The U.S. Supreme Court decision over the summer to ban the use of race and ethnicity as factors in college admissions could reduce workplace diversity and widen health disparities. The irony is that affirmative action is a government tool used to remedy long-standing discrimination against Black people, women and other minorities. The court used the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause to undo 40 years of precedent.

Notwithstanding is the fact that the ancestors of Black Americans endured more than 240 years of legal slavery and another 100 years of segregation. Systemic barriers consisting of poverty, trauma, housing discrimination and underfunded schools still exist. Without affirmative action, fewer students from underrepresented groups will be able to overcome barriers and achieve the American Dream.

Data from nine states that banned affirmative action in higher education admissions prior to the Supreme Court decision showed a decline in enrollment among Black and Latino students. In 1998, the California ban took effect, and the data noted enrollment among Black and Latino students at the University of California’s Los Angeles and Berkeley campuses fell by 40%. Today, Black student enrollment at UC Berkeley is about 2.5%.

Michigan colleges experienced a similar decline in admissions after the state banned affirmative action in 2006: Black undergraduate enrollment plummeted to 4% in 2021 from 7% in 2006.

There is overwhelming evidence that having a college degree or trade enhances employment prospects and earning potential. The effects of the Supreme Court decision are apparent in health care where Black people and Latinos are underrepresented. The 2023 March of Dimes Report Card gave Cook County a D-plus preterm birth grade. A 2021 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows Black women continue to experience the largest disparities in maternal mortality in the nation.

[ Willie Wilson: Why are disparities widening for African Americans in Chicago? ]

Studies show diversity, inclusion and equity in the health care workforce lead to better patient outcomes. While Black Americans represent 13% of the U.S. population, fewer than 6% of U.S. physicians are Black. Only 3% of U.S. doctors in dermatology are Black. A 2021 UCLA study found that the share of doctors who are Black had only increased 4 percentage points from 1900 to 2018.

According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Black people represent fewer than 3% of registered dietitian nutritionists. Why does it matter if your doctor looks like you? They are better positioned to relate culturally to, empathize with and understand their patients. The U.S. Public Health Service funding of the Tuskegee syphilis study between 1932 and 1972, which denied Black men treatment and used them as guinea pigs, significantly eroded the Black community’s trust in medical officials. The doctors withheld treatment and allowed 128 men to die of syphilis or syphilis-related complications.

Black Americans suffer disproportionately from heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and prostate cancer in men, breast cancer in women and much more. According to the American Heart Association, 60% of Black people in the U.S. have cardiovascular disease, but fewer than 3% of cardiologists are Black. Renal or kidney disease disproportionately affects Black Americans. While Black people represent about 33% of renal patients, Black nephrology doctors account for 5% of the providers.

The 2021 Illinois Diversity in Health Care Task Force annual report from the Illinois Department of Health notes that “health disparities amount to $93 billion in excess medical care costs and $42 billion in lost productivity per year.” The Supreme Court decision to ban affirmative action in education will stall progress toward closing health disparities.

The following are recommendations to ensure greater diversity and inclusion in the workforce:

1. President Joe Biden and Congress should increase funding for historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and other institutions that serve minorities.

2. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the state legislature should bring back the Invest in Kids scholarship program.

3. Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the state legislature should require every student complete training in two trades before graduating from high school.

4. Pritzker and the state legislature should provide incentives for organizations, faith-based groups and schools to do outreach encouraging Black people, Latinos and women to choose careers in health care and other underrepresented careers.

5. Pritzker, Johnson, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch must lead the way in ensuring equity in contracting, employment and education.

The social policy think tank Urban Institute is right: “Procurement — like public employment — provides governments with a potentially powerful tool for promoting minority opportunities and counteracting discrimination.” Unfortunately, the city of Chicago has failed to use procurement as a remedy to sufficiently level the playing field for its Black residents.

Access to higher education and trades provides an opportunity for meaningful employment. The legacy of slavery, segregation and inequality lingers in American cities. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the nation’s high court, wrote in Grutter v. Bollinger: “To reverse affirmative action in higher education now, as the (Fisher v. University of Texas) case threatens to do, is to pull a thread that could unravel the progress that has allowed so many sectors of our society to become more genuinely inclusive and reflective of a diverse nation.”

I fear the Supreme Court’s decision could take us back to the Kerner Commission’s 1968 report in which the panel found “two separate and unequal societies” attributed to riots based on economic and social inequality.

I write this commentary to make those who are comfortable with reversing diversity in the workplace uncomfortable. As a nation, we have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure an equitable playing field for everyone. That work begins with honest communication.

Willie Wilson is a Chicago business owner and a former 2023 mayoral candidate.

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