[theapportioner]

1) It is naive to think that eliminating race-based classifications from the law will eliminate them from society. The contribution from affirmative action to racial divisiveness is trivial, and I would argue that racial divisiveness would be exacerbated if such a program were removed.

2) Meritocracy is an illusion. There are plenty of deviations from the ideal (as if the ideal could possibly be commonly agreed upon), and for various reasons, people myopically obsess over affirmative action.

3) Affirmative action, though flawed (and it is flawed), promotes diversity, something that is supremely essential in this interconnected age.

4) Choosing between eliminating affirmative action and keeping it, it is better to keep it, in spite of the flaws. And even better to improve upon it, to engender diversity rather than racial niches.