Campaign Action
If this past presidential election has done nothing else, it has served as an important reminder that America is a country deeply divided across racial lines. One of the ways that this racial tension and animosity manifests itself is through the conflict around resources—who has them, who doesn’t and overall access to them. In an increasingly diverse and multicultural America, which at the same time is undergoing enormous economic shifts, some whites believe that they are being left behind. This is the platform that Donald Trump ran on. The “Make America Great Again” slogan fed into his voters beliefs that white people are increasingly the victims of bias and discrimination and that the country should be returned to a time when whites had it “better.” This is his justification for racist policies like the Justice Department’s investigation into colleges and universities that allegedly discriminate against white students. Except, well, facts.
While this is a perception held by many, the statistics do not confirm this as reality.:
White Americans enjoy considerable advantages in education compared to blacks and Hispanics. White Americans obtain bachelor's degrees at significantly higher rates than blacks or Hispanics. A 2012 Stanford University study found that while whites comprised 60 percent of the nation's graduating high school class in 2004, they accounted for nearly three-quarters of admissions to the nation's most selective colleges.
So, even as the population becomes more brown, it’s not as if white folks are suddenly being edged out of schools and jobs and being replaced by us. White people are still the majority of the population and they are still in charge of almost all of the resources. With very few exceptions, it is white people at universities that control access to admissions and as the data shows, they are overwhelmingly admitting other white people. So the status quo remains intact. But here’s where Trump voters should really feel aggrieved—rich white people are definitely using their money, privilege and connections to get their kids into school.
At elite schools, wealthy white families have traditionally used donations and legacy admission preferences to tip the scales in favor of their children.
Take Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law for instance. Kushner was a mediocre student whose own former high school administrators never thought he would make it to the Ivy League. His grade point average and SAT scores did not warrant acceptance into his alma mater Harvard, until that is, his father made a sizable donation. Contrary to popular belief, Jared is actually the ultimate stereotype of affirmative action at work—someone who has not earned anything on their own merit yet been given access to an opportunity simply because of his skin color and bank account.
Kushner was admitted into Harvard University in 1998, not long after his father, real estate developer Charles Kushner, pledged $2.5 million to the university. In his 2006 book, The Price of Admission: How America’s Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges — and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates, Daniel Golden interviewed administrators at Kushner’s high school. In his book, an official from the school told him, “There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard.”
In a survey conducted last fall by HuffPost/YouGov, nearly half of Trump voters believed that whites are the most discriminated against group in the United States today. Again, this is not supported by any facts. In nearly every indicator—education, wealth, life expectancy, income—white people are outnumbering blacks and other people of color. But their perceptions are their reality and this is an important way that Trump and his wealthy friends are able to align working class whites against blacks and people of color. When these voters think they see opportunities improving for people of color (they aren’t, by the way) they believe it means less opportunity for them. And the truth is, life isn’t getting any better for them. White skin privilege aside—there are serious challenges facing white working people around the country.
That’s what makes the entire outcome of this election so very sad. Under Trump, nothing will improve for anyone now—no matter how many racist policies, like this affirmative action nonsense, this administration tries to enact that seem to be aimed at helping white people. If we are to make progress and truly be great, we have to get at the heart of our issues with race in this country. We have to get at the heart of our economic inequality. This reconciliation will not come from billionaires and bigots who could care less about our well-being. At the end of the day, the Trump administration isn’t about improving life for any of us.