I am an African American sociologist, a proud father of a high school student, and I must admit that I hold an optimistic view of the state of my country. However, there are moments when the flaws in my optimism are shamefully exposed.
Every now and then, I start to believe that we are making progress in the fight against racism in the United States. The widespread support for movements like Black Lives Matter and the growing discourse around critical race theory gave me hope. But then, something like the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action comes along. While I anticipated this decision, I am infuriated that even at the highest levels of our legal system, our society remains limited in its understanding of race and racism.
It is widely acknowledged that race and racism continue to shape our experiences and opportunities in profound ways, despite often remaining hidden. Now, we are being told that colleges cannot consider race in their admissions processes, unless prospective students can convincingly demonstrate how racism has negatively impacted them in their essays and personal statements. This requirement is utterly absurd.
Let’s consider this scenario: My 15-year-old daughter is excelling in high school. I am immensely proud of her and delighted that she has discovered the secrets to success. If she chooses to pursue higher education, she will have excellent college options. But how should I advise her to maximize these opportunities? Should I ask her to keep track of the daily struggles she faces as a member of a marginalized racial minority? Should I request her to dredge up and document her most painful memories? Should I even consider sending her to a hypnotherapist to retrieve forgotten instances of racism for the sake of self-preservation? Absolutely not. The psychological toll this would take on her far outweighs any potential benefits.
Nevertheless, I cannot help but imagine what her transcript would look like if she did not have to endure the constant pressures of systemic racism and the blatant racism of the Trump era during her formative years. Her cumulative GPA reflects not only her efforts but also the emotional and intellectual energy she must summon every day, as well as the judgments made by those around her from the moment she stepped foot in school.
Should I encourage her to recall all the times when someone underestimated her intellectual abilities or wrongly accused her of wrongdoing, and then calculate the cumulative impact of those misjudgments? Could she even do that? No, she couldn’t.
Should I prompt her to explain why there is a scarcity of Black and brown students in advanced placement classes at her school, while many are labeled as “at risk” in one way or another? Should I advise her to elucidate how these exclusions have affected her own experiences, achievements, and trajectory? Would her response compel an admissions officer, even without the dramatic backdrop of a police shooting or a drive-by shooting in her life?
The idea that colleges and universities should rely on each applicant’s personal account of how race has affected their lives in order to consider race in a manner that aligns with the current majority on the Supreme Court is, quite frankly, placing an unfair burden of proof on adolescents who may not fully grasp the complex ways in which their experiences are influenced by historical and contemporary patterns of racial exclusion. How can we expect high school students to understand these connections if the esteemed members of our highest court cannot?
Amon Emeka, an associate professor of sociology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, illustrates the concerns and frustrations of many individuals in this deeply flawed system.
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