To justly understand the racial injustices committed in our nation, we must first explore the undeniable truth about slavery. In numerous court hearings, slave owners, James Henry Hammond and George Fitzhugh declared that slavery in the south was a necessity to the economy as well as an essential ingredient to the how the south works. It’s been over 150 years since slavery was abolished, yet there is still racial prejudice alive in America today.
In Student Congress, there is a bill calling for a resolution to remove minority based colleges. To allow colleges to be based solely upon race is to put ourselves back in the mind frame of separate but equal. However, there are not only racial injustices in minority colleges, but also in the college admissions. For instance, two cases taken up by the Supreme Court demonstrate that black, Hispanic, and Native American applicants to the University of Michigan get preferential treatment over their white and Asian counterparts. For undergraduate admissions, Michigan utilizes a “Selection Index” that uses a scale up to 150 points to score and compare applicants. Under the system, minority candidates automatically get 20 points added to their score if they are black, Hispanic, or Native American. This is a large number of points considering that if you earn a perfect score on standardized tests (SAT or ACT) you only earn 12 points. Basically, by birth, minority students earn 1 point more than they could even hope to attain through high school assignments, a college entrance exam, and an admissions essay. The concept that race should matter in college admissions severely conflicts with the very essence and spirit of the Fourteenth Amendment—specifically, that all people, regardless of their skin color and heritage, should be guaranteed “the equal protect of the laws.” These standards have affected everyone in schools, playgrounds, sports, and in industrial employment, even in legislatures and courts, the outcome of preference is increasing racial tension and increasing self-segregation. A diverse student body is an appropriate goal for a university—but that goal, as Justice Lewis F. Powell said explicitly in his opinion in University of California v. Bakke, is intellectual diversity, diversity of judgment and viewpoint. In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, section 603 reads that no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
The oppression of blacks and some other minorities in our country has been brutal, a stain on our history. But the notion that we can rectify that historical grievance by giving preference now to people in the same racial groups as those earlier wronged is a gaffe. The fundamental principle is that by giving preference by race is wrong and unjust. The motives are often good, but the conduct is wrong and not tolerable in a high-quality society.
In Student Congress, there is a bill calling for a resolution to remove minority based colleges. To allow colleges to be based solely upon race is to put ourselves back in the mind frame of separate but equal. However, there are not only racial injustices in minority colleges, but also in the college admissions. For instance, two cases taken up by the Supreme Court demonstrate that black, Hispanic, and Native American applicants to the University of Michigan get preferential treatment over their white and Asian counterparts. For undergraduate admissions, Michigan utilizes a “Selection Index” that uses a scale up to 150 points to score and compare applicants. Under the system, minority candidates automatically get 20 points added to their score if they are black, Hispanic, or Native American. This is a large number of points considering that if you earn a perfect score on standardized tests (SAT or ACT) you only earn 12 points. Basically, by birth, minority students earn 1 point more than they could even hope to attain through high school assignments, a college entrance exam, and an admissions essay. The concept that race should matter in college admissions severely conflicts with the very essence and spirit of the Fourteenth Amendment—specifically, that all people, regardless of their skin color and heritage, should be guaranteed “the equal protect of the laws.” These standards have affected everyone in schools, playgrounds, sports, and in industrial employment, even in legislatures and courts, the outcome of preference is increasing racial tension and increasing self-segregation. A diverse student body is an appropriate goal for a university—but that goal, as Justice Lewis F. Powell said explicitly in his opinion in University of California v. Bakke, is intellectual diversity, diversity of judgment and viewpoint. In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, section 603 reads that no person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
The oppression of blacks and some other minorities in our country has been brutal, a stain on our history. But the notion that we can rectify that historical grievance by giving preference now to people in the same racial groups as those earlier wronged is a gaffe. The fundamental principle is that by giving preference by race is wrong and unjust. The motives are often good, but the conduct is wrong and not tolerable in a high-quality society.
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