Poll: Are scholarships designated for African-Americans racist?

[Lilani]

I saw the other thread about racism and I just couldn't help myself. I specifically remember during the awards and scholarship assembly in High School there being at least 2 scholarships from African-American organizations, and their parameters for them were something along the lines of seeking an "African-American student who displayed x good qualities and x qualities of leadership."

My question to you is: Are scholarships like this scholarships fair, or are they racist?

My perspective is thus: I think we all know what happens when something that is marked as "designated for Caucasians"--it's hunted down and immediately protested and attacked until it's dismantled and its founders have apologized to at least 10 news organizations. No one would ever dare make a scholarship that favors white students, so how is it fair to have scholarships that favor black students?

And just as a disclaimer, I'm not saying we should go out and found a whole bunch of scholarships for white students in retaliation. I think any scholarship on either end is wrong. It just ticks me off that we condone it in this way just because we're afraid to open this Pandora's Box again.

 

[The Wykydtron]

it doesn't matter who these scholarships favour, if they favour because of race then its racist. so i'm gonna go and tick the top option k thx bai

 

[manythings]

it doesn't matter who these scholarships favour, if they favour because of race then its racist. so i'm gonna go and tick the top option k thx bai

Agreed. Racism is anything that discriminates purely based on race, be it positive or negative. Equalitarianism is one thing but Feminism is inherently a sexist point of view.

 

[Wilcrez]

This is actually an interesting and hiiIIIIiiighly controversial topic. When my wife was in college for social work a few years ago, there was a great big mess wherein one black student made the statement that "all white people are racist, even if they don't know it", and a professor from a Women's Studies class in 2003 said that "it is impossible for a racial minority to be racist". This would mean that the student calling all white people racist wasn't prejudging, she was stating fact... unless one day whites are the minority, but does it then retroactively make that girl racist, and therefore not all white people have to be subconsciously racist?

Whatever. I agree that the scholarships aren't exactly fair to be specifically for African-Americans, but then are we sure the people who give the other scholarships aren't going to look down their nose at someone with some different skin pigmentation?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'd say there's no problem in a course in say 'black history', covering the changes in black rights and culture over the past couple of huundred years, however, it certainly should not be limited to only black students. No I'm not going to say African American, either, even in America, all blacks are not both African and American, and show me someone offended by black and I'll show you an idiot.

Should we restrict teaching of Caesar's rule to the Italians or teaching the age of the pyramids to only egyptian students?

In the end, we still have racism, but in the majority it's seen as unacceptable, tho of course it's still out there, just better hidden than it was. However, as far as I know, any black students out there don't have living relatives who were slaves, so we don't owe them individually anything. Equality should be enough for anyone, and I'll repeat, I'm not against the course as such, just the limitation on applicants, why don't they want white or other students to learn how blacks were treated? (I know that's not what is behind it, but that's how it would be seen if it was reversed.)

 

[TaboriHK]

Yes. Giving someone something on the basis of skin color is racism.

 

[Jedoro]

Affirmative Action is racism, and that's why I'll never, ever accept a Hispanic student scholarship. I don't give a damn if I have to actually work to survive while I'm in school, my principles are worth a little less sleep and earning what I have.

 

[Danny Ocean]

My perspective is thus: I think we all know what happens when something that is marked as "designated for Caucasians"--it's hunted down and immediately protested and attacked until it's dismantled and its founders have apologized to at least 10 news organizations. No one would ever dare make a scholarship that favors white students, so how is it fair to have scholarships that favor black students?

Get out of such absolutist thinking and you'll understand why. Try thinking about it for a few minutes. Think about the relative likely social capital inherent in each class. Think about what could happen in the long term without affirmative action.

Besides, it's not like you often get people just swanning in because they're black. They also have to be worthy.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

it's racist, but it's necessary. maybe in another 50 years we'll have advanced to a point where affirmative action and african-american scholarships and the NAACP aren't necessary, but right now they're the better of several evils.

 

[Antonidious]

Scholarships designed for African Americans and other groups were a good idea, AT FIRST. They were originally designed to actually prevent racism. They were created to help get more minorities into a colleges and schools that had almost none. This helped because a large percentage of the population was racist and when comparing applications of two identical people, one of which was white and one of which was black, more often than not the white applicant would be chosen. So laws were put in place specifying colleges and employers had to hire/accept a certain number of minorities and the scholarships were designed to help draw more minorities.

Now however I would say the average person is not nearly as racist as they were back when these were first designed and it's now approaching a reverse racism, where when comparing two identical applicants colleges and employees will more often than not hire the minority to help themselves get extra funding from the Government for having a certain number of minorities. I feel that if they did away with this completely than maybe we will have a chance for true equality.

 

[Something Amyss]

it doesn't matter who these scholarships favour, if they favour because of race then its racist. so i'm gonna go and tick the top option k thx bai

Agreed. Racism is anything that discriminates purely based on race, be it positive or negative. Equalitarianism is one thing but Feminism is inherently a sexist point of view.

Actually, it's not purely based on race. It's based on the treatment of a specific race within a culture.

Racism as a concept stands more primarily on the notion that a race is inferior or superior simply due to their race, or that negative (or positive) traits can be associated just by birth into said race. The idea that whites are superior or that blacks are all violent are racist; a scholarship aimed at black people is not inherently so.

At worst, this is a response to racism. It is not racism by itself, though.

Similarly, feminism by itself is a response to gender bias. It's nice to say that everyone should be "equalitarian," but the notion of gender bias notoriously swings one way.

 

[omicron1]

I remember hearing a poem on NPR (I think) one day, where a young girl from New York was talking about "white devils" in association with 19th century America. It was the winner of a city-wide contest, IIRC.

Anyway..., my personal opinion is that racism will disappear when race no longer matters. This is one of the ways in which race still matters, and thus is prolonging the existence of racism.

The scholarship exists, I believe, because there is a larger percentage of African American families in the lower rungs of monetary status than of white families (whether due to discrimination or due to the climb from poverty to solvency taking many generations and lots of hard work; YMMV) - in effect, it is assuaging a common problem. Nonetheless, I would be happier with such things if they were directed instead to "impoverished students" - but America still has a heaping helping of white guilt to work through, so I understand where the specifics come from.

 

[Woodsey]

I get where people are coming from when they say it is racist, but you need to look at the reasons they're doing it.

There's still a lot of white on black racism in certain areas of the US, I believe that studies show black people are less likely to go on to further education and that they typically come from poorer backgrounds, etc. etc.

They're discriminating for the sake of promoting pride and saying they can do just as well. You can't eliminate all the background to this because whites and blacks still aren't starting on an equal foot much of the time.

We're white, probably straight and English/American - when people talk about equality, they're talking about people being equal to us. That's why we don't have the MOWO awards or white history month - there's typically no issue with identity amongst whites.

Eventually it won't be needed, but for now I think it's perfectly justified.

 

[antidonkey]

You bet they are. It's why I could never support the united negro college fund. Yes, I know it has done a lot of good for a lot of deserving people but due to the nature of it, it'll never see any donations from me.

On a side note, I really don't get this whole "minorites can't be racist" thing. In what world does this make any sense? It certainly isn't this one.

 

[DiMono]

Of course they're racist. Favouring one group over another because of their race is just about the dictionary definition of racism. However, that doesn't mean it's wrong to be that way. If someone only wants to help out a specific group of people, that's their right. Ironically, because of American stereotypes if you were to start up a scholarship that's only attainable by white people you'd be demonized for racism. Don't you love double standards?

 

[Sylveria]

Get out of such absolutist thinking and you'll understand why. Try thinking about it for a few minutes. Think about the relative likely social capital inherent in each class. Think about what could happen in the long term without affirmative action.

Yeah people would get things based on merit rather than their race. It would be a terrible world if colleges/universities weren't forced to take a certain number of X race and X gender or they'd lose funding so all those gang-kid-wannabes and 18yr old moms with 4 kids can party, skip class, and waste money that could have gone to people who actually need it and care about it. Mind you this can be said about any race, not just white or black. But it certainly has a pattern.

 

[crudus]

Yes but it doesn't matter in this case. There are millions of scholarships to be obtained anyway. The ones for African-Americans are to offset the ones that don't claim to be racist against African-Americans but secretly are. They are out there.

 

[high_castle]

How many of you guys are actually a minority? Or female? Or gay? Or...you get the picture. Most of the time when I hear people talking about reverse-racism, they are white, middle-class, males. Not all the time, but most of time. And guys, you already control a bulk of the world. You have the easiest time getting a job. You have the easiest time getting into schools. You have the easiest time being accepted by the world at large.

Scholarships for minorities are intended to highlight the achievements of those who are otherwise lost in the crowd. This still happens. There is still a stigma attached to certain races, genders, orientations, etc. Go take a Psych course and study intelligence testing, or an anthropology class and study school subcultures. Expectation effects still exist, and plenty of people--teachers included--still feel certain groups of students won't do as well as others. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Scholarships that highlight the achievements of your group are designed to show struggling and borderline students that they are not doomed to a certain life. More is out there, if they work for it.

The bottom line is: there's plenty of scholarship money out there if you need it. There are scholarships for people of specific faiths, descendants of original colonists, horse show competitors, writers, singers, athletes of all stripes, etc. Chances are, you can find a scholarship that seems tailor-made for you.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Get out of such absolutist thinking and you'll understand why. Try thinking about it for a few minutes. Think about the relative likely social capital inherent in each class. Think about what could happen in the long term without affirmative action.

Yeah people would get things based on merit rather than their race. It would be a terrible world if colleges/universities weren't forced to take a certain number of X race and X gender or they'd lose funding so all those gang-kid-wannabes and 18yr old moms with 4 kids can party, skip class, and waste money that could have gone to people who actually need it and care about it.

I'm not even going to bother to address your argument seriously, at it's clear you're unwilling to do the same to mine.

Get out of simplistic thinking. It's racist, but that doesn't mean its all bad.

 

[Jake the Snake]

The problem is, the scholarships exist because of "large amount of blacks growing up in a lower class environment". Which is fine, I wholeheartedly support giving a chance of higher education to people who wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise. But stop using exclusively blacks when doing this. Seriously. There are a DIVERSE level of social incomes when it comes to black people. I have 3 black friends that all grew up upper middle class, like me, in the suburbs. Why should they get a scholarship for something they were born with yet has absolutely no impact on the way they live financially? It's unfair. It's racist. And it needs to be changed.