This is the most important thing to remember as you work your way into the meat and potatoes of this article. Please remember as you read on that all of my opinions, while controversial, hold no animosity towards other races, ethnicities, or people.
That said, let us begin.
Sitting in my Journalism class one day last week the procedure was as standard as any other day. As our advisor rotated through our usual list of topics of discussion, she mentioned a scholarship opportunity that had recently been made available.
The Asian American Journalists Association is offering scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to Asian American graduate and undergraduate students interested in pursuing a career in Journalism. This, I had a problem with.
You might ask yourself why I might have an issue with this seemingly positive scholarship opportunity. The answer is simple: It’s just not fair.
Beyond simply being allowed to put out a scholarship that is only attainable by Asian-American students, it’s unfair for any person to be allowed to put together an organization that only caters to the needs of Asian-Americans.
But don’t think I’m singling them out. There’s a whole list of organizations I could go through, in fact I think I might:
–The Arab American Journalists Association
–The Bay Area Black Journalists Association
–The National Association of Gay and Lesbian Journalists
–The National Association of Hispanic Journalist
Now, the fact that I am using Journalism associations as examples does not necessarily mean that I am focusing simply on that aspect of the organizations that exist. It simply feels appropriate for the medium in which this article is being presented to you.
Have I reached my point yet?
Here it is: with all the different organizations that exist in the bay area and across the country, it is still considered wrong to form an organization that caters to the needs of Caucasian American students, or Caucasian Americans in general for that matter.
Let’s take a look at why this is unfair. Say you are a student looking to earn a scholarship and it just so happens that four have just recently become available, however the four scholarships are each being offered to students of minority races only. Now as qualified as you might be for these opportunities the fact still remains that so long as the color of your skin is white you will be ineligible to receive these honors and you will have to work that much harder to succeed.
But wait, there’s more. Now let’s say, for example, that a new scholarship became available, one that has no racial or ethnic qualifications at all. Now you really do have a chance to receive this award to help you through college. Wait one minute now, that means that you now have to compete not only with all of the other white students who are fighting for it, but also everyone of different ethnic and racial backgrounds who were eligible for not only this scholarship, but a vast number of others that you yourself had no chance of receiving.
Why has this come to be?
“White People,” as many of us are called, are something of a scary monster in the eyes of history. Those that still remember slavery, the European colonization of America, and even the discrimination that occurred in this country into the 1900s relate the white race with being a dangerous and violent people who looked down upon other races with disgust and a sense of superiority.
I have a question for this. If your father was a mass murderer does that mean that you, in turn, are going to be the same? The sins of the past are not be passed down from generation to generation and as that holds true for individual people it should also hold true for this generation of Caucasian Americans.
The people who will argue with me will be the people who have lived through discrimination and who feel that they deserve to have something like this that exist only to aid their cause.
To those people I would say that you are right.
The point of this article is not to say that organizations that aid specific races are wrong, quite the opposite really. What it boils down to in the end is this; we are all part of this world. No matter your race, ethnicity, interests, or physical attributes we all must share this space and we all need to get along. If there are going to exist organizations to aid the advancement of minorities exclusively, then there really should be organizations that exist that aid the advancement of white people exclusively. It’s not racist, it’s not discriminatory, it’s fair.
For the record, I am only half white, I am also of Mexican decent and should I choose to, I could very well take advantage of the scholarships and programs offered to Latino students. I choose not to take advantage of ethnically based scholarships however for the reasons I have stated above.
Before the hate mail comes pouring in, I am well aware of the White based organization known as the Ku Klux Klan, so don’t think that I am not aware of them. This organization has existed for centuries and promotes hatred and exclusion. The types of organizations I would like to see are exactly the opposite of this, promoting growth, respect for your fellow man, and aiding students in achieving greatness. As far as I know there is no white based organization like this in existence today, and if they do exist then I would certainly like to see more of them.
