Letter to the Editor: Affirmative action promotes diversity

Affirmative action, according to Dictionary.com, is a policy that seeks to redress past discrimination through active measures to ensure equal opportunity as in education and employment. This definition does not mention one specific race or type of discrimination. People often address affirmative action with regards to African Americans. Ending affirmative action would be a setback in the fight for racial equality. If affirmative action were to be taken away then the opportunities for poorer African Americans would suffer greatly. Unfortunately, not all families can afford to send their children to the best schools and this may have an effect on the quality of education received.

However, why should we deny a student who did not have the opportunity to attend the best school the chance to attend a school like Duke? What do these test scores really mean anyway? Some people are just bad test takers. Affirmative action allows for diversity. A comment that was made suggested that through affirmative action, certain students are admitted, which contributes to the creation of ghettos. As a black student at Duke, I do not carry the ghetto on my back and do not see how my presence here is helping to create a "ghetto" at Duke.  Also, to assume that black students admitted through affirmative action are ghetto is false. But if we agree that some are from poorer neighborhoods, why isn't it seen as students bringing a different culture to Duke? This should be celebrated, not frowned upon.

How can one identify an affirmative action student physically? It seems that some people here have issues with race, more specifically African Americans. Perhaps some students should consider a school that is less diversified. My suggestion is to go to the University Store in the Bryan Center and get the t-shirt depicting a classroom of young children. Notice that none of them are minority. Use this shirt as a guide to finding a institution that would be more comfortable.

Racine Harris