Affirmative action not a panacea, but best we can do
To the Editor:
While I agree in principle with what I feel is the intent of [Carrie Chin's] editorial--hard work, integrity and ambition being the defining quality of the typical "American" immigrant/descendant success story--I disagree with her on the content of the article.
Because of [Ms. Chin's] ethnic background, she is totally qualified to speak in terms of her own experiences as a minority. But she based the sum total of her rationale for the "evils" of Affirmative Action on what she has read and perceived about what I'll term the "black vs white" racism issue.
I am an African American female who abhors affirmative action in principle. I do, however, recognize why it was formulated and the necessity for it. I personally have been a victim of racism and have been accused of being one of those individuals that was hired to meet "the quota". I will tell you that neither experience was a positive one for me; the fact that I was prejudged on both accounts is a clear recognition that a bias exists.
Is "affirmative action" the answer? There is really no clear cut panacea that will cure the racial ills of society, but affirmative action is a start. Imagine what the environment here at Tech would be like if there were no affirmative action initiatives. Do you think that minorities were left out of the educational, large business and government sectors in the past because they lacked the intelligence, work ethic, or ambition to succeed in these areas? What initiatives would you have implemented to afford minorities an opportunity to excel in education and industry?
[Ms. Chin's editorial stated] that maybe even someone in her own family benefited from affirmative action--just look in the mirror. Somewhere, someone like her was given an opportunity, and that opportunity paved the way for her. Without affirmative action the opportunity may never have existed.
Until we as a society can collectively work together to solve the problems of racial and gender discrimination, to name a couple, then we have to rely on initiatives like affirmative action to make small strides toward a real solution.
