While watching the Latino List (vol 2) on Netflix, I remembered an instance in middle school, after we had all gotten our acceptance letters to different high schools.
Backing up a little, by the grace of God, I went to a good middle school, one that had advanced classes and prepared you for getting into good high schools. Thus, all the competition and why we were getting these acceptance letters.
So, there I am, in the cafeteria, with a group of girls, all asking each other where we got in, what our top choice was, etc etc. I had gotten accepted into all of the high schools I applied, including my top choice, then (and maybe now too?) the number 1 public school in the state.
It gets to me and I say I got into my top choice and I'm excited to go there! Later, one of the girls (who didn't get in to that school) says that I probably got in just because I'm Hispanic and they need to meet a quota. In the moment, I tried to just play it cool and not get angry or act hurt. But man, did those words really dig deep.
I thought to myself "I got in because I had x amount of points!!" (The way we got into schools was based on a number grade based on grades, attendance, and a placement test we all took. It was out of 1000 and I had something in the 970s or so.) Yet, at the same time, I thought what if I did get in because of my color of my skin? I doubted my own intelligence for a moment.
That moment faded in my memories until college. In sociology class, we had a final presentation at the end of the semester. One group, of white men I will add, presented on affirmative actions. Their presentation basically consisted of them pointing out that affirmative action allowed colored people a chance to get into good schools or jobs based not on their intelligence or capabilities but their ethnicity/race. They mentioned how unfair that was to other people that were equally qualified but would get denied acceptance due to their not being a minority. What I now appreciate even more than at that time, is that our professor, at the end of the class called [discreetly] the minority students to his office and told us all that he wanted to apologize for that group's presentation. He offered his support to us if we were to need it. I'm thankful for professors like him.
There have been other instances where I've been confronted with the reality of my skin color, background, and intelligence. It's become a fact of life almost.
I will end by saying that I support affirmative action as a means of making there be an even playing field: equity. To say that in this country all people start out at the same level and work their way up equally is simply not true. I will not accept someone telling me that a wealthy white boy, with easy access to tutors and books and education, had it equally as hard as the colored girl, daughter of immigrants, who had to translate permission slips to her single mother.
Backing up a little, by the grace of God, I went to a good middle school, one that had advanced classes and prepared you for getting into good high schools. Thus, all the competition and why we were getting these acceptance letters.
So, there I am, in the cafeteria, with a group of girls, all asking each other where we got in, what our top choice was, etc etc. I had gotten accepted into all of the high schools I applied, including my top choice, then (and maybe now too?) the number 1 public school in the state.
It gets to me and I say I got into my top choice and I'm excited to go there! Later, one of the girls (who didn't get in to that school) says that I probably got in just because I'm Hispanic and they need to meet a quota. In the moment, I tried to just play it cool and not get angry or act hurt. But man, did those words really dig deep.
I thought to myself "I got in because I had x amount of points!!" (The way we got into schools was based on a number grade based on grades, attendance, and a placement test we all took. It was out of 1000 and I had something in the 970s or so.) Yet, at the same time, I thought what if I did get in because of my color of my skin? I doubted my own intelligence for a moment.
That moment faded in my memories until college. In sociology class, we had a final presentation at the end of the semester. One group, of white men I will add, presented on affirmative actions. Their presentation basically consisted of them pointing out that affirmative action allowed colored people a chance to get into good schools or jobs based not on their intelligence or capabilities but their ethnicity/race. They mentioned how unfair that was to other people that were equally qualified but would get denied acceptance due to their not being a minority. What I now appreciate even more than at that time, is that our professor, at the end of the class called [discreetly] the minority students to his office and told us all that he wanted to apologize for that group's presentation. He offered his support to us if we were to need it. I'm thankful for professors like him.
There have been other instances where I've been confronted with the reality of my skin color, background, and intelligence. It's become a fact of life almost.
I will end by saying that I support affirmative action as a means of making there be an even playing field: equity. To say that in this country all people start out at the same level and work their way up equally is simply not true. I will not accept someone telling me that a wealthy white boy, with easy access to tutors and books and education, had it equally as hard as the colored girl, daughter of immigrants, who had to translate permission slips to her single mother.
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