This is my first flight to this part of the world, since my honeymoon 1998. I am getting so exited untill my whife : gets annoyed every time I mention.

The majority of people in the United States, and within the power structure, are white. Historically, and presently, this works in the favor of whites. Interviews are enormously subjective processes, which are a huge deciding factor for medical schools -- they are essentially the gateways for determining who does or does not get into medicine. Such a process can be decided by the interviewers personal bias, a racial bias can be hidden by simply creating another arbitrary reason for denying admission to an applicant.

So historically, this has been a very discriminative process towards those of color, specifically blacks. Not only that, the amount of injustice towards blacks in the USA throughout history is overwhelming, and its not over. So if schools like Howard University give preference to black applicants, its to help them compensate for the discrimination they face historically and presently. Even with the existence of Howard, blacks are still at a disadvantage in the country.

So for a white applicant to apply to Howard and then declare himself a victim of "reverse discrimination" is just incredibly ignorant. The term "reverse discrmination" is in itself a misnomer. Its about as ignorant as white people who like to sit around and say "the foreigners and immigrants are stealing all the jobs".

So what you are saying is that discrimination as an antidote to discrimination is acceptable. This hardly seems like an effective way to deal with injustice. Won't that just perpetuate hard feelings on both sides of an issue?

mlfone

If you are a minority, I can readily understand this perspective. I hate that there may be truth to it.

But I am not so quick to point the finger of blame. No ethnic group is without blame. What is rarely discussed is the bias that occurs within each ethnic group. That is as pervasive and sinister.

In that context, one has to accept that discrimination is a trait common to all living creatures. We "flock together" by choice. We associate with "us" more readily than with "them".

We are an advancing society that can intellectually agree that bigotry is harmful. We have far to go, yet we need to acknowledge how far we've come. Our children will be better than we are, if we teach them well.

Affirmative action is an ugly solution to an ugly problem. There's a lot of ignorance in America, and white racism is a reality and it is very prevalent. So how do you eliminate it? It is essentially a problem of attitudes, ignorance, and power, and can really only be changed from within. Those who have a reactionary response to affirmative action should realize it is a reactionary response to white racism. So if you dislike affirmative action, you should work to eliminate white racism, or the ignorance around it, but if affirmative action is eliminated without first eliminating the source, then this problem will continue in circles.

Very few minorities actually benefit from affirmative action, and even fewer white people are adversely affected by it. But now, many minorities have to face the additional stigma that they are getting a free ride from affirmative action (a stereotype usually propagated by the same ignorant white people who claim to be victims of "reverse discrimination"). Despite this, I'm still in favour of affirmative action, because it at least addresses the fact that white racism exists. You cannot eliminate a problem without first addressing it. Until a better solution is created, affirmative action should remain.

With regards to Howard University and Meharry medical college which Scott1981 claims to have been "reverse discriminated" by, if you go to their websites you can read their mission statements. Both schools are "private black institutions" whose aim is to help "disadvantaged African-Americans and other ethnic minorities". So there is nothing subversive or underhanded going on here. Anyone who applies to these schools knows before-hand what their admission policies are.

The difference between white racism and affirmative action is that white racism is much more prevalent, and it is not done openly. People with racist hiring or admission practices are not usually foolish enough to openly admit it. Thats usually done behind closed doors, if at all. But it still exists, and its very prevalent.

The term "reverse discrimination" is a misnomer; it does not exist. There is only discrimination. "Reverse discrimination" implies that the disadvantaged minority without power is discriminating against the majority with power, and that's ridiculous. Howard University and Meharry Medical college are not discriminating against whites -- they are helping disadvantaged minorities. Those schools were founded prior to the 60s when blacks did not have basic civil rights. Though the laws have changed, attitudes did not simply vanish with those laws -- they have simply become more covert under the guise of political correctness.

So basically, for a white person to cry "reverse discrimination" after applying to Howard or Meharry is like a white person being denied a scholarship from the NAACP and to cry "reverse discrimination"...it's just plain dumb.

Racism is racism. It comes in every color and race that exists. I live in California. Date an asian gal and see how their family treats you. Gaijin aren't welcome. Walk through Watts saying hello to people if you dare, or East L.A. for that matter.

I grew up in the military and had friends in every color of the rainbow. We hung out because we liked each other. My parents couldn't have cared less what race my friends or girlfriends were. It wasn't until I went off to college that I truly experienced racism. I was appalled at the attitudes from both sides. Racism is the product of ignorance. It is a two way street and neither side occupies any sort of moral high ground.

Reactionary responses are not viable options, nor do they do anything to educate people. Black racism, Hispanic racism, Asian racism, Jewish, racism, Arabic racism, .....racism. They all exist and are thriving. Do not defend them in any configuration. There is no difference between "white" discrimination and any other type. There is also no justification for discrimination of any type.

I have some friends from high school who were sweethearts and got married. He's white, she's black and they are both madly in love fifteen years later. You wouldn't believe the junk that they get from both sides. Fortunately, their families are both very loving and supportive, which helps ease some of the pain.
Hatefulness is hatefulness, whatever its race.

mlfone

mlfone

I would like to point out that MANY PEOPLE Believe that affirmative action targets specifically blacks and hispanics only. Which is the main reason that they object to it. But the truth is that affirmative action targets white women as well. A study done at the University of Michigan shows that white women benefit to affirmative action also b/c they are a "minority" that has been "discriminated" against in the past. The study showed that they have benefited more from aff. action than many other racial minority groups. Affirmative action is not only a "benefit" for black and hispanic, but also for whites as well.

so i guess you have the easiest time with admissions if you are a black female. ive heard about weight given to a female's application because of strictly gender too.

i guess if you are a male and white............... you better score 36's on your mcat.

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Dr. Scott
Internal Medicine
PGY-1

AUC Forum Moderator

and if you're male and asian..... you better score 45s on your mcat..

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Finally beat Super Mario Bros within 7 mins.

Does Harvard still strive for a class distribution that mirrors US demographics? I recall reading about this years ago and it sounded like they were very thorough. At the time, it was not very competitive if you were First Nation, competitive if you were, say, of Irish descent, quite a bit more competitive if you were of Chinese descent, and if you were of Jewish or Japanese descent...you had to more or less look like you were on track for a Nobel prize. So, in a way, one could argue that everyone but those in the last two groups benefited from at least a bit of "affirmative action".

(And, yeah, I'm not from one of the clever groups.)

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The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat.
--Lilly Tomlin