swagner

It's 10:00 AM. I have just completed my Criminal Law class, and am walking down the hallway to go have some lunch in downtown New Haven. However, before I reach the end of the hallway, I notice a poster on the exit door. The poster contains a picture of an african-american businessman smiling, holding a diploma in his right hand. The caption on the top of the photograph read, "Looking for a summer internship? The Office of the Public Defender is recruiting."

In New Haven, a law student can practice law (and a medical student can practice medicine, a dental student can practice dentistry, etc.) after they have completed a certain number of units and are under the direct supervision of a licensed attorney (or a physician or dentist in the case of MD's and DDS's). This is how we all get experience before we are let go into the real world. It's a neat system, as seems to help everyone (Don't we all need low/no cost lawyers, doctors, and dentists?)

Anyway, this internship appeared to be very interesting. I started writing down all of the necessary contact info, which included a minimum GPA, courses completed, and of course, law school enrollment. Finding that I was well qualified, I began to file the paper with the information I wrote down in my briefcase and then I noticed one last thing at the bottom of the poster: "Asian-American, Hispanic-American, African-American, and Native American applicants only". This may as well be written "If you are white, you are not welcome here."

Racism in any form is intolerable. I feel both disgusted and degraded that the law school (and our society as a whole, for that matter) still promotes such a policy. In a misguided attempt to "make up" for racism in the past, our government and public have instituted a new system of racism. That is, "instead of not liking the person of color, we now don't like the white person". Sound a little off the mark? Hardly. Affirmative Action and racial preference programs are still in effect today. Such programs further undermine academia, industry, and this very country by granting unwarranted consideration of minorities simply based upon skin color. While certain programs do take into account other factors, such as financial hardships, the fact is that the color of your skin still does matter with respect to jobs and school admissions. Why do you think this is so?

Overall, what I am getting at here is that two wrongs don't make a right. It is wrong to give any sort of benefit or detrement to a human being because his skin is a certain color. We all should have to earn our success, not have it handed to us. Until such treatment/programs involding racial preference end, unity can never be achieved.

What do you think?

Note: A fellow J.D. student commented that such programs increase "diversity" in an academic/industrial environment. However, I ask, do the means justify the end? I fail to see the benefit of a "diverse" environment if not everyone in attendence actually earned their way in. I am fully supportive of anyone who wishes to find employment or receive a higher education, but one must earn things in life.

Furthermore, such programs directly imply that minorites cannot "cut it" on their own. I asked my girlfriend (a hispanic engineer) about this, and she agrees. Racially geared preference of minorities undermines the professional merit of minority students and employees.