Advocacy Scholarship and Affirmative Action

The books, The New Color Line by Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton, and We Won\u27t Go Back by Charles R. Lawrence III and Mari J. Matsuda, debate the problem of reform and overreaching in tough, advocacy-oriented prose. The first argues that racial reform was necessary but has gone too far-has even become morally self-corrupting-by its adoption of quotas and affirmative action. The second argues that racial reform was necessary and that we need more, not less affirmative action, and not only for blacks, but for women, Asian-Americans, Chicanos, poor people, and generally all subordinated classes. Its title, therefore, is somewhat misleading, for the authors not only resist going back, they also wish to push for more quotas and affirmative action for additional groups