White Priviledge

[Odysseus]

Affirmative Action, Under-represented minority at colleges.
Being anything but white is a luxury these days.

The Asians get the worst of it. They were subjected to horrific discrimination, but are now being discriminated against in college admissions because they do better than whites as a group.

2/2/12 Bloomberg Business Week: "Harvard Targeted in U.S. Asian-American Discrimination Probe,"
By Daniel Golden
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Education Department is probing complaints that Harvard University and
Princeton University discriminate against Asian-Americans in undergraduate admissions.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating a complaint it received in August that
Harvard rejected an Asian- American candidate for the current freshman class based on race or
national origin, a department spokesman said. The agency is looking into a similar August 2011
allegation against Princeton as part of a review begun in 2008 of that school’s handling of Asian-
American candidates, said the spokesman, who declined to be identified, citing department policy.
Both complaints involve the same applicant, who was among the top students in his California high
school class and whose family originally came from India, according to the applicant’s father, who
declined to be identified.
The new complaints, along with a case appealed last September to the U.S. Supreme Court
challenging preferences for blacks and Hispanics in college admissions, may stir up the longstanding
debate about whether elite universities discriminate against Asian-Americans, the nation’s fastest-
growing and most affluent racial category.
Like Jews in the first half of the 20th century, who faced quotas at Harvard, Princeton, and other Ivy
League schools, Asian-Americans are over-represented at top universities relative to their population,
yet must meet a higher standard than other applicants based on measures such as test scores and
high school grades, according to several academic studies.
Higher Bar
Asian-Americans comprised 16 percent of Harvard undergraduates in the 2010-2011 academic
year, down from 18 percent in 2005-2006, according to the university’s website.
Fluctuating Rates
The proportion of Asian-Americans among Princeton undergraduates increased to 17.7% this year
from 14.1% in 2007- 2008.
A Chinese-American student, Jian Li, filed a complaint against Princeton with the Education
Department in 2006, alleging discrimination on the basis of race or national origin. Li, who scored the
maximum 2400 on the SAT and 2390 -- 10 points below the ceiling -- on subject tests in physics,
chemistry and calculus, was denied admission by Princeton, Harvard, Stanford University, and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 2008, the Office for Civil Rights broadened its examination of Li’s complaint into a compliance
review of whether Princeton discriminates against Asian-Americans.
‘Substantially Identical’
Because the 2011 complaint against Princeton “raised substantially identical issues,” the agency is
folding it into the compliance review, the Education Department spokesman said. Li enrolled at Yale
University and later transferred to Harvard, graduating in 2010. He declined to comment, citing
concerns about a backlash.

So, by that logic, Sasha and Malia Obama are oppressed, but a kid whose parents had their property confiscated and were interned during WWII must be discriminated against?

[AmPat]

We have a half Honkie/half Hoody president. There is evidence that one of those halves is fully racist, guess which one?

[NJCardFan]

When you constantly have to bring race into the conversation, you are the real racist even if the race you hate is your own.

[noonwitch]

Do you know what white privilege means to me? It means not being followed around in stores in mostly white communities by security guards.


I don't think this is the same issue it was when I worked retail in the 80s, though. I can't imagine a store's head of security telling a group of new employees to follow around every black person that walked through their department-I was surprised when it happened in 1981. Actually, K-Mart didn't give those same instructions, when I worked there a few years later. This is Steketees, a now-defunct West Michigan department store chain.

When I was at WMU, my best friend (who is black) and I would go to Stek's because they sold Fashion Fair cosmetics, which were high-end cosmetics for dark skin. We would go in together, then split up. The security guard always followed her. My friend dresses well, like I do. She also does not speak ghetto, having grown up in a mostly white suburb. I never worked at the Kalamazoo store and never knew any of the employees there. The only reason they followed her and not me was because she was black and I was white.

[Novaheart]

The problem in any misunderstand is when someone already has his mind made up. It's compounded when the leaders of his community keep driving home a divisive and less than truthful portrayal of reality.

To be sure I enjoy a certain amount of white privilege. But what it really comes down to is this: white people treat me like a respectable white person. Surely in the black community there is a corresponding courtesy to respectable blacks that is denied to whites and black strangers or those known to be unworthy of trust. My hardware store doesn't let white trash run a tab or taking things on loan without a deposit. They make a judgement amongst whites. But what many black people don't see is the differentiation between those afforded respect and those not afforded respect. This is because most black people have a fucked up idea of what respect is and who is entitled to it. They think you should show them respect, even when you have no idea what kind of person they are. For some reason, blacks don't ever seem to be in line when the hardware storekeeper gives courtesy to black handymen and other customers he knows well enough to extend courtesy to. By 'courtesy' I mean credit or good faith, not manners, he is nice to everyone.

[NJCardFan]

Do you know what white privilege means to me? It means not being followed around in stores in mostly white communities by security guards.


I don't think this is the same issue it was when I worked retail in the 80s, though. I can't imagine a store's head of security telling a group of new employees to follow around every black person that walked through their department-I was surprised when it happened in 1981. Actually, K-Mart didn't give those same instructions, when I worked there a few years later. This is Steketees, a now-defunct West Michigan department store chain.

When I was at WMU, my best friend (who is black) and I would go to Stek's because they sold Fashion Fair cosmetics, which were high-end cosmetics for dark skin. We would go in together, then split up. The security guard always followed her. My friend dresses well, like I do. She also does not speak ghetto, having grown up in a mostly white suburb. I never worked at the Kalamazoo store and never knew any of the employees there. The only reason they followed her and not me was because she was black and I was white.

When I was but a youngin, I was in a department store looking at Matchbox cars. A store detective came up to me and showed me a badge and asked me if I was stealing cars. He was black, I'm white. You were saying?

[Gentleman Pirate]

My hardware store doesn't let white trash run a tab or taking things on loan without a deposit. .

What year do you live in, 1952? What hardware store runs a tab or loans things?

[noonwitch]

When I was but a youngin, I was in a department store looking at Matchbox cars. A store detective came up to me and showed me a badge and asked me if I was stealing cars. He was black, I'm white. You were saying?

That's because you were a kid. Kids are always profiled in the toy department.

[Novaheart]

What year do you live in, 1952? What hardware store runs a tab or loans things?

That's a shame that you don't have such places in Seattle, or aren't aware of them. I am sure there is something which makes up for the lack of gentility and good weather.

[Gentleman Pirate]

That's a shame that you don't have such places in Seattle, or aren't aware of them. I am sure there is something which makes up for the lack of gentility and good weather.

We do, its called reality and financial security....