Affirmative Action

          Today I read Tim Wise’s response to the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy. While I agree with some of Wise’s points, such as the simple fact that whites have privileges, I strongly disagree with some of his other opinions. Wise believes that in order to ‘repay’ the ‘debts’ of past white supremacy; we must give blacks the upper-hand in life. This includes putting a high value on race is college admissions, jobs and education, such that people of different races should be valued and treated as better than whites. I am not saying that whites should be of higher value than blacks by any means because they shouldn’t, but rather that whites and blacks should be viewed as equals. It is interesting to me that Wise does not see the contradiction he creates in several of his arguments; he is preaching that racism should end, but then is saying that blacks should be treated with more privileges than whites. While I agree that whites need to ‘pay’ for the past ‘debts,’ I do not believe that black supremacy is the way to go about it.

            If a student comes to a teacher asking for help with math because they can’t focus because of their situation at home, obviously the teacher should help them. But a teacher should not go out of their way to help a black kid because they assumed that because they’re black, they need extra help. However that is what Tim Wise is arguing. Originally, his argument was that teachers are racist and automatically assume a kid is doing badly because their racial, and therefore cultural, influences are causing them to. Then Wise fully contradicts himself by saying that teachers should not be colorblind and that students’ color “says a lot about the kinds of challenges they are likely to face.” Ultimately, it seems that Wise’s point was that privileges towards whites should end, but privileges towards black need to begin, and that sounds like racism all over again to me.

After also reading the article “Appeals court to hear affirmative action challenge” in the San Francisco Chronicle, I have come to the conclusion that race should not be considered in academic decisions. It is not right or constitutional to base someone’s acceptance into college because of their race. Considering race as a plus or minus is racism in it of itself. If the courts were to lift the ban that has been in place against affirmative action since 1996 and students put their race on their college application and then were not accepted, they would think it is racism when it isn’t. Race should not be “[considered] in admissions decisions to promote campus diversity.” Campus diversity should be based off of life experiences explained in applicants essays; not based off the color of someone’s skin. If people really want the end of racism, then we must start thinking on the basis of equality and not repenting for past actions. One of Tim Wise’s main arguments was that we have to ‘repay’ the ‘debts’ of the past, but he never said how. And in my opinion, giving privilege to people based on race isn’t repaying any kind of debt, but instead carrying racism into the future.