The Context

The relationship between labor and technology forms the foundation on which social relationships are built. First there is technology then there are people who use it and those who own it. The group that owns the technology and the goods/services produced by it--made up of a particular race, class, gender and culture (RCGC)--create socio-political and economic institutions that help them to remain in power. Institutions are in the fields of health care, education, criminal justice, politics, recreation, law, etc. This ruling RCGC grants access to others, including Black people (the term Black is used to denote people of African descent regardless of their land of birth), according to the degree to which they further the economic interests of the rulers.

The quality and quantity (in terms of how much) of education Black people in the United States have access to is directly tied to the production needs of the ruling RCGC. The expansion of educational opportunities in the 1950s and 1960s was directly tied to the economic expansion associated with post-World War II reconstruction. In other words, there was a need for more workers, not only in manufacturing facilities but also in the emerging service industries. The service occupations required levels of education higher than a high school diploma. Thus Affirmative Action policies were created to break down racist-sexist-classist social barriers so that large segments of the U.S. population could quickly enter college, with financial assistance.(to be continued...)