Anyone who does ANY amount of
research on Affirmative Action, Affirmative Grading, and Affirmative Graduation will know that "identical education" just simply cannot be assumed, and really the opposite almost has to be assumed.
One of the many unfortunate results of having different standards in place for different people. You force employers to screw over qualified black applicants because they're aware that the academic environment is what it is. They have no easy way of discerning that what they've got in front of them is the application of a truly intelligent, educated black person rather than someone who skated through from grade school to college receiving all manner of fudging and lowering of the bar. And oh yes, there's a massive amount of fudging even at the earliest grade levels. We've set up a system where teachers don't want to be racist, districts don't want to be seen as having "racial disparities" in grades, graduation, discipline, etc. There are very strong incentives to do whatever it takes (and it usually takes lying) to make things look more even.
Whereas, if we got rid of these blatantly unconstitutional programs, someone looking at an application like that from a black job seeker could actually take those qualifications seriously and assume what they do with a white candidate, which is that this is someone worth hiring.
But ultimately, why should any individual or any employer be forced to hire anyone? How about freedom of association? How about the right to cultivate and maintain a certain sort of work environment? How about the ability to (rightly or wrongly) prefer to work with other people of your same race and/or gender?
How many people are beating down the doors of Chinese and Mexican restaurants insisting that they MUST not employ primarily their own family members, and that they MUST have some whites and blacks in the kitchen and wait staff too? It's absurd. If they want to have a homogeneous work environment of people who can all speak Chinese or Spanish or whatever, and they feel more comfortable with them... more power to them. Most people agree, I think.
But suddenly when it's a large company comprised of white people, we feel like we have the right to use the government to force them to disrupt their successful, cohesive environment where the workers are getting along and are comfortable with one another. I don't get that.
And yes, having a name like Quantavius or something does in fact broadcast a lot about your background, and none of it's positive. It's perfectly legitimate for an employer to use their knowledge of what sort of backgrounds are associated with what sort of names, and play the smart odds. It costs a lot to train someone and it can be a huge hassle to fire them and find a replacement. Particularly if they're "diverse" because the odds of some sort of lawsuit for firing them will be much higher.
Why shouldn't a business have the right to say
"y'know what, diversity's great and all but I'm going to leave that to other companies to mess with... mine's going to be all about cohesion, efficacy, and profits. I want to minimize the tension in the office and I don't want to be dealing with any sexual harassment or racial discrimination law suits. I don't want to have to spend the extra money for a diversity consultant and giving a bunch of seminars on this stuff. So I'm just going to hire white, seemingly heterosexual men."
We've completely destroyed the concept of free association in this country, and it's utter bullshit.
EDIT: Oh and if when you read what I just said your head is on the verge of explosion, consider whether you'd be bothered by BET or the NAACP or a barber shop in Harlem or a restaurant there deliberately setting out to maintain an entirely or almost entirely black workforce because they felt it was the culture they wanted in their company, and benefited their goals? Would that bother you? Most people would say no. Why are whites the only group on the planet who are not permitted to have racial awareness, racial pride, their own countries to themselves, or even just a business or club to themselves?