Is the Action Affirmative?

Regardless of race, all college and university applicants should be treated equally and shouldn't be classified by race. Although socioeconomic backgrounds should be taken into consideration when handing out scholarships, the color of one’s skin should not. It is a universities job to create a positive and diverse learning environment however, not at the expense of well-deserving and truly bright students.

A policy or program intended to promote access to education or employment for minority groups is not the solution. Affirmative action programs give applicants from historically disadvantaged groups an advantage. That in itself is a violation of our constitution do to the fact that a person should not be given an advantage purely based on the color of their skin.

Greater access to minority groups is at the expense of groups considered dominant (typically white men. In addition, I believe the only consideration in choosing between applicants should be merit and other activities. Affirmative action perpetuates racial division instead of maximizing opportunities for those of a minority. In the absence of affirmative action, college admissions rarely are purely merit-based: athletes, musicians, and legacy students are most ways given preferential treatment. This is important because those of ethnic or racial minority have the same opportunities of getting into the same Colleges and Universities as a white American man (considered the majority).

The Wrongful Conviction of Terrill Swift

Terrill Swift was just an average teen living in Englewood Chicago when on one random day, his mother had an unexpected visit from the Chicago police department. They were in search of her son who they thought was linked to the rape and murder of a middle aged white woman. Terrill, who was seventeen at the time, called the police department asking why they were looking for him. He had no connection to the victim or any of the other boys who were suspected of being involved in the crime. After hours of brutal interrogations and mental breakdown, he was told that if he signed a paper, he could go home. Being mentally brutalized, he agreed however, he did not realize that what he was signing was a confessional statement to the rape and murder.

Terrill Swift was a young, innocent, black teenager who was forced to sign a false confession. He was not only wrongfully accused, but served over fifteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit. After years of writing, he finally got help from Northwestern and began his fight for freedom.

Defense lawyers argued that DNA evidence undermined confessions, showing how confessions and eyewitness identifications can be faulty. Although primitive DNA testing before trial excluded the four men as the source of semen found in the victim’s body, prosecutors said the confessions connected them to the murder. DNA from the crime scene matched a man who had a lengthy criminal history that included murder and assaults against women.

After listening to Mr. Swift speak, I am not only inspired to advocate against wrongful convictions and false confession, but I have lost an immense amount of trust in our states judicial system. How can there be over twenty people a year convicted of crimes they did not commit? Our police and investigators need to stop worrying about locking a man up and need to focus on finding the right man to lock up. One is too many.

Mr. Swift has so much strength even after losing over fifteen years of his life. The one thing I did not understand is how he feels no anger towards the Illinois justice system, after all, justice was not served. The officers who took an oath to serve and protect did nothing but the opposite. The locked up a teenager, a young man, who if had been free for the last 15 years could have received a better education and gotten a better job.

I do admire the fact though, that Mr. Swift throughout the years has fought for his rights and his freedom. He knew he was innocent, he just needed to prove it; with the help of a few bright Northwestern students, he did just that. Mr. Swift is a free man now. He lives with his mother and is determined to advocate and share his story with the world. We, the future police officers, lawyers, and judges need to ensure that our corrupt system exists no more.

Racial Privilege

In the chapter, “Privilege”, Tim Wise explores the advantages and disadvantages of different races in America. Specifically, he tries to find the reasoning for why it appears that whites have an advantage over Black-Americans. Although I do believe there is a “artificial color blindness”, I don’t believe that, given the same economic standing, whites would have more “privileges”. For example, when Wise states that “To be white, is to be born to certain advantages and privileges that have been inaccessible to others”, I could not disagree more with this statement. In all honesty, it could be because I am a white American who has certain “blindness” however; race alone does not determine what resources and opportunities one has. In addition, another quote that Wise states that I could not disagree more with is, “Just as a house or farm left to you upon the death of a parent is an asset that you get to use, so too is racial privilege” The comparison between a house left by a dead family member and racial privilege makes no sense and is a terrible example. This is because, although one might say “racial privilege” was left by our ancestors and past generations, it’s our job to find a solution. Wise poses many interesting points regarding the issues of “racial privilege” however, he gives us no solutions or even things Americans should to differently to combat this problem, if that’s even what “racial privilege is”

One issue that I feel needs not only to be addressed but fixed is the fact that, “Nearly nine in ten teachers in the U.S. is white” Education is what America prides itself in. however, I cannot be proud of a nation where biased views based on race control the future of our country. The white perspective dominates young minds. Not only do there need to be more black teacher, but our text books need to be more historically racially diverse.

I think there is no better answer to the issue of racial privilege then, “if you’re white, you simply will not, cannot, understand race.”

If I Were a Poor Black Kid

Mr. Marks is right, being successful is extremely difficult, now more than ever in our country and even more so in various economic social classes. However, I do have to question if even the smartest kid in an impoverished area can still be successful when his/her opportunities are extremely limited. There is a certain amount of luck that has to be supplemented with talent in order to make it out of bad surroundings, not knowledge. It helps to be knowledgeable, but it takes luck, talent, and opportunity to be successful. Another important factor to consider is the fact that many of these kids have nothing to eat, no place to sleep, or no running water, heat or electricity. Many kids have responsibilities to care for and look after younger brothers and sisters. If these problems were non-existent in our world today, more kids could focus on “getting straight A’s and Google Scholar”. Although I am speaking from the position of the young, white, middle/upper-class, I have traveled to bad areas around the world, I have seen poverty and I spoke with impoverished, young, black-Americans who openly admitted that at a certain point, it doesn’t matter how hard your work ethic is or how hard you try. What matters to the “poor black kid” is having a dream and no matter the circumstances they were born into, following that dream.