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Originally posted by Love_Spell_6
Although I think Mattera damages their argument by receiving a scholarship for being Puerto Rican..I can see the point they are trying to make. Many people do ASSume that White students parents are probably paying all their tuition or are always well off..
But if you're gonna give scholarships based to blacks on race...why can't whites who may be from poor backgrounds do the same thing?? I know the get beaucoup $$ when attending HBCU's.
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Love Spell:
Not that I believe all whites who go to college do so because their parents are paying for it, but the situation here, as you have spelled it out, is not the same. Now I have heard all sides of this undying issue and nod my head in contemplation toward both opinions, but I still don't agree that a black student receiving financial assistance based on their being in our particular minority group is wrong and, therefore, warrants the creation of the same type of assistance to whites.
History in this country did not happen mutually and both ways between whites and blacks. Whites were not put down and kept out solely because of their being black. Even today a black student and/or the black employee may not receive the same consideration because of their race or what their name is and even with affirmative action programs in meaningful areas (basically excluding areas such as sports) affirmative action initiatives pretty much only amount to tokenism. So this white student that you used in your post who is poor doesn't find himself not able to attend college because he/she is white, but because he/she is poor or in a lower income bracket for which there are many scholarships, grants, etc. that they can apply for. So while I may receive a UNCF scholarship based on my history and place in American society as a black person, they can receive one of many scholarships available for students who demonstrate financial need due to their socio-economic status. Also, there ARE scholarships available to Catholics, Irish descendants, etc. etc. etc. This isn't only a "black and white" issue...it is only depicted that way through articles and groups like this one who present so-called protests like this one.
One more point, now that I think of it, someone else posted, either on this site or somewhere else where this was discussed, that a white student, despite his or her economic background can still advance due to certain "privileges" allotted them in our society (for an expansion on what I mean by privileges, see White SKin Privilege thread in the News & Politics forum). This has been the case all throughout American history, i.e. Europeans coming to America during and before the industrial boom and after a relatively brief period of ethnic turf war assimilating to one solid White American demographic. A black student, regardless of how wealthy he or she may be or become, will experience racism at some point in their life, not to say this is an excuse for failure or anything like that, just simply that this is the reality in our country. I suppose this note can serve as further justification for my argument against the experiences of a black student and poor white student both applying to college being the same.