Shhh, I'm going to tell you a secret...

I sent a card to postsecret the other day. I'm not sure how many people are aware of it, but postsecret is a blog where Frank, the guy who runs it, receives thousands of anonymous secrets on postcards in the mail, and every Sunday scans twenty into his blog for people to read and relate to. I'm pretty much obsessed with it, and log on every Sunday to see the new secrets. 

Since I doubt my secret will appear on the next posting (or really, any posting, it's not that good of a secret), I've decided that I want to share it with you all. It said, "even though I disagree with affirmative action, checking the box that says 'Hispanic' always seems like a good idea." 

It's true. On standardized tests and college applications (and now law school applications) I have always checked the little box that says "Hispanic," even though my skin is more olive than tan, I speak (mostly) English at home, and consider myself an American -- not that you can't be Hispanic and American at the same time. It's just that my dad is pretty much one of the whitest people you'll ever meet, and after so many years in this country my Guatemalan side of the family has assimilated fairly well. Yes, we still eat tamales at Christmas and grapes on New Year's Eve, but still...If someone had a gun to my head and told me I could only pick one, I would definitely say that I fit more into the "White (non-Hispanic)" category. 

(On a tangent, I never got why "white" had to be accompanied by "not hispanic" and not "non-Asian" or "non-African", but I digress.)

After I put this particular post card in the mail, I realized something. It's not that I don't believe in affirmative action. It's that I don't believe in race-based affirmative action. There's a HUGE difference, and I probably should have specified, but I didn't want to get all political on a 4"x6" postcard on its way to Germantown, PA. 

BUT, I have no problem getting all political here.

The thing is, I think it's completely RACIST for the government or educational institutions to assume that because you're black or hispanic you need a hand up over lesser-privileged white children. I mean, there ARE white kids who grow up on the wrong side of the tracks (or in Compton, whatever) who attend the same schools and get the same education as the minority students that are targeted, and yes, helped, by affirmative action. These are kids from broken homes, subjected to gang violence, growing up in the projects, who can barely read coming out of 10th grade, who are then looked at by colleges and dismissed in favor of a minority student who could quite possibly have a more privileged background just because of the color of their skin.

Um, I'm sorry, but isn't that, like, the definition of racism? Judging people by the color of their skin or where their family is from?

It's my personal belief that IF affirmative action is left in place, it needs to be radically and fundamentally overhauled to correct this oversight. Rather than giving these "boosts" to applicants because of their race, educational institutions and even employers should take into account socio-economic factors. Where you grow up and go to school can have as much affect on you as your skin color, in terms of education. Think about it. A black kid from Shaker Heights or Newport Beach, with parents that both have great jobs and can afford to live in good school districts, is way more likely to score well on standardized tests or do well in school, than a white kid from Compton or inner-city Cincinnati whose dad was never in the picture and whose mom has to work three shifts waiting tables to be able to afford basic necessities.

My roommate disagrees with me (no surprise there, she's an Asian American studies doctoral candidate who was a rabid Obama fan). She thinks that because whites were so oppressive for so long no white student could possibly deserve preference over any minority student. I think it's this kind of backward (racist) thinking that really is a stumbling block to race-relations in the first place. There are more factors in your life than the color of your skin or the country that your parents (or grandparents) called home. But people who fail to take that into account exclude a section of the population who are white but are truly underprivileged.

The thing is, even though I know that I've been blessed to go to great schools and have great teachers and a good home life, I still check that Hispanic box. I kind of feel guilty about it, too, so I don't do it all of the time. I just think it would be so great if we didn't have to put ourselves into a box based on what we looked like or our race/ethnicity. Don't you?