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The cold war, desegregation and affirmative action
Anti-racism in the US has long been subverted by the elevation of a few role models rather than meaningful equality for all – and the latest fad for policing manners and language won’t save it, writes ZOLTAN ZIGEDY
THEN AND NOW: Civil rights marchers in Washington call for integrated schools, 1963; and (right) students rally outside the Supreme Court during the hearing on affirmative action in college admissions, October 2022

AS the US Supreme Court aspires to drive a nail into the coffin of affirmative action, it is important to recognise how the cold war helped to shape the mid-20th century civil rights people’s victories and the consequent policy of affirmative action in education.

Some may find that connecting the conflict between the US and the USSR to the formal establishment of African-American citizen rights is far-fetched.

But the facts speak otherwise.

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