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October 12th, 2004 ![[image]](http://mowser.com/img?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackinformant.com%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2FSolenca%2Fimages%2Fuser.png)
DuaneOne of Chin’s favorite examples of the Asian success at overcoming poverty is Princeton physicist Daniel C. Tsui, who won a Nobel Prize in 1998. He was born to a peasant family in a remote village in Henan province in central China, attended school in Hong Kong and then got a college scholarship to Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., leading to his research at the University of Chicago, Bell Laboratories and Princeton. There was no affirmative action admission for Tsui, Chin said. “He credits his accomplishments to his Chinese parents’ value placed on education, despite the fact that they were illiterate Chinese peasants themselves.
And yet the recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action preserved the system at most selective private schools in which Asian American students with very high tests scores are passed over in favor of African American and Hispanic students with lower scores because the schools want significant numbers of all ethnicities on campus. (full article)
Now before any of you jump off the mantra that African-Americans have been using for years: “I know all of that, but African-Americans have been given a raw deal since we came to this country”, answer this question for me? How have YOU (yes, you) been directly affected by slavery? This is the one question that most African-Americans that are pro-affirmative action have a very hard time answering.
I ask this question because it is people like this Asian man that lose out. There are many people that come to this country everyday that have just escaped real oppression. We do not know what it is like to have someone kill off your entire village, or see a close loved one being raped by a government official (no figurative responses to that one, please).
When my Dad was dying in a hospital, I did not ask for a Black doctor. My family just wanted the best qualified to help him any way that the could. Although my Dad did eventually pass away, we have very few complaints about his medical attention (and guess what? He was not rich…he was a steel worker. My parents were just smart and stubborn enough to demand for the best that the hospital had to offer).
As you can see, this issue really sets me off, because while we as African-Americans sit here and suck on the breast of American charity, there are others that are standing in line behind us that really need the help, but we just push them away.
I want to stop now, because I am saving some of this emotion for my next commentary 
, but let me leave you with this. So that you understand me, I am not completely against affirmative action. What I am against is the fact that we still live in a country in which we are still judged by the color of our skin…and we are the ones that fight for it. Affirmative action should be reserved for those that come to this country that have a proven track record of working hard, but because of the impoverished situations that they behind in their country, do not have the resources to pay for school (and yes, there are some blacks that would fall in this category).
The funny thing about that because of their strong work ethic, many of these people would still prefer working hard and saving up for their education themselves rather than taking a handout from someone.
What are your thoughts?
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I disagree with the comments that affirmative action should be for those who have a proven track record. Affirmative Action is to allow people who are often looked over in the job market regardless of how qualified they may be the opportunity to even get a track record.
The book “Bury That Sucka” deals with the issue of affirmative action in great depth. Affirmative action is a double edge sword that does more harm than good to the African American community. It mentally cripples the community and though this is year 2005, African Americans are still possessing a slave type of mentally. And as irony would have it we are enslaving ourselves and this is something that the community really needs to come to gripes with. There are many underlying issues within the black community that needs to be resolved. However, as long as we are pointing fingers at everyone else and never ourselves very little is going to change. The rally cry should be for self empowerment, self-fullment and not always have our hands out for help. Affirmative actions, reparations, etc. is a dependence…nothing in common with independence.