Richard Rodriquez's essay "None of This" really opened my eyes to the other side of Affirmative Action. Being white and American (read egocentric) it never dawned on me that perhaps some of the beneficiaries of this antiquated program are not interested in handouts. That perhaps they felt self conscious and uncomfortable with it. I just assumed they all thought it was fabulous. Who doesn't like a free ride? I now know the answer to that. People just like me, people with integrity and self respect.
I firmly agree that employment applications, college applications and promotion opportunities should be blind to ethnicity and gender. What a concept-a person advances on ability and accomplishments! Who woulda thunk it? I really don't know why I had the idea that minorities would want anything different. I don't know why I thought anyone would feel entitled to something simply because of their cultural background. What does that do to a person's self? You only fill a quota. Your contributions are only accepted because your last name is Ortiz. But even then we understand you are only here because WE are obliged to have you here. You are here because WE now allow you to be here, not on your own merit. -Who really knows anymore? Merit or obligation?
What damage has our government done by implementing Affirmative Action programs? Yes, I'm sure there were positions filled with minorities who didn't have the same qualifications as a white candidate. Where there not enough qualified minority candidates? Why? I understand the whole oppressed people thing. I get it. I don't want to be insensitive but when is it time for an oppressed people to stand up, take hold of the reigns and charge forward. When is it time to stop wallowing in self pity and live up to the potential that is inside? Fulfil the destiny and wonder God has endowed? When will our society have the stones to have a real and true conersation about race and opportunity? I am white. My ancestors are Swedish and German. I do not expect to be stigmatized because of Prussian that took over Germany in the middle 1800s. Maybe I'm just too scandanvian, too white. Maybe I just don't get it. It's not my fault there were slave ships and such. I am sad that it happened but I can't change the past, only the future. A person's loss of advancement due to an ancestor's extreme misfortune cannot and should not be quantified. Others may have been motivated beyond what would have been. Then there's the hard cold fact that no one knows what "would have been." The past is the past. It is what it is, do not blame me or anyone else. Hanging on to the past does no good for anyone. Move on and move up.
I don't think I would want an opportunity extended to me simply out of obligation. That said, maybe the minorities that have "benefited" from affirmative action didn't either. Maybe it was the only way at the time to get from point A to point B.
Where do we go from here? How do we fix this? How do we make the hiring/advancement process blind? How do we have that powderkeg conversation? According to our Declaration of Independence, we are all endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. How do we get there?
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