Affirmative action hurts the people it claims to help. Jason Riley, a black conservative scholar, says racial preferences set up minorities to fail. By pushing students into elite schools they aren’t prepared for, the policy creates “artificial failures” and makes every black success look unearned.

Riley argues affirmative action mismatches students with colleges. Kids who thrive at state schools struggle at Ivy Leagues. Many drop out or switch to easier majors. This leaves fewer black doctors and engineers than if they’d gone where they belonged.

Before affirmative action, black Americans were climbing faster. Incomes and education rose for decades without special treatment. After race-based policies started, progress stalled. Welfare programs and lowered standards killed the drive to achieve.

Every black success now gets questioned. Did they earn it or get handouts? This “tainted success” poisons achievement. It tells black kids they can’t compete without help. That’s the real racism—claiming minorities aren’t good enough.

Even switching to class-based preferences won’t fix it. Mismatching poor kids with elite schools still backfires. Colleges care about skin color, not helping the needy. It’s about woke politics, not lifting anyone up.

Justice Clarence Thomas agrees. He says treating blacks as forever victims is “cancerous.” Young minds need to break barriers, not blame racism. Real progress comes from hard work, not government favors.

Elite schools use minorities as window dressing. They’d rather look diverse than see students succeed. It’s cruel. They sacrifice black kids to feel virtuous. Patriots know true equality means equal standards, not lowered bars.

The answer isn’t more race games. Black Americans thrived when they had pride, not handouts. Ditch affirmative action. Let everyone rise on merit. That’s the American way—and the only path to real dignity.