Born Racist
Imagine this, a true bake sale was held in Berkeley, the same cupcake sold to whites for $2, sold to latinos for $1 and to blacks for $.75. All women received a $.25 discount.
To the surprise of the organizers, the bake sale provoked hurt, anger, and hostility. The incident brought to surface racial tensions that remain unresolved and simmer quietly across many campuses.
Part of the problem seems to come from differences in the meaning of words like diversity, racism, and inequality.
The bake sale coordinators admittedly intended their sale to be racist because that's how they see the use of race in affirmative policy. In this view, any use of race to label and divide people is, quite simply, racism.
The question is how is deciding whether to admit someone to a school based on skin color any different, they ask, from deciding whether someone is criminal or unintelligent based on their skin color?
This amounts to stereotyping, wrong, if true. It is critical to note this differs from considering a person's background in admissions decisions. This process considers the pervasive structural inequalities that limit minorities' and women's opportunities to succeed.
Schools in white neighborhoods fare better than black neighborhoods.
Other inequities, minorities are more likely to be targeted for predatory loans, targeted by cigarette and liquor businesses, more likely to live near toxic waste sites.
Unconscious bias plays a role in admissions and employment decisions. Research shows two qualified candidates for a job, the white candidate is more likely to receive a favorable job offer than the minority candidate. Other research shows that when a female applicant has children, perceptions of her employability tend to decrease, whereas, when a male applicant has children, perceptions of his employability rise.
It's unsurprising that the bake sale organizers underestimated collateral damage of their event for the campus atmosphere. Confusing these processes propagates misunderstandings, not only of affirmative action policy, but also between the two sides, narrowing the potential for acknowledging perspective and having meaningful dialogue.
Psychology Today
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