Affirmative Action or Affirming Stereotypes?

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_v._University_of_Texas
2.http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324412604578517602559504498

Eduardo Bonilla- Silva discusses several frameworks of sociology in his book “Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America.” In chapter 7, Bonilla-Silva debates the topic racism and how it is still prevalent in America even in a “post racist” society. Specifically in chapter seven, Silva interviews several African Americans about how they perceive affirmative action. Most of the people interviewed believed that affirmative action was helpful, and should continue to be used in institutions. A common misconception of affirmative action is that it is choosing minority students who are not qualified over qualified white students; this is not the case. For example, Abigail Fisher and Rachel Multer  Michalewicz applied to the University of Texas in 2008 and were denied admission. They blamed it on affirmative action because they found that certain African American students were less qualified. Their reasoning was flawed because there were other African Americans that were also denied application to the university. In this case, Eduardo Bonilla- Silva would explain affirmative action by using his own theory of minimization. White people try to minimize blacks’ issues with getting into schools, and when African Americans succeed, some whites can’t handle it in their precious psyches.

In my own experience, affirmative action has most likely affected me indirectly as well as directly. When I was a senior in high school I applied for admission to two schools. I applied at Illinois State University the University of Illinois: Urbana- Champaign campus. UIUC was my first choice, and I remember taking extra care with this application. I was a 3.5 GPA honor student, in the national honor society, captain of the tennis team, vice president of cultural clubs, and had a wealth of other accolades given to me by teachers and faculty. So when I received my letter of admission from ISU, I knew U of I would accept me. It is needless to say that I was heartbroken when I did not get into U of I. I couldn’t possibly understand why that would happen to me. I continued on to ISU, and eventually NIU, but it always bothered me that I wasn’t accepted to U of I. I remember answering several questions about my race on the application, and I remember assuming that I would be a student because not only did I have the dream resume, but I was also an African American woman. I was under the impression that they had to let me in due to affirmative action. This was not the case, although qualified, my parents were not in the right tax bracket, and so I believe this is the real reason I was not accepted. It is interesting to me that white people hate affirmative action, but they use their own family connections to gain acceptance into schools. Most white students are accepted into schools because their parents are generous alumnus, and they need little to no financial aid to be able to pay their tuition.