I'm more concerned with the broader impact of the precedent set by AA. The entire concept of protected classes actually undermine equal rights, and further establishes government as the vehicle for promoting one's goals for society.
How does protected classes undermine equal rights? Race as a protected class, doesn't mean black only, brown only, or white only, it says race. Just because the majority of the country is white, and a good portion show racist tendencies, in which there are more instances of where a minority is discriminated against, doesn't mean minorities are the only protected class, or that it is unequal.
Agreed, technically. I understand the legal concept of protected classes - namely that the classes in questions aren't classes of people, but rather classes of prohibited
reasons for discrimination (that's actually worse, though perhaps best left to another discussion). The thing is, in practice, that's not how it works. And that's not how its perceived by most people, on both sides of the debate. Most people recognize AA and protected classes as a means of granting special privileges to minorities that have suffered from discrimination in the past. A kind of reparations.
The problem with this approach is that it changes the role of government. Rather than depending on government to be an impartial referee, with the primary responsibility of protecting individual rights, we are learning to use to government as general tool to get what we want out of society. Whether it's minorities lobbying for respect, or corporations lobbying for profits, special interest groups have come to see government as a legitimate means of forcing society to bend to their will. In the case of racism, particularly racism with the legacy of legal slavery, it's hard to see it as a bad thing. It's when the concept is sublimated by society as a whole that the real damage happens.