What is a Minority?

Rip! I tear open the envelope and look inside as my heart falls. Another rejection! How many scholarships can a person get turned down? So far I have been turned down for all the twenty-seven I applied for.

I have a friend whose parents make over $100,000 a year and he received a full ride scholarship. Why? Because he is considered a minority. I come from a family that makes roughly $50,000 a year and did not qualify for financial aid, or receive any of the scholarships I applied for. I mean I participate in sports and clubs, and maintain an average GPA. I’m not at all saying that I deserve a sports scholarship or even an academic one but it would be nice.

Many would say that the reason is that they are giving scholarships to those who are “minorities” because of the prejudices that their race faces. My theory is that it is just people trying not to get sued.

I’m not suggesting that there is not prejudice in the United States because there is. Reports have been made about racial bullying in schools. Not only does this offend the victims but affects their learning as well. There have been numerous cases of racism in the past that still haunt our country, but we should leave them in the past.

This is an important issue that we need to be thinking about but not focusing on.

Akeisha N., a high school student said “I feel like sometimes, just being a minority, I have so many more opportunities.”

We will not eliminate prejudice until our country decides to give everyone equal opportunity.
Our country needs to come to an understanding that equal opportunity doesn’t mean giving other races more opportunity. If we don’t then the circumstances will always remain the same, and the concept of “minority” will never change.

Why do we even pay attention to each others race? This country would run so much more smoothly if people just eliminated all prejudice. That means not having an action merely based on skin color.

Telling whites that they cannot receive a scholarship because of their race is the same as telling blacks they cannot drink out of the same water fountain.

The Webster’s dictionary states that minority means “a racial, religious, or political group that differs from the larger controlling group.” But is that what our country views it as?

Did our country not just elect the first black president?

The other day I was researching summer camps and it came to my attention that there was camps that were solely for a racial group. These camps weren’t even studying heritage or anything. They were just camps that were for “Hispanics only” or for “Asians only.”

Why would these camps marginalize other races? God forbid there to be camps for “Whites only.” They would be sued if that happened.
Whether people agree or not, there has been racial prejudices in the past and present. But what ever happened to that old saying “Lets all forgive and forget!”