Rich white kids 'winning war over college affirmative action'

By Maureen Downey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/02/07

Ought to be completely blind to race.White preference and Affirmative Action are both racism.

No, they are not. Collapsing racism into programs that try to counter racism is simplistic thinking that is more based in slogans than history. The system of white privilege was and is a systematic form of racism. Affirmative action is an attempt to address the inequities created by that system. (Its record of successes is mixed but on balance positive.) Ironically, but perhaps not surprisingly, pretending to be 'racially blind' tends to help reproduce the current system, which is anything but racially neutral. Being "racially aware" does not have to mean being racist.

Racially blind means to be blind, period. If you don't see color you ignore something that is important to that person identity, just like religion and place of birth are. And I know this will be interpreted as some kind of bigoted/racist remark but it is not. Let me put it this way:

Seeing ONLY race is wrong.

Not seeing wrong is ignorant and therefore wrong.

The question should always be, "ok he is (insert race) AND..." that is you acknowledge race as being part of the package, but you don't ignore the wrapping or only focus on that. One attitude is shallow, the other ignorant. And yes I know all the arguments put forward for ignoring race, they sound good in paper but the reality is completely different.