Black queer activist says affirmative action ruling hits queer people hardest, upholds 'white supremacy'

National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) executive director Dr. David J. Johns stated that the recent Supreme Court rulings against affirmative action in college admission will increase “the numbers of violence and hate crimes and mental health trauma” that occurs at various colleges and universities.

Johns was interviewed by Them, an online magazine promoting “the best of what’s queer.” This interview centered around the recent banning of affirmative action in college admissions and what Johns thought the effects would be across the country.

“I want to be clear that for the federalists on the Supreme Court … their system is working exactly as it’s designed to — which is to uphold the privileges associated with white supremacy,” Johns said. He went on to complain how “right wing extremists have won this moment,” in reference to the court’s conservative majority that issued the rulings.

On June 29th, the Supreme Court officially declared that affirmative action violated the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. With these decisions, race-based admissions to colleges and universities became outlawed.

[RELATED: SCOTUS rules against affirmative action in college admissions]

Johns said that one of the main hurdles from the decision would be “members of our community feeling less safe than they should, or being less likely to invite in or otherwise name or disclose parts of their identities.” 

“[I]t will suppress the ability for us to accurately count the number of queer students of color and/or Black queer students at post-secondary institutions,” Johns added. He also said that he expected an uptick in “violence and hate crimes and mental health trauma.”

However, Johns also said that minority and LGBTQ students “will continue to show up as we always do, in spite of these rulings.”

[RELATED: NAACP calls on colleges to pledge ‘Diversity No Matter What’ following SCOTUS ruling]

Later in the interview, he encouraged colleges and universities to resist laws and policies like the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” and other “no promo homo” laws. Johns claimed that minority rights resulted from the need to “codify protections for people who are not white, cis, presumably heterosexual, able-bodied men.” In light of the affirmative action and other recent Supreme Court rulings, “it should be clear to everyone that nothing is sacred” in regards to LGBTQ rights. 

Johns said that they should invest in programs that make the “most marginalized” feel “seen and safe and supported.” 

Johns also blasted “grown ass adults who are political bullies”, including North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson and “he-who-shall-not-be-named,” a.k.a. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for comments against LGBTQ ideology. He also attacked states like Texas for banning so-called “gender affirming care and criminalizing the provision of the kind of care that we need in order to exist.”

Johns concluded by saying he believes that more conservative values, that is “binaries and boxes,” need to be removed because these ideas have been designed to “preserve privilege.”

“My hope is that people who can’t appreciate the ways that trans and non-binary folks get us closer to freedom will be moved by young people who didn’t ask to deal with any of this shit,” he said.

Campus Reform reached out to NBJC to contact Dr. Johns. This article will be updated accordingly.