Throughout American history, citizens and governmental figures have worked to uphold our core values: liberty, equality, and democracy. However, there are many instances where American citizens and politicians lose sight of the meanings behind these values. Concerning equality, America has always struggled to define what it means and where the gray areas lie. There have been issues such as racism, sexism, and unequal opportunity that have stopped the equality that Americans wish to achieve. In the past, issues have been intense and nationwide. They’ve been on a larger scale, such as slavery. But now, things are different. Now inequality is seen differently. There have been claims that equality has been reached, and the issues of the past are being compensated for. There comes a time when the lines must be drawn between compensating and overcompensating. It can be seen that many programs have worked to compensate for minority groups that have faced harsh times in the past. Things like affirmative action, financial support groups, scholarships based on race or sexual orientation, reparations, and many, many more. In an attempt to reach equality by giving certain groups of people more opportunities, America faces a new level of inequality. Although it can seem as if it is making up for past wrongdoings, it also jeopardizes other groups of people who do not have the same support. Minority groups are a concentration of power due to governmental actions taken in the last several decades, and the way these policies have gone against our core value of equality. A possible solution would be to have scholarships and other opportunities be based purely on merit, or on income. This would level out the playing field and allow there to be less bias when it comes to the application process.
Throughout history, reparations and what they mean have changed with time. In 1865, the policy of 40 acres and a mule was made to deal with land redistribution regarding freed slaves. These African Americans who were newly freed would have the islands of Charleston, as well as the abandoned rice fields in North Carolina, and the county that bordered the St. Johns River in Florida. The idea here was that the African Americans would receive this settlement so that they could govern themselves and live purely in a “Negro” community. This policy goes on to include the amount of land each family unit would be allowed and other specifications regarding protection and security. As time passed, things like pensions were discussed, with monthly allotments to families of former slaves and their children. Also, some argued in 1989 for a federal education fund for African American college and trade school students. However, this ended in a bill asking for further research and study into the impact that slavery had on African Americans. In more modern examples there has been immense support from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). They had ideas of race-centered economic empowerment packages that were meant to help with generational poverty and create more economic stability. The NAACP claimed that it would take an African American family 228 years to reach the same wealth and economic status as a white household. This claim doesn’t truly have information to back it up, but it is used as a form of evidence towards why these packages need to be made. The NAACP continues to support the idea that African Americans should be given land grants if they were descendants of enslaved individuals.
These ideas of reparations are inherently positive things to be fighting for. The reasoning behind these policies is to help people – to make African Americans feel that the modern government will make restitution for past corruption. Contrary to this belief, there is evidence to show how these packages and land grants could cause larger polarity between races. It is true that African Americans went through terrible times, and dealt with racism and inhumane treatment. These things should have never happened. However, while trying to compensate for these events of the past, the sight of equality is blurred. Equality is not giving more opportunity to one group of people, over the other. Instead, this causes a large gap between the two.
This brings up more evidence against these strides to compensate for racism and slavery. In recent years, the Biden Administration’s Department of Education fought for billions for colleges to train teachers within minority groups. They announced that 8 billion dollars from federal funding would go towards preparing educators that would meet the needs of underprivileged students, meaning, those of minority groups. This was more so aimed at colleges that are historically black colleges, or “Minority Serving Institutions.” Many claim to legitimize the reasoning behind this money, claiming that if students see educators who reflect their own experiences as a minority, student achievement grows, because there are higher levels of engagement from the class. This argument is legitimate, to an extent. Students often see themselves within their teachers, and it might be easier for them to do so if they are both reflecting on what their people have gone through. Although this argument has parts that make sense, there are also a lot of things left out, and gray areas made. If money is being put towards helping educate minority teachers to help students of these same backgrounds, the students of Caucasian descent would also lose out on being represented in colleges. To strive for that balance, there needs to be more of an understanding that the color of skin should not matter, and that this is an issue of the past. Racism is still seen in parts of our modern-day lives, but it is not to the point where society still struggles with the color of one’s skin, and what comes with it. Instead, money should be put towards helping all races become educated to be professors, and the process of using this money for individuals should be merit-based, not racially based.
One of the biggest reasons why colleges and universities consider race when going through admissions is due to racial quotas that they must meet. The Supreme Court ruled in June of 2023 that there would no longer be admissions that considered race. Certain states, however, have banned race-based affirmative action altogether. These states include California, Washington, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Idaho.
Although there have recently been changes made to stop things like affirmative action, the effects of these race-based support ideas have still come into play in modern times. Amala Ekpunobi with the Dailywire states that affirmative action only creates a larger amount of a racist climate surrounding issues with college admissions. She goes on to explain (similarly as stated before) that admissions should not have anything to do with the race of a person, or letting the race affect one’s perception of their merit. Instead, it should purely be based on their values and what they have achieved. To build off of this, black students who are sent to schools based on affirmative action end up struggling because they did not truly meet the educational requirements to be in that college. So not only does this affect the racist climate altogether, but it also affects African American students poorly. One article explains that there isn’t much incentive for a student with a 3.2 grade point average to achieve a 4.0 since you can be admitted into the school for the former. Oftentimes, students of color will be admitted based on affirmative action, and then only maintain a low-grade point average because they either (1) don’t feel the need to excel further if they are getting by with doing less or (2) are not on the right level of achievement to strive in the college environment. Both of these reasonings show that this happens due to the race-centered admission processes that many colleges follow.
A proposed solution to the imbalance that is made here would be to have grants, scholarships, and college admissions based on income, or poverty level. It wouldn’t necessarily seem fair for someone who comes from a family making 200,000 dollars a year to get a full-ride scholarship. Instead, having there be more economic factors taken into consideration, then race is left out of the process. By making these things decided based on money, everyone is included. Anyone can fall anywhere on the totem pole for salaries, although that can be debated to an extent. While the issue of racism will continue, the racism brought forth by affirmative action and repartitions will be terminated.
A more generalized and overall idea would be to return to strictly merit-based decisions. Brought forth by America’s founding fathers, is the idea of civil rights. Within this definition, there is the proclamation that decisions will be made with equality, and all decisions are based on merit, especially in choosing political officials. With this idea not being held as highly in this day and age, it is important to see this through, considering that it is part of the Constitution. College admissions could be based on the individual’s resume and past scholarship. When it comes to other financial and future support packages, these could also be based on merit and if the person’s values align with what the organization is trying to support. In the end, this would help stop unfairness within college admissions and in reparations.
To conclude, America’s racism crisis has only been worsened by affirmative actions and by reparations. Not to mention other forms of race-based support in economic advancement. In an attempt to correct the perceived racism towards African Americans, Caucasian individuals are put to the side and are not held to similar standards. Along with this, African American students struggle when going into colleges that they may not be prepared for. Reparations are a good idea in general, but it ends up focusing on the past, rather than trying to move forward and make more positive changes for the future. America’s core value of equality is significant, but difficult to achieve. Organizations and politicians in America try to achieve a high level of equality, or at least attempt to make positive changes, but oftentimes, the execution is really where the struggle lies.
