I Thought We Were All Equal?

Last time I checked, all men and women were created equal. I mean, it is in the Declaration of Independence, right? So why do we, white people, want to deprive the minorities of their chance to learn? Because of our racist acts in the past, we have destroyed many of the minority races’ chances to learn. Then the minorities can’t acquire the knowledge that others are receiving.

Knowing that you are at a disadvantage, compared to the majority starts to leave you hopeless. Colleges see the wrong that we have done, and they offer hope to the minorities. It’s called affirmative action, and it’s like a blessing from God. Affirmative action gives them extra points to make up for these disadvantages. It gives points to those of different race because of the bad conditions they live with from our racism.

I think colleges should support affirmative action, because it gives the minorities a chance, and it makes their opportunities more equal over all. This is why I support affirmative action so much. It makes us closer to having equal chances. Affirmative action doesn’t even help me, but that is why I support it! I support it to make it equal, and to give the less fortunate a chance. Many minority groups of people can’t afford private school; they can’t afford test preps to help them get into college, and most of them can’t afford to pay for a tutor.

These extra points can help make up for the disadvantages they have and make us all have a more equal chance to get into college. I just hate how people are still so racist. My goal is for everyone to be equal, and affirmative action can help us get closer to achieving that goal. But, I guess that is too much to ask for. Many minority schools lack the resources to give them an equal chance.

For example, in East St. Lewis (mainly African American), the schools flood with sewage up to two to three times a year. One or two toilets work per school. The classrooms are meant for about fifteen students, but they contain more than thirty students. Most of the teachers could care less about teaching the kids, and there are hardly enough textbooks for the kids. At the Martin Luther King School, a teacher has 110 students in four classes, but only 26 textbooks.

Also, most of the textbooks are missing the first 100 pages, not to mention that all their textbooks are out of date! East St. Lewis doesn’t even have a hospital, so how could they have a library to help educate them? East St. Lewis isn’t the only place with bad living conditions. Almost every state has a bad, run down area of town. Think about the disadvantages all of those people have! Affirmative action helps give these other races a chance to get into college because they have been put into disadvantageous situations by racism.

Another reason affirmative action is good is because it gives colleges diversity. This is helping students prepare for life in a way, because if you have never been around someone of another race and have to work with them, then it will be very awkward for you. You will probably have to work with people of different races in you career. One of my teachers at school was telling me about when she went to this conference or meeting somewhere and how she was the only white person there. Everyone else was Native American.

She told me that it was really awkward, because she didn’t know if she looked weird to them or not. She was afraid to look awkward or different to these people. However, if we get used to things like this in college, then we won’t have to worry about this. Other people would disagree with me on the topic of affirmative action. Some people disagree with affirmative action, because they think that if the minorities want to succeed and go to college, then they need to work hard.

I have a question for those too blind to open their eyes to the truth. Since when do colleges let in slackers? For someone who is a minority, they have to work hard to be able to go to college. You can’t go to college unless you are willing to work hard. Also, some people are claiming it is “reverse racism” (or being racist to white people). Notice how we start to complain when others are being racist to us, when we didn’t even care when it happened to someone else.

We don’t care until things start happening to us. Others disagree, like a student in my class, who said, “This isn’t fair for rich people.” If anyone agrees with this, please pay attention to what I am about to say. How is it fair, when you (rich, white people), have the money to afford preparation for the SAT and ACT tests? How is it fair that you can afford a tutor and afford to go to a private school? How is it fair when you can afford to have textbooks in your school, while there are others out there who have nothing? Exactly, it isn’t fair for the minorities. They have all these disadvantages, and the rich, white people get all the advantages.

America should support affirmative action so everyone can be more equal academically. I don’t like racism, and I feel that over time affirmative action can help eliminate some of it. It will take us one step closer to making all the different races more equal. If we are more equal, then we may not be so racist, because others won’t be lower than us. I thought that God had made us all equal, but I guess I am one of the few people who agree.