It Be Your Own Folks: When White Privilege Trumps Affirmative Action
When I read about how Aunt Becky from Full House was implicated in a admissions cheating scam, I immediately wondered why on earth a person of means couldn’t just pay for their kid to attend college. Then I read this story about the scam and became hip to the game. This entire story and scam is indicative of white privilege.
If I had a dollar for every time an underachieving white man has complained about affirmative action resulting in a black person or POC “taking” their “spot” or one of their underachieving friends’ “spot” in college, I could fund the remainder of my Master’s degree and a PhD program.
I have sat in classes where white folks have called the presence of black people on campus into question and acted as if I didn’t deserve to be there, but rich white kids get a pass because they can pay.
Meanwhile, Kamilah Campbell had her SAT scores flagged because they jumped up too high and was suspected of cheating. Campbell says that she didn’t cheat and that she had been working with a tutor, taking online classes, and studying from the Princeton SAT prep book. It’s funny that one black teenager in Florida was instantly flagged for cheating and her future in jeopardy before it even starts, but it took a whole investigation by the FBI to bring down Aunt Becky and others.
White Affirmative Action
First of all, how terrible do your grades and test scores have to be for someone to have to run an entire scam to get you into a school that your family has the resources to pay for outright? USC is $50K per year…Aunt Becky paid 10 times that on this cheating scam.
Please hear me, I’m not shaming these children for their poor grades and test scores but I am coming after the entitlement that these folks have and the inconsistency in our culture that shames black athletes for going to college for free because they can play ball. Black athletes bring prestige, interest, and money to these schools. What are these white kids coming in on fake crew, lacrosse, and hockey scholarships doing besides being rich? People view black athletes as illegitimate members of the university community, but nobody questions how any of the white kids got on campus.
Secondly, this is another piece in the mountain of evidence that our racist culture pits poor white folks against minorities. This scam is affirmative action for rich white people. Certain sports and their accompanying scholarships are affirmative action for rich white people. Legacy admissions are affirmative action for rich white people. About a half dozen other things are affirmative action for rich white people.
But people will still get in their feelings about affirmative action because white folks don’t want to see that it’s white women benefiting from it the most…and the white women getting affirmative action admissions aren’t from families who could have paid or scammed their way into the school…
Proving Value
Finally, this scam shows us once again that whiteness and money not only talk, but they also create realities and worlds that those of us without these things can only dream of. Imagine being so wealthy that you don’t have to be good at nothing except being attractive and nobody thinks twice about you being at an elite institution because they assume that you belong there. You don’t have to prove your intelligence, because people assume that if you’re dumb, you still belong because you can afford to pay.
Meanwhile, black and brown students who are hardworking and intelligent have to constantly prove their value and convince people they belong at higher education institutions. They have to prove that their presence isn’t some grand miscarriage of justice in which a white man had to sacrifice his future for them to be there.
I don’t want to hear another word about affirmative action and people not getting into college because a minority took their “spot” ever again. It wasn’t some black kid that kept Brent or his buddy Chad out of college; it was some rich kid with ACT/SAT coaches, tutors, and/or a rich Aunt Becky.
Joe
Thomas, your comments were beautiful. I am surprised the witness let such a poor resurched and under thought out artical to be published.
This article did nothing to add to the conversation, nor do anything to unify people. It was merely a divisive article that separated Rich/poor and black/white
Thomas W.
I guess in the way you mean privilege I can see that. I would argue though that it’s not really wealth privilege in the sense that Lori and her daughter’s wealth was denied regular, legal entry in which their status as wealthy (or even beauty) was not enough. If they were privileged, they wouldn’t need to commit a crime. But, I agree they committed specific crimes that their wealth gives them the capacity to commit.
But it’s no more privilege than a poor person stealing to achieve an end. All they would both have is a privilege to commit crime…the variation in what crime, I’d hardly call a privilege in the end.
I mean, would anyone argue for an equality in what crimes they can commit?
Marie Chambers
I agree that it is not white privilege per SE. It is wealth privilege. When anyone, regardless of race, uses money to get something in an illegal way it is wrong.
Thomas W.
“This entire story and scam is indicative of white privilege.”
I disagree. The reality that they had to COMMIT FEDERAL CRIMES to get their kids in is not an aspect of any sort of privilege.
It’s just rich people crime. It’s not even rich people privilege.
Rich privilege here would be USC calling up Aunt Becky and say “Hey, donate to us $500k and we’ll let your kids in instead of this poor, hard working minority that applied.” But they’d probably call Tiger Woods too.
” but it took a whole investigation by the FBI to bring down Aunt Becky and others.”
That’s because federal crimes are involved which is/was not the case for Ms. Campbell.
“Secondly, this is another piece in the mountain of evidence that our racist culture pits poor white folks against minorities. ”
True, but this article contributes to that pitting against each other too. This isn’t a black vs. white thing. It’s not even a rich vs. poor. It’s just rich people committing bribery, mail fraud, etc.
“This scam is affirmative action for rich white people.”
It being a scam means its fraud…which has nothing to do with affirmative action for any ethnicity.
“Legacy admissions are affirmative action for rich white people”
Possibly, but that’s largely correlation and bias coupled with mind reading assumptions. For instance, a rejection of all that donated alumni money means less money for the all the minorities they’re trying to include and admit (or they have to pay to recruit top athletes…). But this should change over time as the demographics of the wealthy and legacy alumni changes to reflect the nation’s demographics overall. The courts have entirely favored affirmative action on college admissions over the near future so that balance is restored. I imagine most universities abide by that.
“About a half dozen other things are affirmative action for rich white people.”
You do realize that many of those being indicted are not white? Aunt Becky gets the most press because no one would ever have expected Aunt Becky to be as fallen as the rest of us. She gets the virality for the contrast and easy trolling. It’s like finding out Tiger Woods was a serial adulterer or Roger Clemens took steroids.
“I don’t want to hear another word about affirmative action and people not getting into college because a minority took their “spot” ever again. It wasn’t some black kid that kept Brent or his buddy Chad out of college; it was some rich kid with ACT/SAT coaches, tutors, and/or a rich Aunt Becky.”
The reality is that it displaces any kid who worked hard and had the credentials to be admitted, not just minorities.
“it was some rich kid with ACT/SAT coaches”
You sound like you are prejudiced against the rich here. Being rich is not evil, nor illegal. As you contribute in this article to pitting whites vs minorities, the constant pitting of rich vs poor to create division is also unhelpful in the least.
Like being attractive, money of course comes with greater and/or easier options in life. But as Biggie Smalls said, “mo money, mo problems”, it also has it’s greater pitfalls and trappings.
The Bible rejects class warfare. It rejects ethnic and racial warfare. It’s entirely okay if someone has the means to hire tutors to help their kid gain more knowledge, faster and compete at a higher level.
Don’t be fragile. Thank the Lord for what he has given you and be content with what he provides others.
I would encourage a rewrite of this article so that it does not contribute to false narratives of white privilege in relation to this event as an example.