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While I agree with your first sentence, separation by national heritage is impossible for many demographics in the U.S., including both white and black American

While I agree with your first sentence, separation by national heritage is impossible for many demographics in the U.S., including both white and black Americans. But yeah, I think abstracting 60% of the world population as a monolithic "Asian" category is disingenuous and betrays the lived experiences of Asians from historically disadvantaged and poor countries. I think the Gates Foundation is on a good track by considering Asian students for their full ride scholarship, alongside Native American, Hispanic, and Black peers, by analyzing the specific lived experience of the applicant (a Southeast Asian refugee has lived a different life than the "steretypical" Asian American applicant).

maerF0x0 6y ago
Many white subgroups have been historically disadvantages (albeit not specifically within US policy) eg: Scottish, Irish, Jewish people immediately come to mind Personally I think it'd be better to avoid using skin color/race as an indicator of need and instead just look at need in isolation. A poor person needs help paying for school regardless of their skin color.
- whymauri 6y ago
  I agree, it's just that for many Americans, including white Americans from disadvantaged groups, tracing national heritage is hard. Need and class-based considerations make sense to me, though. I think that starts getting on the right track. Anthony Jack from Harvard argues a similar framework would actually assist in advancing racially-discriminated groups like black Americans in his work on "the privileged poor" and class-blind racial affirmative action. I recommend reading his work.
- medee 6y ago
  This idea that there was historical disadvantage to the Irish comes from a single photograph of a sign that says "Irish Need Not Apply". This is the equivalent of putting an individual Tweet from 2016 saying "Kill All White Men" in history textbooks as some sort of meaningful thing.
  - maerF0x0 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment brings up more points

maerF0x0 6y ago

Many white subgroups have been historically disadvantages (albeit not specifically within US policy) eg: Scottish, Irish, Jewish people immediately come to mind Personally I think it'd be better to avoid using skin color/race as an indicator of need and instead just look at need in isolation. A poor person needs help paying for school regardless of their skin color.

whymauri 6y ago
I agree, it's just that for many Americans, including white Americans from disadvantaged groups, tracing national heritage is hard. Need and class-based considerations make sense to me, though. I think that starts getting on the right track. Anthony Jack from Harvard argues a similar framework would actually assist in advancing racially-discriminated groups like black Americans in his work on "the privileged poor" and class-blind racial affirmative action. I recommend reading his work.
medee 6y ago
This idea that there was historical disadvantage to the Irish comes from a single photograph of a sign that says "Irish Need Not Apply". This is the equivalent of putting an individual Tweet from 2016 saying "Kill All White Men" in history textbooks as some sort of meaningful thing.
- maerF0x0 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment brings up more points