[ilovemyglo]

Okay let me explain a few things about me personally and I also want to say that CREAM and EXQUISITE5 are about the only two posts I have read on this thing in awhile that make more than perfect sense. I still don't agree with affirmitive action, but I can truly appreciate your point of view.
This is a baring of my soul so I would appreciate if you have any personal blows to make at to do so with a PM- Here goes
I come from a poor part of Louisville, KY. I grew up in a prodominetly black neighborhood. I never cared, nor do I now, I am proud of where I am from and the relationships I have developed from it.
I have two brothers and my parents neither one were afforded the opportunity to go to college. Their families were poor and they both came from broken homes.
My mother and fathered worked two jobs a piece for many years and put my brothers and I through private schooling when I was young. In fifth grade I was taken out of private schools because I tested into an advanced placement program in the public school system. I was then bused to a very bad part of town (over 65% of the rapes and murders were commited within three miles of my school that year) because I was white. No other reason, and that is what was told to me my first day of school by every student there- I didn't belong and the only reason I was there was because I was white.
I went to a middle school closer to home (remember the poor part of town) and with a very diverse group of kids. In 6th grade Louisville's school system changed so that busing was no longer enforced by where you lived. This meant that if a student in a poor neighborhood wanted to go to a school out in the rich part of town they could and the county is responsible for transportation. I honestly did not know that places do not allow this everywhere (such as the NYC example given). I chose to go to a public high school while my parent worked extra jobs (including weekends) to pay for my brothers to go to a private school in town. I applied for a magnet school here. I had a 4.0 and was a model student. I had to write an essay, audition and have an interview. I was accepted and that is where I went to high school. I got to choose what high school I wanted to go to and where it was. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had been forced to go to my "home" school as they used to call them. Most students that I knew chose schools outside of their home school because they wanted a better education.
Because I watched my parents labor for years to give their children a better education and because myself and my two brothers worked so hard in school, we got to go to college. Not because we are white and had it better, we had it just as hard as anyone.
This is why AA bothers me. My parents did it. My brothers and I did it. We came from a poor neighborhood, worked our arses off and now my brothers are engineers and I am about to graduate cume laude. We had to take out student loans to pay for college, and I will pay them back, no problem. So I get frustrated when I know a few (yes a few, not every person) people that have received scholarships, get a 2.0 every semester and don't have to pay for college because they are minorities. They are not model students, they don't come to class half the time, they complain about doing homework and exams, they are disruptive in class and yet they gladly tell people they don't pay for school, they got a full ride. That doesn't seem fair to me. Why do they get a free college education while I get good grades, I study hard, and do well in school and I have to end up in debt? All because I am white? I could get a free ride through the Native American funds. I am enough Native American to qualify for free college, but I chose not to because I don't think that is a good enough reason to get a free ride. My parents always taught me to work for what I get.
Now, all that being said, can some of you understand why I may feel that AA if unjust? I came from those poor neighborhoods you have talked about. I went to those schools and worked very hard on limited supplies. My parents worked two jobs each to make sure their kids got a good education. They sacrificed so much for us, and anyone else could do the same. That is all I am saying- anyone can do it. It just means hard work.