Whites want to maintain their privileged positions within US society: Journalist

Many whites want to maintain their privileged positions within US society, according to an African American journalist and political analyst.

But African Americans must demand what is “rightfully theirs in consideration of the background of enslavement and national oppression,” Abayomi Azikiwe said during an interview with Press TV on Sunday.

A new poll has found that most Americans are opposed to race being a determinant factor for applicants in college admissions decisions.

The poll conducted by the Schar School of Government found that 63 percent of Americans would support the Supreme Court prohibiting colleges and universities from considering race and ethnicity when making admissions decisions, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

The poll also showed at least 60 percent of all racial groups except for Black Americans supported eliminating race from college admission decisions. Black Americans were 53 percent in favor of the consideration of race in admissions and 47 percent were opposed to it.

Majorities of all racial groups also supported programs to increase racial diversity on college campuses, equaling almost two-thirds of all adults.

“This survey on the use of race in admissions to higher educational institutions done by George Mason University and the Washington Post misses the mark when the questions do not ask whether the use of race is effective if no quotas for admissions are established,” said Azikiwe.

“The issue of quotas was important in the historic Bakke Case of 1978 when a white engineer sued the University of California at Davis for admission into medical school saying that he was denied because African Americans with lower standardized test scores were admitted, and he was not. There is a lack of recognition of the historic discrimination of African Americans in all aspects of life in the United States,” he added.  

Over 6 in 10 Americans opposed to universities asking applicants’ race: Poll

Sixty-three percent of Americans are opposed to asking race questions in university application forms.

“The only way to overcome this legacy of inequality and segregation is to set guidelines and goals to raise the levels of African Americans and other oppressed communities within higher education along with the labor market. Any institution can profess to be against discrimination and in favor of affirmative action or most recently, diversity and inclusion. These proclamations mean very little if the number of African Americans and oppressed peoples, in general, are not represented in key areas of the education and professional sectors,” he said.  

“Many whites want to maintain their privileged positions within US society. African Americans at the same must be compelled to demand what is rightfully theirs in consideration of the background of enslavement and national oppression,” the analyst noted.

“There have already been numerous legal and political attacks on civil rights, affirmative action and other measures to address discrimination. The current Supreme Court leans heavily to the right and cannot be relied upon to provide justice for African American people. It will be the African American people themselves, along with their allies, which through self-organization can provide the necessary guarantees for equal opportunity and self-determination,” he concluded.

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