Right-wing media turns Asian student into another pawn in efforts to end affirmative action

OPINION: Jon Wang joined a lawsuit to help end affirmative action, but legacy admissions are a much bigger part of what makes it hard to get into elite colleges.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

We can see the collision of pathetic white victimhood and the myth of the Asian model minority in the story of Jon Wang, a college student at Georgia Tech, who is now being paraded around by right-wing media as someone who was painfully wronged by affirmative action. We hear a story like this almost every year, but this time the ending could be catastrophic.

White people seem to love stories of non-Black kids who do great in high school yet don’t get into the college of their dreams. This, they say, is proof that affirmative action is robbing qualified non-Black students of the education they deserve. Because in their minds, affirmative action is proof that white people are being victimized. A lot of white people believe that Black people go to college for free and get into whatever school they want because they’re Black.

The real hurdle that makes it hard for people like Wang to get into elite colleges is legacy admissions. The children of alumni are up to eight times more likely to get into elite schools. The children of Harvard alums have a 33% acceptance rate. Harvard’s overall acceptance rate is less than 4%. Legacy admissions are affirmative action for the wealthy and the well-connected. It’s a way of keeping the value of attending a great school in the family.

Wang could blame legacy admissions, but that’s not as politically powerful as blaming Black people, and so affirmative action remains a convenient punching bag. In the mouths of non-Black people, affirmative action is often shorthand that means Black kids aren’t smart enough to get in on their own. It’s a phrase used to denigrate Black students as if we can just assume that they’re lesser. It’s a phrase that brings together white entitlement, arrogance and superiority. It’s a highfalutin synonym for the n-word.

Wang is Asian-American, which adds another layer — Asians have long been used by the right to denigrate Black people. Many white people have an expectation of intelligence and academic excellence from Asian Americans. They’re “the model minority.” So if affirmative action is damaging the lives of intelligent, hard-working Asian-American students, then how can it be a good policy?

Wang got 1590 on the SAT and had a 4.65 GPA but he was rejected from Harvard, MIT, Princeton, U.C. Berkeley, and Cal Tech. California schools have been barred from considering race since 1998 so Wang’s critique that affirmative action kept him from getting into U.C. Berkeley and Cal Tech makes no sense. Wang applied to highly selective schools — Harvard’s acceptance rate is 3.4% and Princeton’s is about 4%. Every year a lot of students get 1600 on the SAT and still don’t get into those schools because college admissions is much more than a numbers game. There’s an art to it. Admissions boards consider your numbers as well as your essays, your recommendations and reviews from admissions counselors. They want to get a sense of the whole person. They’re seeking to build an incoming class that has a wide variety of people, personalities and interests. Race is one part of that calculation but that does not mean Black kids get an easy pass.

What I hear in Wang’s temper tantrum is an assumption that he’s smarter and better than all the Black students who got in so he deserves to get in. There’s no context that putting together a school is about more than numbers. There’s no context about the impact of centuries of racism on the students who are applying. There’s just a primal “I” — I want to get in and I’m better than the Black kids you admitted.

According to the University of California Office of the President, after California removed the ability to consider race in admissions, students from underrepresented groups were 31% less likely to be accepted into U.C. Berkeley. Also, the climates on campuses have grown more hostile for underrepresented students. Removing affirmative action nationwide could have a devastating impact on Black admissions, but that may be where we’re heading because Wang is more than just a complaining student — he’s part of a lawsuit against affirmative action led by an anti-affirmative action nonprofit called Students for Fair Admissions, which has a pair of lawsuits against affirmative action that will soon be decided by the Supreme Court. And given the right-wing composition of the current Supreme Court, we can expect that they will end affirmative action.

That would be tragic. This is a nation where the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights finds elementary and secondary schools with large numbers of Black and Hispanic students are less likely to have experienced teachers, advanced courses, high-quality instructional materials and adequate facilities. Black kids are given fewer resources and more obstacles, yet the right just wants to throw them one more hurdle.

Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of the docuseries podcast “Being Black: The ’80s.” He is also the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is the author of eight books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter.

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