Affirmative prejudice

Monday, Jun. 21, 2004 @ 10:28 a.m.

Colleges nationwide are pretty much divided on the whole affirmative action thing. Though, when you think about it, college admissions officers can never win. For instance:

"WHAT? I'm denied because I'm black/hispanic/asian/etc.??" Lawsuits.

"WHAT? You didn't consider my race in your application review process??" Lawsuits.

It's a no-win situation.

Being a minority myself, I should be thankful of affirmative action when it comes to college applications. However, I also feel ashamed at the same time because it's another example of how, once again, people are abusing the protection against racism whenever it's convenient for them. It's completely contradictory to the California law that prohibits schools from including race as a factor in admissions, which was what racial minorities fought for in the first place. It basically says "Look at me as a person with no color, and judge me according to my personal abilities and talents". Which is absolutely fair, and I agree that it's the way it should be.

And now, with affirmative action, it's saying "Don't look just at my abilities, look at my race and color as well. I'm already abused by society, so you should compensate me by accepting me to your college". I don't envy admissions officers at all on that token, because they can never win. They'll get shot down either way.

So, as much as it's going to obliterate my privileges as a member of a racial minority, I'm totally for the abolishment of affirmative action. I don't need your pity. Society may give me a smaller piece of the pie, but I'm not going to go "Boo-Hoo" and whine till someone gives me scraps. I'll make things happen with what I have, because I've got the same brain and same potential for talent as anyone else, be it black, white, blue, polka-dotted or otherwise.

I believe that affirmative action is nothing but racism with a nicer, more politically correct name, and it's unfair to non-minorities who cannot help but be born into the race they are. You can work hard to achieve anything with regards to academia, but you can't change your ethnicity (and no, Michael Jackson doesn't qualify as an example). Imagine having the perfect SAT scores and a 4.0 GPA, but still be denied admission just because you're white. Hmm, doesn't that sound like racism? The way I see it, if college admissions are based heavily on academia, it's equal-opportunity for all. Don't like your SAT score? Work on it. Your GPA is too low? Work harder to raise it. All you need is a brain and lots of effort, which everyone is equipped with.

Unless you're George W. Bush, of course. Then you're pretty much that "If only I had a brain" scarecrow from "The Wizard of Oz". I would participate in biomedical research to help you grow an actual, functioning brain, but you banned stem cell research, so... can't help you there, buddy. Sorry.

ADVERTISEMENT: Watch "Fahrenheit 9/11", out in theaters this weekend!!

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Affirmative prejudice