Affirmative Action

In America "whites once set themselves apart from blacks and claimed privileges for themselves while denying them to others," the author writes. "Now, on the basis of race, blacks are claiming special status and reserving for themselves privileges they deny to others. Isn't one as bad as the other?" Stanley Fish

This is one question that currently transfixes the American educational system, as well as all of us, the American people, especially its youth. With the increasing crush to be entered into the United States college system, tension is building over the relatively new issue of "affirmative action."

Many call affirmative action "Reverse Racism," used in the most negative sense of the term. However, can one really justifiably compare this "racism" that white Americans seem to be feeling to the mindless, ignorant racism exerted upon the black community throughout the majority of its history in America? Need we be reminded of the enslavement, the oppression that white Americans forced upon African Americans for over a hundred years? Even after being "freed" from this oppression, the African American community on the whole has not yet fully reached the same level of prosperity and equality, be it economic, social, or otherwise enjoyed by the majority culture.

Affirmative action, many say, is a step taken in a positive direction, designed to give all minority cultures, not just African Americans, a boost up the social ladder. By looking more favorably upon some minority applicants to colleges, colleges, the educational system is, in effect, serving to ensure that more minorities are receiving the education needed to lead a prosperous and successful career and life.

Others, however, feel this mentality to be flawed. Why should anyone receive preferential treatment over another, regardless of race? Why should a majority student, who perhaps has better grades, be passed over in favor of a minority student with slightly less outstanding merit? Race should have no influence over any decision-making process, including college admissions. Is this not racism?

The African American community is struggling into a new beginning, finally largely free of the crippling racism that plagued it for the vast majority of its time in America. Brought here on slave ships, against their will, the first blacks were slaves to their white owners. That is no more, and African Americans have begun to define themselves clearly, a culture within the larger culture that encompasses all Americans. African Americans are different, yet not so different. Blacks and whites are equals; there is no (logical) doubt on that issue. Why then, are they treated otherwise?

Notes of a Native Son, a piece of literature by James Baldwin brings this question to light. In this excerpt, we find the narrator of the story in a diner, trying to order something to eat.

"Whatever I looked like, I frightened the waitress who shortly appeared, and the moment she appeared all of my fury flowed toward her. I hated her for her white face, and for her great, astounded, frightened eyes. I felt that if she found a Black man so frightening I would make her fright worthwhile. She did not ask what I wanted, but repeated, as though she had learned it somewhere, "We don't serve Negroes here..."

Through this seemingly simple scenario, James Baldwin provides us an example of this subtle, indescribable, yet very real feeling of the invisible wall that seems to exist between the white and African American cultures. This wall is invisible and intangible, but it is often as solid as brick. The narrator of the story and the white waitress were on opposite sides of that wall. They were virtually alien to each other, each unable to empathize with or understand the other. Through this scenario, Baldwin captures in this scenario the barrier that is erected, intentionally or unintentionally, between these two cultures, and the misunderstanding and hostility that can result from it.

Clearly anyone is capable of feeling, if not exhibiting racism, regardless of his or her race. This is why many argue that affirmative action is not only wrong, it is racist. I however, feel that is not the case. Though affirmative action is, by definition, giving preferential treatment to those of a particular race, I do not feel this to be a negative form of partiality. This is not racism as we know it. However, I also feel that it is not right.

Affirmative action may be a step taken to help African Americans, who on the whole have not yet reached the same degree of prosperity as other races in America, yet it brings to my mind the question, "When does help hurt?" By looking more favorably upon the applications of minority students based simply upon race, are college admissions, in fact, dumbing down the system, giving minority students an unfair, and in reality, detrimental advantage? This, in effect, makes it too easy for minority students to advance, and it almost seems they are being handed what they get. In effect, minority students would not be held to the same academic standards as their white counterparts, a phenomenon detrimental to all involved. This is certainly not to say that most minority students haven't worked hard for what they've accomplished.

However, it is to say that affirmative action could make it that way.