Level playing field is a myth

I have read both letters condemning affirmative action and the stance taken by George Zornick, and I believe that those letters are completely misguided. They each state, in different-but-similar ways, that affirmative action is unnecessary and outdated, which is like saying that Native Americans receive special treatment in their right to live on reservations.

For centuries, European colonialists brutally oppressed non-whites solely for personal economic gain. White America became rich on the backs of the poor and downtrodden, and has made only a perfunctory attempt to help minorities achieve equality in society. While affirmative action has marginally improved race representation in academia, it has done very little to help the overall plight of minorities. In the United States, the opportunities that exist in white suburbia are simply not available to the people who live in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of the inner city. Athletics, music programs, AP courses and even teacher commitment are nearly non-existent in the worst of neighborhoods.

The fact that the poorest (and consequently, least educated) people in this country are brown is not some coincidence or genetic predetermination; it happened because European-Americans exploited them and left them without the tools to rebuild their lives. Until there is no undue socio-economic divide in this country, there can be no concept of a "level playing field." No one who has gone to good schools and has been raised in a wealthy neighborhood can claim that they had to work as hard as their counterpart in the poor, forgotten part of town.

People of my generation were taught that racism was a thing of the past, and while that is a noble dream, it simply isn't true. If we do not openly acknowledge race and the inequities of poverty and education in this country, minorities will continue to suffer in the face of American injustice. One's birthright does not determine their destiny, but it goes a long way to perpetuate the roadblocks that African-American and Hispanic people face. If we do not bridge the gap between rich and poor, if we do not make welfare and prosperity for everyone our top priority, then we as a society can never be truly blind to race.