Really Stuck My Foot In It This Time
I've been watching the unfolding comments about affirmative action and the affect it has had on everyone in the Smith's community. It's been exciting to see people's comments and reactions about an issue that very clearly still affects all of us.
Before sharing any of my views or experiences, I would like to relate a few observations. I realize this may make an already potentially long blog into a novel, but I feel they are necessary.
Firstly, just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't mean they misinterpreted you. I think everyone that responded to posts over the past few days have understood each other very well. They just didn't have the same perspective some did on individual situations or the issue in general.
Secondly, the belief that only minorities and underprivileged people can understand and identify racism is divisive and incorrect. So is the belief that "people get into schools because their parents have money," etc. This may be the case in certain isolated incidents (perhaps more often than any of us would like), but I think that the vast majority of students get into schools because of their grades, their resumes and their performance (that is, until affirmative action gets involved). Because I'm white and my parents make a middle-class income, does this mean that I'm only getting into the law schools I get into because my parents were able to pull some strings? I beg you... give me a little more credit than that.
There seems to be a pervasive feeling that white people live in this lofty middle-class bubble of peace and privilege that they guard with racist zeal. The real fact of the matter is most white people have it just as difficult as any other group of people. Sure, there is a minority of whites (and blacks, asians, etc.) that get by on the merits of others, but to apply that label to the whole group is probably the most racist and bigoted thing I have heard, more so because this perspective is shared by a huge segment of society and condoned by the media. It's led to a continuing polarization of the races and makes many people feel guilty for simply the color of their skin.
Let me share, if I may, an experience of my own about law-school applications. I have been applying to law schools for the last six months. I have studied and taken the LSAT, I have graduated from an undergraduate university and I have sent in my applications with all the necessary paperwork. I have also made friends with many lawyers both here and in the state of my undergraduate school. I have discussed extensively with them my prospects of going to school and what it will take to get in to the top schools.
One thing continues to come up on the lips of all who advise me. The fact that I'm white is going to work against me. Not that I'm stupid (which may very well be true), not that I'm over-privileged, not that I have a felony record. Simply based on the color of my skin and my Y chromosome, I am less likely to get into the schools I wish to attend. Now you tell me how that isn't racist.
I'd also like to point out how interesting it is that among my lawyer friends are a Hispanic and a Jew and a woman from Haiti. They are all fully supportive of me and helped me make decisions about schools and so forth. Ands they are among those being perfectly honest about how my race is going to work against me. If I as a white boy can make friends and receive support from "minority" lawyers (who I never saw as such until we got into this conversation. I saw them simply as... hm... lawyers. Think of that) why is it that people think that only white potential law students are going to get help from "majority" lawyers? The idea is ludicrous.
As long as we continue to think strictly along racial lines, we are going to get no where. My lawyer friends were willing to see beyond my skin color and help me (not with getting into the schools, mind you, but simply in how and where to apply). Perhaps the racial barrier so often decried by the "disadvantaged" is not as thick as we are led to believe. Or is it only possible for minorities to help whites and not visa versa?
Am I privileged? You bet I am. I am blessed with more than I could possibly ever deserve in terms of money, time and opportunity. But then again, so is every person who is born and raised on American soil. I will probably be able to find financial support through loans and grants when it comes time to paying for school. But so can anyone who puts their time and effort to it. I recognize my debt to my family and God for the blessings I have, but I also worked for what I have, working my way through school and graduating at the top of my class. No white-bread sugardaddy WASP gave me that diploma, I'll tell you that right now.
One more thing. I thank my Creator every night for the blessings He has been merciful enough to give to me, despite my obvious unworthiness. But I don't thank him for my race. I'm not ashamed of it, but I certainly don't see it as something that makes me better than others. We need to look beyond racial boundaries as reasons to hate and divide each other. We need to look to our common bonds to strengthen us. Then maybe we will live in the nation that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of where his children would be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character.
Before sharing any of my views or experiences, I would like to relate a few observations. I realize this may make an already potentially long blog into a novel, but I feel they are necessary.
Firstly, just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't mean they misinterpreted you. I think everyone that responded to posts over the past few days have understood each other very well. They just didn't have the same perspective some did on individual situations or the issue in general.
Secondly, the belief that only minorities and underprivileged people can understand and identify racism is divisive and incorrect. So is the belief that "people get into schools because their parents have money," etc. This may be the case in certain isolated incidents (perhaps more often than any of us would like), but I think that the vast majority of students get into schools because of their grades, their resumes and their performance (that is, until affirmative action gets involved). Because I'm white and my parents make a middle-class income, does this mean that I'm only getting into the law schools I get into because my parents were able to pull some strings? I beg you... give me a little more credit than that.
There seems to be a pervasive feeling that white people live in this lofty middle-class bubble of peace and privilege that they guard with racist zeal. The real fact of the matter is most white people have it just as difficult as any other group of people. Sure, there is a minority of whites (and blacks, asians, etc.) that get by on the merits of others, but to apply that label to the whole group is probably the most racist and bigoted thing I have heard, more so because this perspective is shared by a huge segment of society and condoned by the media. It's led to a continuing polarization of the races and makes many people feel guilty for simply the color of their skin.
Let me share, if I may, an experience of my own about law-school applications. I have been applying to law schools for the last six months. I have studied and taken the LSAT, I have graduated from an undergraduate university and I have sent in my applications with all the necessary paperwork. I have also made friends with many lawyers both here and in the state of my undergraduate school. I have discussed extensively with them my prospects of going to school and what it will take to get in to the top schools.
One thing continues to come up on the lips of all who advise me. The fact that I'm white is going to work against me. Not that I'm stupid (which may very well be true), not that I'm over-privileged, not that I have a felony record. Simply based on the color of my skin and my Y chromosome, I am less likely to get into the schools I wish to attend. Now you tell me how that isn't racist.
I'd also like to point out how interesting it is that among my lawyer friends are a Hispanic and a Jew and a woman from Haiti. They are all fully supportive of me and helped me make decisions about schools and so forth. Ands they are among those being perfectly honest about how my race is going to work against me. If I as a white boy can make friends and receive support from "minority" lawyers (who I never saw as such until we got into this conversation. I saw them simply as... hm... lawyers. Think of that) why is it that people think that only white potential law students are going to get help from "majority" lawyers? The idea is ludicrous.
As long as we continue to think strictly along racial lines, we are going to get no where. My lawyer friends were willing to see beyond my skin color and help me (not with getting into the schools, mind you, but simply in how and where to apply). Perhaps the racial barrier so often decried by the "disadvantaged" is not as thick as we are led to believe. Or is it only possible for minorities to help whites and not visa versa?
Am I privileged? You bet I am. I am blessed with more than I could possibly ever deserve in terms of money, time and opportunity. But then again, so is every person who is born and raised on American soil. I will probably be able to find financial support through loans and grants when it comes time to paying for school. But so can anyone who puts their time and effort to it. I recognize my debt to my family and God for the blessings I have, but I also worked for what I have, working my way through school and graduating at the top of my class. No white-bread sugardaddy WASP gave me that diploma, I'll tell you that right now.
One more thing. I thank my Creator every night for the blessings He has been merciful enough to give to me, despite my obvious unworthiness. But I don't thank him for my race. I'm not ashamed of it, but I certainly don't see it as something that makes me better than others. We need to look beyond racial boundaries as reasons to hate and divide each other. We need to look to our common bonds to strengthen us. Then maybe we will live in the nation that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of where his children would be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home