The Real Victims of Affirmative Action | 5-Minute Videos

After being valedictorian of his high school class and the winner of merit scholarships, Xaviaer DuRousseau was accepted to a top university. But all it took was one comment from a fellow student about affirmative action to make him doubt his real worth.

Script:

During my first week at the University of Illinois, I was having lunch with some new friends. Suddenly, out of the blue, one of them said, “Hey Xaviaer, did you just draw a smiley face on your application to get in here?”

Puzzled, I asked, “What does that mean?”

“You know… You’re black and probably had decent grades. You could have just attached a smiley face, and I’m sure you would have gotten in.”

I stared back at him, dumbfounded. Then I just got angry. I told him about the merit scholarships I’d earned, none of which had anything to do with my race. I was even in the honors program. He got the picture and immediately apologized.

For about an hour, I felt very proud of myself. I’d told this guy where he could stick his bigotry. Then suddenly, a feeling of doubt that I’d never felt before swept over me.

I began to question whether or not I belonged at the university. Was I a diversity selection? How about the black girl across the room? Was she thinking the same thing about me? Do I really deserve to be here?

I had the GPA and ACT scores to prove that I did. I was valedictorian of my high school class—which by the way, was over 95% white. Despite this, barely a week into my freshman year, I was questioning everything.

This was my introduction to affirmative action: its negative effects and what it does to the psyche. It fosters insecurity among minority students—“Did I really earn this?”—as well as skepticism (usually unspoken) from their peers—“Are they really qualified to be here?”

This is what affirmative action does: it undermines self-confidence and creates a rift between racial groups. It’s not hard to see why. A report from the Center for Equal Opportunity found that to have the same chance of getting admitted to prestigious universities, Asian Americans need to score, on average, about 140 points higher on the SAT than white students, 270 points higher than Hispanic students, and 450 points higher than black students.

With data like this, it’s not surprising that students like my aforementioned classmate would question my credentials.

Does that justify his comments? No. But do I understand his point? Unfortunately, I do. I also understand the resentment felt by white and Asian students who are rejected by colleges solely because of these skewed admission policies.

Let’s call it what it is: racial discrimination.

In his book, David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell explains the concept of "Mismatch Theory." The idea is that students may be better off attending institutions that match their academic abilities. This improves their chances of success, whereas attending an institution for which they are not prepared is likely to ensure their failure.

I saw this firsthand. A classmate of mine was failing our French class, so I offered to help her study. While trying to figure out why she was doing so poorly, I learned that she had a surprisingly low high school GPA and ACT score—lower than anyone else I knew at the university, and much lower than some of my white friends who had been denied admission.

She started the year happy and confident but ended the semester angry, bitter, and on academic probation. She soon dropped out; yet another victim of affirmative action.

Her odds of success could have been higher had she attended a school more suited to her abilities. Instead of having the victory of graduating from a perfectly good university, she suffered the defeat of failing out of one for which she was not suited.

This story is repeated every year at countless campuses across the nation. It’s a phenomenon well documented by academics like Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution at Stanford, Richard Sander at UCLA, and Stuart Taylor, former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

#affirmativeaction #racialjustice #dei

[noidreculse]

Everyone is a victim of it, especially co-workers who have to pick up the slack of unqualified employees.
The students who aren’t accepted to a college because they don’t fit a preferred demographic, they are true victims. Merit is the only way, just like the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Plagiarism is just as bad as having a quota.

[Funboi]

As a Latino man
My father raised me on merit not getting by in my skin color
He told me never be a victim or fail to blame the white man
If I messed up it was on me

[Maxify]

*The worst part of the entire DEI/Affirmitive Action debacle is what happens when the recipient actually gets out into the work force & is so underqualified for the tasks that their diploma/PHD dictates.
*In the medical field it's actually heartbreaking to see a person who is, on one hand told that Yes, you are a doctor, but behind closed doors the practice knows all too well that this individual can't be trusted with the well being of a patient.
*Yet the team of physicians of the practice has to keep one member of the certain ethnicity &/or gender to maintain the DEI mantra of the practice.
*While the other partners pick up the slack of the other or face the back lash of the state boards for not having all the holes punched out of the checklist.
*What a joke?

[panowa]

Not only is AA insulting, but it's also dangerous. There have been cases where people who were given a promotion without merit and sooner or later, they would put themselves and everyone else in danger simply because they don't know what they are doing.

[ericmadsen]

I fully endorse PRAGER U. This is where common sense, logic, critical thinking and reason lives.

[nativestrong]

I’m surrounded by Affirmative Action university students who cannot write, read and will never so much as embrace basic fractions, who have also been promised leadership positions across all fields.

[oliviajames]

This is so true, Xaviaer! I experienced this and saw this when I was getting my advanced nursing degree. It saddens me that more black people don't speak up.

[hankw]

My daughters are half Asian. They were told by their black history teacher in highschool not to count on any help from schools/the state(California) for assistance as minority college applicants. That ALL goes to black and hispanic kids.
When moving my eldest into her dorm for freshman year, I noticed almost NO black or hispanic students on the very busy campus. It was about 50/50 white and Asian, including a large proportion of 'brown' central Asians. No wonder these schools are fighting for black and Hispanic students, they aren't even applying despite having the red carpet rolled out.
That very same black highschool history teacher told my girls that when he and his sister, the school secretary, went to university they were the ONLY black students in their classes. That was in the 1990's. My eldest attended in 2014, little had changed.

[ben_hell]

Affirmative action in the airline industry is creating a very real sense of uneasement for passengers. Does my pilot have the qualifications to fly this? Will I make it home in one piece?

Let's go back to a meritocracy; Jobs earned by merit and not immutable characteristics!

[veganconservative]

Not just racial groups. An Hispanic woman, I was given an A in a college course that the instructor did all but flat out tell me I got in only because of a new female quota that had to be met. Same with my first job only that WAS because of my race. Real confidence killer.

[Oneironaut]

"Everything the Left touches, it destroys." - Dennis Prager

[johnwolf]

A very brave man, to stand up and say that and show his face.... I hope the Panzy Gestapo does not catch up to this fine American.

The fact remains that Aff Act is the ONLY racist law on the books in the USA.

[TickedOffPriest]

Judging people based on the color of their skin...
Judging people based on their merits.

[RedReb]

I saw you on redacted last night and I had to come and find your channel. You warmed my heart young man. May God bless you richly for being observant and listening to your heart and seeing things weren't right and making a change within.😊

[NoToobForYou]

As an undergrad I worked as an intern at a government lab. I befriended a black young lady who was a PhD candidate. I had no reason to believe she was anything other than completely qualified for the prestigious scholarship program in which she was participating. Then, my advisor, in a candid moment, muttered under his breath she had no business being there.

What was I to think? The same scientist never made any such dismissive remarks with regards to any other of the "diverse" staff members or interns, so the kneejerk conclusion he was some sort of bigot is a non-starter. As an undergrad in a different discipline, I was certainly in no position to judge her competence. Then it dawned on me how insidious affirmative action is. It attenuates the perceived accomplishments of favored minorities by raising doubts about their true qualification. As we saw with the recent dust up with the anti-Semitic Claudine Gay, this doubt can sometimes be fully justified. But for those who truly excel, AA can become an albatross around their necks.

[TJeffersonForPresident]

Well said. I don't care what color my pilot, surgeon, lawyer or police officer is. I just want to know they have proven they know what the heck they're doing.

[SgtJoeSmith]

i have a dream that some day people will be judged, not by the color of their skin but by their merit.

[richardc]

Well done, young man I wouldn’t have been excepted at some of these universities because I never put in the work and I would’ve failed. I had to make my own way in life and find out that hard work time was my path to success. Thank you for putting the word out, I wish you all the success in the world. God bless.

[patraic]

I saw this first hand in college in the 1980s. And not just in college. At the same time there was an aptitude test administered locally for the city fire department. There were limited openings in the local FD. The top three candidates were passed over due to affirmative action. I don't know where the people the department did hire placed but the important point is that the best people for the jobs were not hired. I found out because a friend of my parents worked for that department. Lets just say he wasn't happy. It was hushed up big time in the local newspapers too. My Dad worked at the largest in the county and it was a no go topic in the newsroom.

[jamesdellaneve]

Malcolm Gladwell was 30 years later on mismatch than Sowell.