As my junior year comes to an end and my senior year seems just over the horizon I know that any college acceptance I get to a selective school will be questioned. I am a young mixed race Latina woman, the daughter of immigrant parents, therefore the news of my acceptances will inevitably be followed by: “Oh well you’re a minority” or by many of my fellow white classmates “Ugh, I didn’t get in because I’m white. Reverse racism sucks”.
I will be made to feel guilty for my race and ethnicity, which warrants me no other “advantage” outside of college admissions.
Affirmative action was created to combat the centuries of underrepresentation and oppression minorities cope with. It was not made to take away admissions and jobs from white people, it was created because the United States government realized how underrepresented people of color were in the academic and job world. Affirmative action is not overt favoritism of minorities over white people, it just makes sure we are considered equally without racial bias or discrimination. This means colleges actually make an effort to reach out and consider our credentials equally. This is a way of trying to balance out the institutionalized, economic and social disadvantages people of color face.
Thankfully since the implementation of affirmative action, we have made some progress, in 1976 Hispanic/Latino students only compromised 4% of college students, but in 2014 that number had risen to 17%. Black and African American students made up 10% of college students in 1976 but in 2014 made up 14%. These numbers should be much higher but despite many white people’s cries of “reverse racism”, the college admission system still favors white applicants. White students are still 40% more likely to get private scholarships than minorities and affirmative action helps white women much more than students of color.
No, affirmative action is not reverse racism because white people do not have to fear being stopped and frisked simply because of what they look like and they’re not jailed at alarming rates. They’re not more likely to live in poverty or be unemployed because of the color of their skin or their status. They do not have to face systematic racism and political rhetoric that demeans and blames them for the disadvantages placed upon them by society.
People of color are the ones who have been kept out of the best jobs, best schools, best incomes, and the best opportunities that have always been given to white people, especially white men, for over a century.
Affirmative action was put in place because you can’t erase centuries of historic discrimination unless you ensure that these previously excluded groups have a fighting chance. Next spring when I have received my acceptances I hope any non-person of color who dares say that I got in because of affirmative action realizes the privileges they have that I will never experience. I hope they remember that white men have access to rooms of opportunity that I have to crawl and scratch my way into, so no I don’t think you should be crying about reverse racism.
