EXPERT REPORT OF THOMAS J. SUGRUE
Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75321 (E.D. Mich.)
Grutter, et al. v. Bollinger, et al., No. 97-75928 (E.D. Mich.)
V. INTRODUCTION
At the end of the twentieth century, the United States is a remarkably diverse society. It grows more diverse by the day, transformed by an enormous influx of immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. In an increasingly global economy, Americans are coming into contact with others of different cultures to an extent seen only in times of world war. Yet amidst this diversity remains great division. When the young black academic W.E.B. DuBois looked out onto America in 1903, he memorably proclaimed that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." (1) Over the last one hundred years, that color line has shifted but not disappeared. The brutal regime of Jim Crow and lynching was vanquished by a remarkable grassroots movement for racial equality and civil rights. Overt expressions of racism are less common than they were a half century ago. Many non-white Americans, among them African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans, are better off than their forbears. Despite all of the gains of the past century, however, the burden of history still weighs heavily. Color lines still divide and separate Americans. Many Americans have managed diversity by avoiding it -- by retreating into separate communities walled off by ignorance and distrust. In American public and private life, there are far too few opportunities to cross racial and ethnic barriers, to understand and appreciate differences, to learn from diversity rather than use it as an excuse for reproach and recrimination.
In the midst of our increasingly heterogeneous society are islands of homogeneity, places sometimes created by choice but more often built by inequity and injustice. All too many Americans today live in separate racially homogeneous worlds, in communities that are racially homogeneous. A majority of American children attend primary and secondary schools with students like themselves. They seldom benefit from exposure to the ideas, mores, and perspectives of students from backgrounds other than their own. Their experiences do not reflect the heterogeneity that characterizes the American population. Whites, particularly youth, are unlikely to have any sustained or serious contact with African Americans, Hispanics, or Native Americans. Many African Americans are unlikely to have any sustained contact with whites outside of their workplaces, with the exception of authority figures such as teachers, shopkeepers, and police officers. While separation has sometimes fostered a sense of solidarity among people with shared aspirations and values, it is a seedbed for misinformation, hostility, and fear.
The persistence of separation by race and ethnicity -- past and present -- has shaped the life experiences and attitudes of whites and minorities in fundamental ways. Despite measurable gains in the economic opportunities open to at least some members of minority groups, large gaps in socioeconomic status persist. The persistence of pejorative racial and ethnic stereotypes has greatly limited the opportunities available to blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians. Interracial distrust and suspicion is rife. Living and learning apart has created divergences in white and minority perceptions of many of America's key social institutions such as business, government, and the law. Racial division has also prevented many blacks, whites, Hispanics, and American Indians from seeing the common ground that we share. The mists of racial misunderstanding becloud the shared visions and aspirations and the common struggles that have the potential to bring us together.
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