In Jana King’s essay, “In Living Color” she explains that “white people don’t even think of being white as a race. Race is everyone else” (153). This belief about white people on its own is portraying exactly what the author claims to not stand for. Making this assumption is not giving everyone an equal chance or a shot at proving themselves beyond their skin color.
I believe for some reason King writes from a prejudice against majorities that leads her to believe they are trying to always get one over on every other race. As a white male, I believe not just for myself, I look beyond someone’s skin color when I first meet them or interact with them. King says, “the denial of someone’s ethnicity is not an acceptance of that person” (152) which…show more content… King says, “The point of affirmative action is to allow a candidate for any position, job or education a fighting chance when up against someone who was given more opportunities” (153) which is hardly the case. Affirmative action commonly offers opportunities to upper and middle class minorities while denying lower class majorities. It just allows people who try less hard but are of a minority to receive an easier admission than the members of a majority that they have to compete against. As someone who is ready to leave high-school and possibly go off to a prestigious college, this worries me. It tells me that no matter how hard I try, I will always be in the shadow of someone who doesn’t even understand the meaning behind why they are getting these special privileges, but is glad to take the opportunity.
Affirmative action doesn’t right the wrongs of the past, but rather creates new injustices instead. Everyone white and black alike understands what is unacceptable about slavery and oppression today, yet they don’t deserve to be blamed or to take a victim role because of it. It can actually be considered the reverse of previous discrimination with non-minorities now being the ones discriminated against. It seems as if whatever remaining discrimination is going to remain for some time and there isn’t much to be done about it besides letting it naturally phase
