I AM A RACIST. In two years, four semesters and countless hours of studying anything from the laws of supply and demand to Greek and Roman warfare, I came to this shocking -- and invaluable -- epiphany.
As a proponent of affirmative action, a die-hard liberal, a member of Sustained Dialogue (a group dedicated to an open discussion of race) and even a member of the Mahogany Dance Troupe, making an accusation against myself that is normally reserved for men like David Duke and Strom Thurmond seems shocking. Indeed, I don't hate or even mildly dislike any race. I've never even met anyone who honestly does not wish for a racism-free society. Irrespective, I cannot deny my vulnerabilities to stereotypes and prejudices. The University allowed me to discover this weakness, and made me come to accept former Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun's famous maxim from the landmark Bakke case: "In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race."
Recently, at the University and elsewhere, affirmative action and activist approaches to racial-problems have come under attack. As the debate ahs shifted from using affirmative action as a remedy for past discrimination to the more modern diversity rationale, critics have now claimed that race-based programs impair minorities rather than inspire them.
The claim is simple: When the University insists that an entire race needs extra assistance, it creates an inferiority complex among minority communities. Affirmative action lowers expectations for blacks in the classroom while mentor programs stigmatize minorities and encourage self-segregation.
Luckily, blacks at elite colleges -- the best judges of whether race-based programs have harmed or helped them -- reject such claims. According to the landmark study on affirmative action, "The Shape of the River," by William Bowen and Derek Bok, on average, black alumni from the class of 1989, from schools like UNC-Chapel Hill and Yale, wished their University did significantly more to improve racial diversity at their schools.
From a mentoring perspective, based on the same study by Bowen and Bok, black students were two and a half times more likely to have a dean or administrator act as a mentor. Unsurprisingly, those students with mentors often had a more positive view of their college experience (although no conclusive study -- only significant amounts of anecdotal evidence -- suggests mentoring programs improve minorities' academic performance).
Of course, white students also feel the impact of race-based policies. Many would claim any benefit to blacks and other minorities comes at the expense of the majority. However, 63 percent of white students (as compared to the 70 percent of black students), when asked about diversity at elite colleges and universities, perceived their institution strongly contributed to their "ability to work effectively and get along well with people from different races/cultures," while a majority of whites and blacks believe the skill to be "very important" in life. To be sure, this is just one measure of how race-based admissions affect white students. Nevertheless, white students from the same study also wished their colleges and universities put a higher priority on racial diversity. (They also believedtheir alma mater placed a higher emphasis on racial diversity than blacks). Moreover, ending affirmative action would not shut out all blacks from enrollment (although most likely reduce their numbers by about half). Nevertheless, probability and commonsense suggest white and black interaction would significantly decrease with less black students.
Of course, there are also psychological and philosophical arguments against focusing on race.
Psychologically, critics argue that despite blacks' "superficial" appreciation of affirmative action, the mere increase in earnings means little to the racial problems it causes. However, other factors perpetuate racial tensions much more than any university's attempt to encourage diversity. The media, especially local news, focuses disproportionately on black crime (black violent crime holds a majority of related air time although whites still commit the majority of major crimes); public schools remain homogeneous because of the "White Flight" of the 1960s and 1970s; and of course, the legacy of Jim Crow and slavery. Affirmative action and mentor programs are just a blip on the racism radar.
Philosophically, detractors of race-based programs claim no matter how noble the ends, any means that directly benefit one race goes against the letter of the 14th Amendment, the Declaration of Independence and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965. The Constitution is (or should be) color-blind. However, society is not. A truly color-blind society cannot occur until America reaches racial economic equality. Affirmative action (and its related assistance once a student is admitted) is the most effective way to close the income gap between whites and minorities.
For those students (not unlike myself) who are for the first time entering an environment where race is a major issue, don't be afraid of the disagreement. There will be columns about race on a regular basis on these very pages, countless lectures and speakers to comment on race, informal discussions and even protests. At first, you might be frustrated and disappointed (like I was) that you go to school where race matters. However, this University will prepare you for the "real world," and unfortunately, race matters there too.
Patrick Harvey is a Cavalier Daily Opinion editor. He can be reached at pharvey@cavalierdaily.com.
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