Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action and American Values.

• Author: Kahlenberg, Richard D.

IN 1995, HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR Christopher Edley Jr. received what he calls "the chance of a lifetime" when he was asked to head President Clinton's formal review of affirmative action policies. After several tumultuous months, Edley's review concluded that affirmative action policies should be "mended, not ended." This was a politically brilliant slogan, capturing America's ambivalence over racial and gender preference policies: the desire to address inequalities, paired with the deep concern about biological preferences as the means. Many observers noted, however, that the slogan hardly translated into the fine print of the President's program, which seemed devoid of visible "mending."

Edley has now come forward with a thoughtful, thorough, well-written book combining sharp analysis of the difficult questions raised by affirmative action with behind-the-scenes tales of the White House struggle with the issue. Those familiar with Edley's teaching will not be surprised that the book presents a strong, comprehensive case for his position, but also acknowledges the tough counterarguments made by opponents of current programs.

Having said all this, I doubt Not an Black and White will win over many new converts. Despite the fact that one of Edley's most important contributions to the debate is his insistence that affirmative action involves a question of values, not just interests, his book ultimately endorses almost every form of racial preference--a position that contradicts some of the fundamental values Americans hold dear.

Edley lays out three different visions in the affirmative action debate: the colorblind vision, which repudiates both discrimination and preferences; the remedial vision, in which affirmative action is a temporary remedy to discrimination; and the diversity vision, in which affirmative action is used to foster inclusiveness, even in the absence of discrimination.

The first vision, colorblindness, calls for nothing beyond strict enforcement of antidiscrimination laws. Edley argues that this thinking is willfully ignorant of social realities. He notes that we live in a society in which black unemployment is two times that of whites, where 1 of every 2 black children under the age of six lives in poverty (compared to 1 in 7 white children); and where only 2.4 percent of businesses nationwide are owned by blacks. Even absent future discrimination, this condition will be perpetuated into the future, says Edley, given the low...