In college I had to do a project about Affirmative Action. My partner was a Black girl and my professor who reviewed our project was also Black. I have complicated feelings about Affirmative Action. I feel that it is necessary right now and that it does a lot of good but I feel that it is a temporary solution to a much bigger issue. I think that our real goal should be to no longer need Affirmative Action. Ideally in a society with a true ‘level playing field’ where all people have an equal opportunity to succeed something like Affirmative Action should no longer be necessary. I attempted to explain this feeling to my partner and my professor (I think in an effort to not sound racist I ended up sounding more racist and not articulating my thoughts fully) and they seemed (understandingly) to get annoyed with me and my professor concluded that I did not truly appreciate Affirmative Action.
She was right. How could I? As a white person how could I possibly fully appreciate Affirmative Action? But looking back on that experience I wish that I had fully articulated my thoughts on the issue and had a real discussion with my partner and my professor. Largely because of my own fear of being labeled ‘racist’ (which inevitably as a white person I am anyway) and also because of the stigma associated with really discussing race I think I missed out on a valuable learning experience and an opportunity to start to dissect a serious issue concerning race.
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