Donald Trump, the poster man-child for getting where you are by privilege alone, is concerned that some other people might not get to benefit from their own privilege in the same way that he has, and he plans to do something about it. According to the New York Times, the Trump Administration’s Justice Department is forming a group to tackle “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”
For anyone out there who’s wondering what’s wrong with that, it’s that curbing “race-based discrimination” in this case actually means curbing efforts balance out our country’s baked-in racism by people who don’t believe that’s a thing—despite all of history. Look no further than the Times’ statement from Raegan/Bush civil rights official Roger Clegg: “The civil rights laws were deliberately written to protect everyone from discrimination, and it is frequently the case that not only are whites discriminated against now, but frequently Asian-Americans are as well.”
Yes, you read that right: White people are “frequently” the victims of discrimination these days, despite the fact that even with colleges making the efforts the Department of Justice plans to go after, white students still attend and graduate college at higher rates than the groups that face actual institutional racism. Clegg also mentioned Asian-Americans, but the goal of the new DOJ project is made clear in how it will be run. Vanita Gupta, who ran the DOJ’s civil rights division under President Obama, told the Times, “The fact that the position is in the political front office, and not in the career section that enforces anti-discrimination laws for education, suggests that this person will be carrying out an agenda aimed at undermining diversity in higher education without needing to say it.”
Leave it to a man like Attorney General Jeff Sessions—who was very vocally against a Voting Rights Act he viewed as unfair but also just isn’t sure that demonstrably discriminatory voting laws are discriminatory—to run a DOJ that makes this a priority when we still have plenty of room for progress on issues of actual racism. It’s pretty easy to see the root of this administration’s concern that white people might not do so well without protecting their own unfair advantages.
(image: Shutterstock/a katz)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
