Help should be for those who need it, not for a racial group

Monday, January 12, 1998

Help should be for those who need it, not for a racial group

Reprisals for past injustices should not obscure helping the
truly unfortunate

By Kenneth Park

Enough is enough. The days of begging for retribution and
preferential treatment because of the color of your skin are over.
Sure, it is true that this society and our university still possess
many racial problems, but to me, pleading with our government for
additional help is nothing more than an unjustified excuse.

Special treatment should be given to those that have been
deprived of opportunity, the things necessary to adequately educate
themselves for their future endeavors. Using your nationality as a
ticket to a road of benefits is ridiculous. Sure, demographically,
many underrepresented groups fall into the category of
underprivileged, but so do many other groups that may not be
considered underrepresented, or "of color." Why should someone,
because of their race, have special benefits that someone who is
not of color, who might be in a worse situation, not have? Because
people owe it to them? I think not.

Although affirmative action has helped many individuals, I have
seen that it also leads to a lowering of standards. While I believe
that aid should be given on a need-only basis, regardless of race,
I also believe that there is a point where people who have been
given this sort of help should be able to fend for themselves. For
example, take entrance requirements into a university. Quotas are
filled and individuals get the chance to have the same education as
those that have been dubbed "more fortunate." So after four or five
years of the same education and environment, why is there further
special treatment for higher education and jobs? Always being
evaluated with different, lower standards seems much more
condescending than beneficial.

Facts are facts. There are many individuals out there that need
special help to achieve their goals. The problem lies in who should
get that help and who is going to choose who gets it. If I had it
my way, I would allocate it to the people that have most
demonstrated direct deprivation, carefully making sure I don’t
waste it on someone who differs from the "fortunate" only by the
color of his or her skin. Attending a university that constantly
boasts and prides itself on the diversity it has collected in its
student population, it seems very hypocritical that many are still
adamantly insisting on grouping themselves as "underprivileged who
need special help."

The main goal of providing special treatment is so eventually
the recipients will no longer need it. Perpetuating unsubstantiated
cries for special aid based on race only is selfish and unjust and
should not occupy the attention of anyone.