There was a good argument by Glenn Loury, black intellectual, who at one point was
this close to being appointed to a position in the Reagan administration.
Paul Krugman of the NYT re: Glenn Loury wrote:
He was willing to give American society the benefit of the doubt, to assume that in the future, racism--direct economic discrimination--would no longer be a major force holding African-Americans back. But he argued that this probably would not be enough, and therein lay the dilemma.
On one hand, we all believe that individuals deserve to be judged on their own merits, not by who their parents were or what group they belong to. On the other hand, anyone who imagines that a child growing up in the South Bronx has the same chance to make it as an equally talented child growing up in Scarsdale is living in a fantasy world. So merely eliminating current racial discrimination might very well fail to eliminate the effects of past discrimination. Indeed, Loury argued persuasively that even a world of "equal opportunity" might "perpetuate into the indefinite future the consequences of ethically unacceptable historical practices." If you find that prospect unacceptable, you must support some form of social engineering--which ultimately, no matter how you package it, means giving some people special consideration based on the color of their skin as well as on the content of their character.
http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/loury.htmlSo yes, lowering the bar is wrong especially when it comes to something like public safety. I don't agree with what was done in this case but I wouldn't say all AA measures are wrong or stupid.