Affirmative action I agree with a couple things that have been stated here.

First off I don't even know why race is ever even considered in scholarships. All it does is exclude other ethnic groups from getting their fair share. The ONLY thing for financial aid, in my opinion, that should be considered is social class, which side of the poverty line you fall on. Not what color your skin is. Dividing it that way just does not make sense. If most of the poor people are black then most of the money will go to them however the other groups who are as poor as they are wont be excluded. If were going to start with a group that has been abused, then lets start with one that has been mistreated and negatively profiled the longest, women. But you dont see anywhere near amount of scholarships for them as opposed to ones just for blacks. I dont understand why they have the right to demand such payment (200years) while they continue in their homes to abuse and rule over THEIR wives, and have been doing so for more then 2000years. Am I missing something?... If we are going to punish one group of people over another for some attribute, gene, or history they cant change, I think all men should be the first to be punished, not white people. Down with the Y chromosomes! lol The whole idea of that white people today are responsible for what slave owners they didnt even know, had no relation to, (keep in mind that less then 20% of white people owned slaves), more then 100 years ago is completely ludicrous. Also I love it how history books to they fail to mention that MOST of the black who transported to America were sold to white people by their own people. African cities and tribes sold their murders, thieves, or prisoners of war into slavery and made quite a profit off of it for themselves. What I dont understand is why some black people are so pissed at white people when their own people sold them for profit. Furthermore if they were never sold into slavery by their own people, and were still in Africa (with or with out aids), they would have never had this great opportunity to argue about their bad lives are on a computer, most likely in a house with running water, cable and food in the fridge. Im pretty sure that any African now-a-days would happily trade places with an African American. And that whole thing about not getting out of the slums, yes its damn hard to do. But thats not a reason why you shouldnt even try, seems like more of a pathetic reason to beg for money to me. White history month Presidents day vs mlk

Whether right or wrong racism...like you said...had become a two edged sword, but I feel that one side is becoming slowly (or not so slowly) much sharper than the other side. Chad Lenz (Hawkeye) getting out of the ghettos You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me "Whiteboy," "Cracker," "Honkey," "Whitey," "Caveman" and that's OK. But when I call you, nigger, Kike, Towelhead, Sand-nigger, Camel jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink you call me a racist. You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live? You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day. You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You have Yom Hashoah You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi You have the NAACP. You have BET. If we had WET(White Entertainment Television) we'd be racists. If we had a White Pride Day you would call us racists. If we had white history month, we'd be racists If we had an organization for only whites to "advance" our lives, we'd be racists. If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships, you know we'd be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US, yet if there were "White colleges" that would be a racist college. In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists. You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us snobs & racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist. I am proud. But, you call me a racist. White suspression. It is the people that blame the system, for the failure of others, that are themselves the failure of the system. You make the claim that is the system that is at fault for the failure and class segregation. So what have you done to change it? Do you give to the United Way, Salvation Army, Oxfam, or any other charity, and if you do do you give a substantial amount that really will change something? Do you give direct, to a panhandler holding his hat out for charity at the side of the subway? And why do you, if you do give, give money to any of these organizations or to the individual... Do you do it to make a difference, or do you do it to make yourself feel better about yourself? Now, after, if you do 'attempt' to make a difference, try still walking through what you call the 'ghetto', and if someone attempts to rob you, scream out "OH NO, IM ON YOUR SIDE!!! I BLAME THE SYSTEM!!! I GAVE TO THE UNITED WAY!!!" you think that will make a difference? NO! The social construction that you make to blame the problem, is simply that... a social construction. Be careful who you blame for problems, be careful what you attribute problems to. There are loopholes, and in some cases just plain holes, in the logics you can attempt to prove. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has the opportunity for as you put it EDUCATION. As stated in the movie DANGEROUS MINDS, "YOU CHOOSE!!!" Life is a choice. Some do have to suffer more than others in order to attain certain pinnacles of achievement. As a result however, those people who have struggled and survived, are the ones who have the greatest experiential wealth, and are the ones who most know how to, if they believe it to be the fault of the system, change it. Education is not about money, ok well it is in part, but money can be obtained by commitment. WORKING, is how you make money in this society. If you must take 2 years to work in order to build enough wealth in order to go to post-secondary education, then so be it. And these social issues do have to do with race, and class. However, RACE is a common denominator in North America in the social determining of class. Not because white people decide it, but because the economic relations of social interaction determine it.