Colors of Influence

ALT “You move from Clarence Thomas, who felt undermined and who internalized traditional arguments against affirmative action, to Steven Carter, who felt that Black students should do everything they can to demonstrate to whites that we work harder than anybody. Most of us worked hard because we were going to work hard but also because we wanted to push back against stereotypes,” said Luke Charles Harris, a professor of political science at Vassar who was a year behind Thomas at Yale Law School and calls himself a typical first-generation beneficiary of the program. “The public debate about affirmative action during that time colored the perspectives of even some of the beneficiaries,” Harris said. “But there’s never been a measure to integrate people of color into American society that wasn’t made controversial. Anything that brings us into these environments, there’s going to be pushback — even in situations where we continue to be underrepresented.”