Notes

In "Rethinking Affirmative Action," Rick Finley reverses his personal stand on affirmative action. He explains that he has changed his mind between the time he wrote an earlier article and the time of this essay. What happened in between? He says that he began to look "at the world through different viewpoints." Most convincing were his thoughts about how, over the years, he had received many special privileges just because he is white. He concludes: "Until one admits he is over privileged, he will never be able to understand the use of affirmative action."

Finley, Rick. "Rethinking Affirmative Action." 26 April 1996 <www.mdle.com/Written Word/rfinley/index.html> 19 November 1997.

Earlier this school year I wrote an article attacking affirmative action, and I felt that by simply changing my mind and keeping quiet about it I was robbing the student body of another viewpoint which they may not have previously considered.

The problem with the affirmative action debate is the fact that the majority of those arguing in favor of it do a poor job of defending their position. This is by no means isolated to affirmative action, of course. A huge amount of the debate done on almost every political subject does more to help the opposing side than the side that is being defended. If you don't believe me, you should read the opinions page more often.

Because of my warped experience with the idea of affirmative action and racism in America, I always found it easy to discount affirmative action as being reverse racism, ineffective, etc. Unfortunately, I did not share this viewpoint all by myself. Most of the students who I have talked tend to share this viewpoint, yet when they look at it in a different way, they usually end up agreeing that affirmative action is necessary.

A little over two hundred years ago, our nation was founded. Our constitution was drawn up and signed by many men who owned slaves. Later on, in a "great compromise", blacks were allowed to, for voting purposes, be counted as three-fifths of a person. Most who study this fact in history do not stop and truly think of how dehumanizing this clause is. Our nation actually signed into law a bill which counted each person in an entire race--people no different from whites other than the melanin content of their skin--as only three-fifths of a person.

Until one admits he (she) is over privileged, he (she) will never be able to understand the use of affirmative action. A quick glance at America today, however, will show that while we are by far the greatest and richest nation in the world, we treat some more greatly and richly than others.

About one hundred years later, the slaves were freed, but the civil rights act was not passed until 1964, a scant 32 years ago. 32 years ago blacks had to drink out of different water fountains and go into different bathrooms than whites. Since then, we have basically told minorities to "stop complaining and get over it--you have the same amount of advantages and opportunities as everyone else."

It stands to reason that a race would have suffered some ill-effects from these centuries of ill-treatment, but the rest of the U.S. has done little to help. This was the trap I fell into. I looked at my actions, which were not racist, and assumed that I should not have anything taken away which I "earned" by someone else who did not quite reach the level I had reached.

What I failed to see were all of the little boosts I had received throughout my education and throughout my life itself due to both my race and my sex. Teachers treat males differently than females, and blacks differently than whites. Many store owners will glare suspiciously at a black youth who enters their store while a white one scarcely receives a glance. When a black family moves into a neighborhood, some neighbors begin to worry about the property values going down, and some are even openly hostile toward the family.

These are but a few examples of things many minorities have to go through, yet I and many others in positions of power have always been blind to them because we have no reason to see them. It is easy for me to tell a black person or a woman to stop whining and work hard when I have never been treated as an inferior because of a factor beyond my control.

If you believe affirmative action is wrong, ask yourself this question: "Do you feel that blacks and women are underprivileged in today's society?" The answer will almost always be yes. The second question you should ask makes you think a little harder: "Since you think blacks and women are underprivileged, don't you think it stands to reason that whites and males are over privileged?"

You cannot have one without the other, but those who have benefited from the societal networks which have aided them their entire lives refuse acknowledge that the networks exist. Until one admits he is over privileged, he will never be able to understand the use of affirmative action. A quick glance at America today, however, will show that while we are by far the greatest and richest nation in the world, we treat some more greatly and richly than others.

Copyright © Rick Finley, at rfinley@mail.vt.edu 4-25-96 All rights reserved

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