Last fall at "Experiences," a mandatory presentation for freshmen, a number of students spoke about their dealings with issues of race, gender and discrimination at Dartmouth. The speaker who most resonated with me was Cinnamon Spear '09. A Native American, Spear grew up on a reservation with people who shared the same cultural heritage as her. However, unlike her neighbors, who exhibited very strong physical features common among Native Americans, Speaer appears very "white." Her case intrigued me because it showed how the issue of race is more complicated than skin tones and facial features.
Affirmative action -- or "positive discrimination," as it is called in other countries -- has long been the subject of debate in the halls of government and around college campuses. While the morality of reverse racism has been debated ad nauseum, Spear's case shows that an affirmative action system that relies on the subjective determination of race is inherently ineffective.
A major problem with affirmative action is that it motivates people of mixed race to identify themselves solely with a "disadvantaged" group in order to reap benefits in college admissions and business opportunities. Members of one group may unjustly reap the benefits intended to compensate for the systemic oppression of another. Because some benefits are competitive (like college admissions), some who need help up will not get it and thus the system fails.
Spear's case provides an interesting example. If the objective observer identifies her as white, does she face the discrimination that affirmative action is meant to counteract? Scientists have shown that the concept of race is merely social construction and is not scientifically testable. If Cinnamon were to apply to work for a racist employer, he would be unable to discriminate against her because her minority status is not discernable. Racist universities and elite clubs would also be unable to tell that she is a Native American and would be unable to bar her from admission. In this way people like her are immune to this prejudice and do not need or deserve the government's assistance, but get it anyway. There has to be a program where this inefficiency is eliminated.
The fairest system to ensure that only the proper groups are assisted would require a neutral agency to identify the racial status of individuals. By doing it this way, only those who exhibit 'minority' physical characteristics would receive aid because they are the ones who would be subjected to discrimination. Otherwise, what would prevent white people from categorizing themselves as Native American to unjustly receive benefits or dark-skinned "white" people from being the subject of discrimination without compensation?
Along these same lines, not all racial minorities are discriminated against equally. An Hispanic person might have an easier time finding employment than a black person and a black person with very dark skin may be subject to more racism than one with light skin. If affirmative action is meant to help the people who are the most disadvantaged, the assistance people get should be awarded based on to how "minority" someone looks. The federal government already tracks what percentage of Native American ancestry people are, why not base the program on appearance instead?
However not I, nor anyone I know, would advocate such a system, and maybe that tells us something. While the institution of affirmative action was intended to help the poor, unconnected minorities who are kept down by the lingering shadow of Jim Crow, studies have shown that rich, well-connected minorities are the ones who reap the most benefit. When we invest ourselves in the meaningless terms of race we dodge a complex discussion of discrimination and merit in favor of oversimplifying things into meaningless divisions. Individuals' achievements must be put in the context of their background to fully evaluate their abilities and see what they have accomplished given the opportunities afforded to them at birth. A poor black boy from the city has more in common with his poor white neighbor than he would with a rich black kid from the suburbs. Nonetheless, the current system pits the two very different people against each other. If we are to expect viable results, our examination, unlike race, has to be more than superficial.
