18-year-old Georgina Bush waited anxiously for weeks to get her response from University of Michigan. She was almost sure she would get in. After all, she had a 93 average at Brearly, one of the most competitive independent schools in New York City. Her aunt was an alumnus at University of Michigan, and in addition to several A.P. courses she took, her father paid for her to attend an international leadership conference abroad. With all of these benefits lined up for Georgina, she found it strange that the letter came in a 4”x9.5” envelope. Her acceptance letters from NYU and Princeton came in larger and thicker packages. Nevertheless, she assumed that they would send her the necessary forms and additional information about her major at a later date. When she tore open the letter and read that she had not been accepted, one can imagine her disappointment. It was naturally upsetting that she had not gotten accepted but there was something even more disturbing about the situation. Sheniqua Jenkins, an African-American student who attended the public school her mother taught at, was attending University of Michigan next fall. It occurred to Georgina that she had been hoodwinked. She was being discriminated against because of her race. She was a victim of reverse racism and was being disadvantaged because of a factor that she had no control over; the color of her skin. Awwwwwww. Poor Georgina. What an unfortunate situation affirmative action has put her in. Lets listen to what Georgina has to say about this controversial issue.

The whole affirmative action excuse may have worked before but it’s no longer relevant. Slavery ended in 1865 when the 13th amendment was issued. That was 137 years ago. Get over it. Granted, there were a few disadvantages to having slavery in this country but is it really that serious? Ok so blacks were stripped of their cultural identity and thrust into a new world against their will. Yea they were taught to regard themselves as inferior beings and were only considered to be 3/5 of a person for the purpose of political representation. And even though they were not allowed to read or write or get any type of formal education, that all changed when the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment was issued. They were allowed to vote and could even buy property. They were allowed to do everything whites did and that gave blacks plenty of time to get back on their feet.

Georgina has neglected the fact that although blacks were granted freedom on paper, their new “freedom” was not reflected in society. Perhaps she should be reminded of the Black Codes, which further instilled the idea of black inferiority in the southern society. Black men were placed in jail if they could not prove they had a legitimate job. This of course posed a problem to blacks since most white owned companies wouldn’t hire them. Thus encouraging many to return to life on the plantation. Blacks were restricted in where they could go. They were not allowed to marry one another. They were not allowed to own or rent land. They were not allowed to vote either. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan scared and discouraged blacks from voting by threatening to kill them. If blacks were seen “unlawfully assembling themselves”, they would get thrown in jail. Whites were given permission to punish blacks with whipping beatings and forced labor for minor crimes such as stealing a bit of food. The U.S. government condoned all of these limitations on black people’s rights. Let’s see Georgina’s response to that.

Ummm… ok. Ok. So blacks weren’t exactly on what you would call an even playing field. Admittedly, black codes did have detrimental affects on their social progression, but what about the whole civil rights era. You know when people were saying it loud, that they were black and proud. I mean blacks made a big fuss over getting their rights and whatnot. A lot got accomplished with the help of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. They overturned Brown v. Board of Education and eliminated the separate but equal ideals. And who can forget the march on Washington. That was a beautiful thing wasn’t it? Black people were achieving great things during this time period. People like Thurgood Marshall, A. Phillip Randolph, and Roy Wilkins really showed that blacks were getting places. All of that was in the late 1950s to the 1960s, about 40 – 50 years ago. If blacks couldn’t get off their feet by then, well… that’s their problem not mine. Things are different now.

You know, it seems as though the more Georgina speaks, the more I’d like her to shut up. If she had the slightest trace of logic or common sense there is no way she could have been under the impression that a few progressive individuals and a march on Washington would simply make it all better. Of course it would be foolish to deny that quite a bit got accomplished during this time of revolution, however racism and the impediments it poses for blacks did not go anywhere. Take for example the police brutality that blacks were faced with throughout the 80’s and early 90’s. The growing frustration that young blacks faced in urban America lead to riots such as the Rodney King incident which resulted in 10,000 deaths, and 2,300 injuries. As Sam Cooke said “it’s been a long, long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come”. Blacks have come a LOOOOONNNG way but it would be preposterous to suggest that we live in a just and racially unbiased world today. Is that what Georgina is suggesting?

Listen. All I’m saying is that it’s not fair for blacks to take a place that could have been mine. It is so hypocritical of blacks to complain about racial bias when affirmative action is clearly a blatant form of discrimination. What these schools are doing is allowing skin color to influence who gets admitted. Blacks are getting an edge over whites because they have darker skin. Hello! Can you say reverse racism? I guess discrimination is wrong only when it is convenient for blacks. If anything goes wrong, they just pull out the race card. Well Bush gets a pat on the back for trying to stop the race card from being played this time. Supporting this ludicrous institution goes against every value that this country was founded on. How are all men supposed to be created equal if the ones with darker skin are getting into all the schools and taking all the jobs? Do I get advantages because of my skin color? No. Not in this day and age.

Georgina has clearly lost her damn mind. In a perfect world, people who are white would not be given privileges because of their race but we don’t live in a utopia so I think she needs to open up her eyes and take a good look around her. If you think for a minute that whites and blacks are treated the same way, picture a young white male driving through Striver’s Row or Jamaica Estates blasting rock music from his BMW. Not a big deal. Now reverse the colors. If a young black male drives through Central Park West blasting his hip hop music from a BMW, he’d be lucky if he got out of there without someone calling the cops on them. What does that say to you about how equal we are today. The color black has always represented all that is bad, so I guess the world didn’t stop at skin color. Black people are considered threatening, inferior, and dangerous people. Do you think that as someone white you don’t have any advantages? Well when you walk into Saks 5th avenue, you don’t have security tagging you and following you around the store. When you go for a job, you are not asked to relax your hair or cut your dreads or take out braids. Forget that because when you go for a job, if you are not called back for an interview you don’t have to wonder if it is because you are white. When you go to school you don’t have to sit and listen to how great, powerful, and successful black people are all the time. In school, your teacher doesn’t spend 1or 2 days on the achievements of your great ancestors; they dedicate the entire year to that. When you pick up magazines like Seventeen and Vogue you don’t have to scrutinize each page carefully to find a model or article pertaining to your hair and your makeup. If you aspire to be an academy award winning actor or actress you have more than two actors to look up to as role models. You can stand on the corner with your friends without a police officer approaching you or telling you to disperse. You don’t watch television and constantly see your people portrayed as illiterate drug addicts, drunkards, jailbirds, gangsters, hoes and pimps, or a bunch of loud, barbaric, ignorant fools. When your young people ruthlessly terrorize high schools by trying to kill their peers (Columbine), they are looked at as troubled youth with “issues” who were never “socially accepted”. However if you were black and was caught committing a petty theft, you would be roughly handled, regarded as the scum of the earth and then have your actions blamed on the music you listen to. See, you don’t have to deal with the fear of being shot up by the police when you reach into your coat pocket for a wallet. Diallo probably thought that getting his wallet wasn’t a crime either.

Okay, I get the point. There’s no reason to ----- No. I’m not done. As for your little comment on blacks taking your place in the school and in the workplace, I have news for you. We aren’t taking your place; we’re taking the place that we deserve. See I know that it’s hard for you to accept the idea of blacks deserving ivy leagues and executive positions but guess what, we is no longer slaves massa. No longer obedient chattel. We are slowly accepting the fact that we deserve the same things you do. Despite the acknowledgement that we deserve what we work for, we are still not on the level we should be. Every single Ivy League has an admissions officer who specializes in diversifying the population however none of the schools have an African-American population of more than 10%. This is with the help of affirmative action programs. How is that explained? African-Americans are not playing the race card; they are merely trying to stay in the game. Pardon my French but reverse racism is crap. Georgina, you have affirmative action too. Do you really think that George W. Bush would have gotten into Yale if generation after generation of his family didn’t go there or he was not the son of a former president? That is affirmative action too and if you’re wondering why blacks need “extra” affirmative action, consider the fact that only 8% of the school is African-American as opposed to the 52% which is white. You do the math.

WHO DO YOU THINK IS RIGHT????