Racial and Ethnic Identity

​In this country, we have the privilege of certain inalienable rights that we are entitled to. Some of these rights include the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The freedom speech, the right to bear arms, the right to assemble, and the right to free press are just to the name a few of our constitutional bound rights. The United States of America is a nation that prides itself as being a melting pot of racial diversity and of ethnic opportunity. However, we have not been a nation that has been gun-ho on opportunity and rights of minority groups. Within our tainted history, we have the near extinction of the indigenous people of North America that we know use the title of Native American or American Indian. Also within our history is the enslavement of those of African and Caribbean descent. At another point of our history, we encouraged the mock concentration camp type imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In points of our history there have been cries for equality and opportunity that this nation was built upon. Yet several minority groups were not privy to have those certain inalienable rights that were previously discussed.

For minorities and African American in particular, it was not until the end of slavery, after the Reconstruction Era and the 1954 Supreme Court hearing of Brown V. Board of Education that “the doctrine of separate but equal has not place” in the realm of higher education. The court then ordered the state to end segregation “with all deliberate speed.” Although, this law had no bearing on institutions of higher education, this opened the door for students of color to attend primary and secondary white schools that were once segregated. Another case that has implication in higher education is the United States V. Fordice, which asserted that institutions of higher education must completely abandon segregated system like public schools of education. Fordice suggests that university systems do more than simply adopt and implement “race-neutral policies.” Institutions of higher education must dismantle all forms that may be traced back to prior Brown V. Board of Education policies (de jure segregation) or those policies that create division and other forms of segregation.

In this short and concise overview of judicial hearings that ultimately leads to what some call affirmative action preferences; I summed up the basic principles behind so called affirmative action. In present day institutions of higher education are now encouraged to have populations that are more diverse and race-conscious as the articles have stated. Briefly, the major take away points that I got from this week’s chapter reading are the racial identity development models. I thought it was interesting that the researchers have developed stages in which racial groups developed within their own identity. The first stage is conformity, the individual seeks to identify the dominant white culture while rejecting their cultural heritage. In dissonance, the individual experiences instances where their idea of the white culture is not what they expected and begin the journey of understanding their culture. Resistance and Immersion stage encompasses an individual’s desire to reject all forms of the dominant culture and immerse themselves in their own culture. This leads to introspection where the individual tries to find a balance between the two cultures; the dominant white culture and his cultural heritage. For those individuals who decide to continue this balance of two cultures discover an awareness that helps them articulate their knowledge and experiences of the two cultures. There is a plethora of literature that we have read this week that shows educators how each racial group develops. Also points to how we can better understand and help the student development process of each ethnic group.

Within this week’s readings, we were also instructed to read several articles that are in reference to the Fisher V. University of Texas at Austin Supreme Court case. The Supreme Court has decided to hear a case brought to them about race-conscious admissions process at the University of Texas at Austin. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld that these race conscious policies were constitutional because it would achieve diversity through the state law guaranteeing students in the top 10th of their high school class admissions. However, the Fisher V. University of Texas at Austin presents to me the urgent need to uphold affirmative action preferences. The young lady was not admitted because of her race. She was not admitted because she did not make the grade. She fell way below the top 10 percent plan of Texas. Asserting that other racial minorities were privileged to attend the university because they were Black or Latino discredits the deserving academic achievements of those students. Issues like these make it hard for students in these racial categories to prove that they can compete academically if they are always viewed under the lens that they are here because they are affirmative action’s cases. If racial and ethnic diversity is not considered in the admissions process of institutions of higher education we will again have de jure segregative practices. Personally, this case only shows the need for Historically Black Colleges and Universities to be supported with all the resources they need to prepare our students.