Weekly Class Reading Summary: Asian American are Discriminated in Academic Admissions
Main Point of the Reading
In the article, “Are Asians the New Blacks? Affirmative Action, Anti-Blackness, and the ‘Sociometry’ of Race,” Kim reports that Asian Americans are discriminated in the higher education admission process, particularly in Harvard University. Kim opines that Asian Americans claim that while affirmative action was meant to benefit racial minorities in admissions in higher education, African Americans have disproportionately benefited from the framework at the expense of Asian Americans. Also, while the population of Asian Americans in the U.S. higher education system has been on the rise, the increase is not in tandem with the number of Asian American students applications. This indicates that Asian Americans are discriminated during the admission process, thus, signifying the need to abandon affirmative action in higher education. Notably, the U.S. Supreme Court has always upheld affirmative action in higher education admissions (Kim 2). However, the position of the U.S. Supreme Court may change following SFFA’s suit against Harvard University. The fact that Asian Americans, who are a minority in the U.S. populace, rather than Whites are the ones against affirmative action puts more weight to the opposition to race-conscious admissions.
Agree/ Disagree With the Author’s Argument
I agree with the author’s argument that Asian Americans are discriminated in higher education admission. For a long time, African Americans have received inordinate attention on regulations aimed at addressing racial disparities in the United States. To this end, the low degree of special attention accorded to Asian Americans puts them in a disadvantaged position in higher education admission. This aspect is supported by the fact that the Chancellor of UC Berkeley publicly apologized to Asian Americans that the framework used in the admission process disadvantages them (Kim 12). This realization leads to the question regarding what is the most effective framework for solving the problem of racial discrimination in higher education admission.
Works Cited
Kim, Claire Jean. “Are Asians the New Blacks? Affirmative Action, Anti-Blackness, and the ‘Sociometry’ of Race.” Du Bois Review: Social science research on race (2018).