The topic we all think we understand: Affirmative Action

Introduction

Olympic runners Usain Bolt, Leo Manzano, and Galen Rupp walk to the starting line of their race. The gunman signals; they take their mark. 10 seconds pass; the gun goes off. It is time for all to run to the finish line, right? Wrong. Bolt is Black and Manzano is Latino; both are underrepresented minorities. They must wait for Rupp, their Caucasian peer, to go first, make his laps around, and usurp all the benefits. Time passes, which feels like a century, and it’s finally Bolt and Manzano’s turn to run in this race of inequity. While running, their feet are shackled by chains that accompany their status as underrepresented minorities in America. They are weighed down by redlining, the school-to-prison pipeline, and police brutality. But, they are expected to perform just as well as Rupp who not only started before them, but ran in the absence of impenetrable obstacles. Welcome to California’s Public Higher Education system: the race with the inherently unequal playing field.

As a native East Coaster, it may seem odd that I am writing about CA’s education system. However, I have known since high school that I ultimately plan to move to and build my roots in California following law school graduation. Due to my plans to build a family in the Golden State, I first desired to research about the state’s relationship to race and education.

I was disappointed.

Current Status of Affirmative Action in California

But it’s not.

AA simply provides equitable access to underrepresented and historically oppressed groups.

Instead of remedying historical race-based maltreatment, CA’s public universities overlook its applicants’ hardships. UCs ignore how the G.I. bill’s exclusion of black veterans still negatively impacts African-Americans’ ability to accumulate wealth and intergenerational mobility. While applying to a UC, I, an African-American, would be evaluated against overrepresented applicants who attended elite boarding schools, had private tutors, and have run in this race that I am just starting in.

How is this fair?

Thanks to the Trail of Tears, a Native-American student is unable to remedy the burdening plights of her reservation, no matter how grand the efforts. She does not have the resources to take the SATs multiple times, establish non-profits, or participate in numerous extracurriculars, like other applicants. However, UC schools do not care. California’s public universities are saying to underrepresented applicants, “Despite shocking inequalities of opportunity, we’re still going to evaluate everyone the same. Good luck!”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

AA, if implemented by Senator Hernandez's SCA-5 bill, would have permitted consideration of race and its accompanying disadvantages in UC admissions. It would have given a chance to the students whose ancestors only knew a life of subjugation. But, opposition killed SCA-5 as CA’s conservatives and Asian-Americans broadcasted AA’s “reverse discrimination” shuts the door on them, but opens it for “unqualified” minorities.

But it doesn’t. Affirmative action would help all, including its greatest opponents: Asian-Americans.

Affirmative action would help all, including its greatest opponents: Asian-Americans.

Conclusion

Paper Title

-- By MaryamAsenuga - 11 Apr 2021

Section I

Subsection A

Subsub 1

Subsection B

Subsub 1

Subsub 2

Section II

Subsection A

Subsection B

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