of the Constitution’s guaranteed equal protections. Elite universities legally employed affirmative action (court-approved discrimination) to fill their faculties and classrooms with like-minded progressives and minorities. Conservative traditional values were excluded, resulting in generations of brainwashed future leaders. This trend accelerated after Barack Obama’s election and the rise of woke, Ivy League–educated elites in elected and CEO positions. Corporate America intensified its efforts in what became known as diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE).
Five federal district courts interpreted earlier Supreme Court decisions to the extent that an assumption developed, implying that employers were not engaging in discrimination, making it nearly impossible for white Americans to seek recourse against abusive major corporations in these jurisdictions.
The presidency of Joe Biden worsened division by requiring the federal government to implement DIE in all hiring practices and urging private corporations to do the same. The country was splitting along racial lines because the elites aimed to impose their false construct of civil rights on America.
In 2023, SCOTUS in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decided to close the breach of the Equal Protection Clause. It was no longer legal to consider race in admissions for elite institutions.
With the Equal Protection Clause fully restored, the necessary tension between the courts and the Executive and Legislative Branches of government has been renewed. The reverberations were felt nationwide. DIE was no longer on a strong legal foundation. Undoubtedly, woke corporate boards across America realized that it was only a matter of time before DIE would be found to violate the Civil Rights Act of the 1960s. Their corporations would face liability for racism. Across corporate America, DIE programs were quietly dismantled. President Trump was re-elected, and his executive order to eliminate DIE from the federal government and institutions receiving federal funds carries much more influence. Woke courts can no longer permit these unconstitutional practices.
More recently, in April 2025, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services to overturn the established judicial practice of “background circumstances,” which assumes that an employer is not prejudicial in hiring practices. This practice is expected to end in June of this year, when they hand down their final decision. At that point, accountability will be enforced for all individuals who violate the Equal Protection Clause and engage in discriminatory hiring practices. Let us hope the SCOTUS has learned its lesson and that the misguided hubris of a future Supreme Court will not restart the process again.
The journey toward a colorblind America will not be easy. The impact of decades of judicial social gerrymandering is clear.
Unfortunately, an It’s a Wonderful Life epiphany, where everything gets better in the blink of an eye, cannot occur. The road ahead will be difficult, but the essential dynamics of democracy are now in place. Our elected officials must strive to make a colorblind America a reality, even as our courts ensure that politicians can no longer impose unconstitutional views on the rest of the nation. A colorblind America must become a reality within the framework of the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.
It will take time, but with proper guardrails in place and the American people’s racial tolerance at an all-time high, democracy can flourish. With hard work, Martin Luther King’s vision of a colorblind society is attainable — a George Bailey–like wonderful life for all.
Image via Picryl.
Jesus Christ is King
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