AAPF Produces Special Series: 13 Myths About Affirmative Action

Radio host Michael Eric Dyson

 

PART 1: Radio

Starting on October 24, for two exciting the weeks the Affirmative Action Research and Policy Consortium (an AAPF project) produced an unprecedented radio series aimed at bringing information about affirmative action to a wide audience. During the two weeks leading to the November 7th elections, listeners from all over the country tuned in every weekday morning to the Michael Eric Dyson show to hear this special project entitled "13 Myths About Affirmative Action: A Special Series on a Public Policy Under Siege". Today, the series remains available at www.aapf.org/focus, and continues to be a valuable and easily accessible educational tool.

This 13- part series provides listeners with a guided tour of the current controversy about affirmative action. Each installment in this sequential series is structured to explore a widely held belief or assertion about affirmative action. Upon closer inspection, each belief is shown to be false, distorted, or unsupported by the evidence. As each belief is revealed to be a myth and debunked, the ensuing discussion re-analyzes the issue by offering information, research, and personal accounts from a range of commentators, including academics, activists and every day citizens.

The series took Detroit listeners by storm, and many of the chief actors in the area (e.g. the NAACP) told us that their entire offices would listen to the broadcasts together. Reaction to the broadcasts was overwhelmingly positive, and the partnership between AAPF and The Michael Eric Dyson Show was a great success. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson enthused that he was "thrilled to join with the nation’s leading expert on questions of affirmative action and their legal and political implications, Kimberlé Crenshaw, in analyzing the crucial issues at hand in Michigan."

Joining AAPF Executive Director Crenshaw and Dr. Dyson were many of the nation’s leading experts on affirmative action-related issues, a number of whom are Consortium members themselves. The guests ranged from litigators to academics, from directors of organizations to students at law students, from authors and playwrights to clergy. Appearing on the series, in alphabetical order were Reverend Wendell Anthony, Scot Brown, Devon Carbado, Sumi Cho, George Curry, Eve Ensler, Mark Fancher, Kevin Gaines, Cheryl Harris, Luke Harris, Janine Jackson, Robin D.G. Kelley, Marianne Lado, George Lipsitz, Gay MacDougall, Mari Matsuda, Priscilla Ocen, Dennis Parker, Thomas Shapiro, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Jory Steele, Rashida Tlaib, George A. Turner, Jr., Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, Heaster Wheeler, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rafael Yaquian, Reverend Wendell Anthony, Scot Brown, Devon Carbado, Sumi Cho, George Curry, Eve Ensler, Mark Fancher, Kevin Gaines, Cheryl Harris, Luke Harris, Janine Jackson, Robin D.G. Kelley, Marianne Lado, George Lipsitz, Gay MacDougall, Mari Matsuda, Priscilla Ocen, Dennis Parker, Thomas Shapiro, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Jory Steele, Rashida Tlaib, George A. Turner, Jr., Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, Heaster Wheeler, Betsy Leondar-Wright, and Rafael Yaquian.

PART 2: Web

During the entire run of the radio show, the AAPF team posted a chapter of our Affirmative Action Mythbusters workbook to accompany the myth discussed on the Michael Eric Dyson show that day. The workbook, which is now viewable in its entirety online, benefited greatly from being moved to the internet, as we were able to enrich it hyper-textually so that relevant sections reference each other, and also lead to other documents and links.
The web-based workbook received and continues to receive visits from parties looking to learn more about affirmative action. During the weeks prior to the election, it was linked prominently from the ACLU Racial Justice website, and its address has been circulated across a number of non-profit and academic email lists.

Today, the workbook (viewable at www.aapf.org/focus) forms the cornerstone for our web development effort over the next year. We firmly believe that the internet represents one of the most exciting developments for social justice organizing and education, and we view our workbook as a vital contribution to the information available on racial justice. Indeed, the work we produce has never been more accessible. Keep checking our website for updates, as we plan an extensive overhaul to ready our site for relaunching later this year.