Mythbusting clarifies anti-race policy

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Author: Damian Mendieta

A case currently before the Supreme Court, “Fischer v. University of Texas,” may bring landmark changes to America. Abigail Fischer sued the University of Texas after being rejected, claiming that the college’s racial preferences discriminated against white applicants. Fischer’s claims ignore the fact that her good but not great SAT scores (1180 out 1600) and GPA (3.59) probably had more to do with her admissions decision.

The case against affirmative action is based on the thinking that racism no longer exists; unqualified, marginalized individuals will take the place of competent white people; and that “reverse racism” will be perpetuated. Many educational articles also claim that underprivileged students are “mismatched” into colleges that are too difficult for them, suggesting that such youths should be sent to less prestigious institutions.

To understand the reasons behind Affirmative Action, there must be a thorough deconstruction of the arguments against this anti-racist policy. The following includes some of the most common myths about Affirmative Action.

Myth Number One: Affirmative Action discriminates against white people.

Race expert and activist Tim Wise explained the difference between discrimination and racism in the workplace. “Discrimination…describes those moments when one individual decides not to give another individual a job because…of their looks (there’s a lot of hiring discrimination against ‘unattractive’ women, for example).”
Wise says that racism “describes patterns of discrimination that are institutionalized as ‘normal’ throughout an entire culture.” In our society, regardless of relativity and different individual experiences, being white means holding great privilege and power. When a white person says Affirmative Action discriminates against them, the individual is complaining about the destruction of white entitlement.

Myth Number Two: Race is no longer a prevalent issue in America.

Stanford Magazine published an article this year entitled, “The Case Against Affirmative Action,” that claims racism is no longer a prevalent issue, especially at Stanford. “None of this is to deny that there are some people in America who are racist…But racism is not everywhere, and there is very little at a place like Stanford…so perhaps the real problem with affirmative action is that we are pretending to solve a problem that no longer exists,” writers David Sacks and Peter Thiel said.

Racism is in the eye of the beholder, and whether or not racism still exists is indicated by one’s perspective. For many, racial oppression may just be in history books, but for others racism exists in silenced shadows of society. Using data from the 2010 U.S. Bureau of Census, researcher Scott Plous discovered that black people continue to have twice the unemployment rate of white people, twice the rate of infant mortality and just over half the proportion of people who attend four years or more of college. What society were Sacks and Thiel looking at?

Myth Number Three: Affirmative Action gives jobs to unqualified people of color.

Many are quick to claim that millions of white workers are in danger of losing their jobs to beneficiaries of Affirmative Action. But even if the grand total of 2.5 million unemployed black and 2.2 million unemployed Latino people were instantly hired, that would be a minor ripple compared to the 115 million white people employed, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Asian unemployment numbers hover at 400,000 – also not a threat to white jobs.

As the umemployment crisis has hit millions of Americans in the last decade, the sad reality is that the majority of benefits and opportunities under Affirmative Action are going white middle-class women instead of people of color. The book “When Affirmative Action was white” by Columbia professor Ira Katznelson, provides plenty of empirical evidence to show the continuing racial disparity in America. At a time when Affirmative Action was attacked for giving opportunities to people of color, jobs statistics from the 80’s and 90’s show a net loss in black employment and a sharp rise in white female jobs.

Myth Number Four: Unqualified people of color are admitted to schools too difficult for them.

What this myth entails is colleges should ignore the strife students of color face in the too-often underfunded schools they attend. So if a bright student with potential comes from a poor environment of ineffective public schools that encourage students to not attend college, it’s better to reject them instead of nurturing their gifts. This idea that unqualified students are taking up spots that could go to other students is the mismatch theory.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article, “The Unraveling of Affirmative Action,” that supports the mismatch theory. According to a 2011 study by economics professor Peter Arcidiacono of Duke University, students were much more likely to become friends with classmates they saw as academically similar to themselves. Providing enrichment programs, alumni mentoring and a proactive network of faculty to assist student growth is the alternative to accepting the mistmatch theory. Students of color from failing schools are no less intelligent than those who come from the most elite high schools. Saying so is a cop-out to the real problems that undermine many marginalized students in their pursuit of an education.

Myth Number Five: Affirmative Action negatively affects Occidental by letting students in who do not belong there.

Affirmative Action does not exist at Occidental. It has not since California Prop 209 outlawed Affirmative Action throughout the state in 1995. The college has included Affirmative Action language in their admission policy, but nothing that can compare to pre-1995 policies. Though many students of color have managed to fight their way across a chasm of struggle to excel at Occidental, more could arrive if California reintroduced Affirmative Action.

The mismatch theory is debunked by student leaders who besides impressing their professors have time to enact change at Occidental. A supportive roster of faculty understand the struggles students of color face, but an institutionalized program of support would be preferable. Too often, students who come from schools that failed to hone their writing skills and critical thinking abilities, must do twice the work of a typical student. The first-generation students and students of color often arrive on campus playing catch-up with most students, but leave at the helm of their class.

Damian Mendieta is a sophomore Latino/a & Latin American Studies and history double-major. He can be reached at mendieta@oxy.edu.

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