My heartbeat was deafening as I shakily typed my login to the University of North Carolina's application portal. After agonizing months of anticipation, my decision for admittance to UNC-Chapel Hill was released: ACCEPTED.
A resounding roar erupted through my house as my family celebrated our victory. Their daughter of immigrants was welcomed to a world-class university with a fiercely competitive 8.2 percent out-of-state acceptance rate.
However, in the ensuing weeks, I was confronted with the disheartening reality of denial after denial, from dozens of our country's top institutions: 13 letters of "No." Drowning in a deluge of rejection and waitlist letters, one haunting question emerged: Why? Was my GPA not competitive enough? Were my club commitments not impressive enough? Or was it my race?
As an Asian American student attending UNC Chapel Hill—one of the universities involved in the overturning of affirmative action—I have lived the first-hand struggles of navigating the hyper-competitive college admission process and the impossible expectations of the "model minority" myth. And I am not alone.
Pew Research studies reveal 76 percent of Asian American adults believe race should not factor into college admissions, with 53 percent of them holding that affirmative action made college admissions less fair.
While some herald affirmative action as a tool for dismantling systemic barriers in education, the prevailing view of my community hinges on the notion of meritocracy: those who do better on the tangible, i.e., standardized test scores, grades, etc., are those entitled to success.
By affirming the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA)'s claim that Asian American applicants are less likely to be admitted than White, Black, and Hispanic applicants, I've seen the Supreme Court inflame inter-racial tensions, dividing minorities within my own community and obscuring the culprit at the crux of these tensions: white supremacy.
Through the landmark cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, for decades, the high court has upheld the consideration of race in college admissions as constitutionally permissible. One of these decisions, Fisher v. University of Texas, however, has one factor distinctly similar to the decisions we received in June: the influence of Edward Blum.
In Fisher v. University of Texas, both plaintiffs were distinctly white, a far cry from the Students for Fair Admissions webpage, which touts images of Asian students and promotes itself as a legal advocacy group. In its case against Harvard, SFFA contends race-conscious admissions violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Asian American applicants in "racial balancing."
I believe affirmative action opponents like Blum, who acted as a litigant in the 2013 Fisher case and is now the president of SFFA, weaponize issues like affirmative action to turn minorities against each other and distract us from the actual forces that perpetuate inequality.
Racial tensions are not innate to our community's differences but are carefully cultivated from the systems of authority which govern our educational system–biased standardized tests, prejudiced admission officers, exorbitant application fees, legacy admissions, wealthy families who can pay their way into beneficial academic and extracurricular programs—all of which are factors keeping deserving minority students from getting an equal chance in college admissions.
Eliminating affirmative action does not create a level playing field; it skews it into the possession of the powerful.
For years, my community has resided in indignation, a bubbling resentment forming between Asians who were "smarter" and "more qualified" and other races who were "taking away" coveted college seats from deserving applicants.
The model minority myth that expects Asian Americans to be high-achieving is suffocating and distorts the vast socioeconomic disparities in my own community.
The recent court decision provides further ammunition, posing Asians as a scapegoat other communities can turn their anger towards. This damaging narrative pits us against other marginalized groups, particularly the Black community, fueling the growing flame of inter-minority racism sparked during the pandemic.
The model minority myth creates a prevailing attitude that erroneously draws Asian Americans as universally advantaged who do not experience the same level of discrimination as other minorities.
The Asian American community, on the other hand, internalizes the presumption of anti-Blackness, perpetuating the stereotype that Black students are less qualified and merely benefit from government handouts. In truth, dismantling programs like affirmative action only furthers these ingrained biases in our future generations of students.
As a second-generation Asian-American, I feel immense pressure to perform academically and selfishly accept this decision as justification for my own admission failures.
But, as an American, I feel obligated to stand in solidarity with all minority students and demand a space in education that fosters diversity in thought and solutions.
Affirmative action is, in no way, the end-all-be-all remedy to fix centuries of racial inequities in the United States. However, bridging divides requires first acknowledging that our community's successes or worth are not defined by the prestige of our university's name or the hollow veneer of test scores. It lies in our collective ambition, our shared dreams of driving social progress through education, a vision we must band together to reclaim.
Kayla Nguyen is a first-year student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill intending to study philosophy and public policy.
All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Kayla Nguyen is a first-year student at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill intending to study philosophy and public ... Read more
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