As some readers of this blog are aware, I occasionally kick around the idea of getting a masters degree. When I entertain the idea, I usually consider either an MBA or a law degree. During my most recent flirtation, I decided to try to find out exactly how much a degree would cost me, should I actually peruse it. Needless to say, education is incredibly expensive, and with the price of school going up and business and law being both popular and prestigious, the price tag was well beyond anything I could hope to pay. Naturally, the first thing I did upon figuring this out was to take a look at the scholarship opportunities available to hopefully offset the cost.

The results of that research remain a burden to my soul.

Apparently, if I was black, there would be scores of scholarships, grants, and guaranteed loans to choose from. So much money, in fact, that were I to peruse them all (and, again, if I were black) I could easily afford to go to school, buy books, and have a little left over. People would literally pay me to go to school. Likewise, if I were Hispanic, plenty of doors would open and non-profit organizations would gladly give me an opportunity to go to school. Unfortunately, I’m white. There were maybe half a dozen (I’m being generous with that estimation) grants and scholarships available for me to apply for. There were a grand total of zero white-only financial aid options.

I realize that to some people this may sound like the whining of a privileged white male bemoaning social justice, but there’s no justice here. Minorities deserve special treatment, the apologists claim, because the prosperity of whites was built upon the enslavement of others and therefore reverse racism is merely the leveling of the playing field. On this, I call bullshit. It’s absolutely absurd. The insanity of such a statement is so enormous that I have trouble articulating how ridiculous it is because of the sheer volume of reasons that instantly leap to mind and struggle to come rushing forth all at once.

First of all, such a claim is based on the notion that I, an innocent person who has never discriminated against someone, must pay for the actions of people who lived over a hundred and fifty years ago and goes against everything – and I do mean everything – that a just society stands for. Our constitution explicitly forbids such nonsense. We do not charge children with the crimes of their parents. We are not Communists. We do not round up and kill families for the sins of one member. We are not Nazis. We don’t bulldoze villages because someone who used to be from there did something bad. We are not the Taliban. We do not execute rape victims for dishonoring their families.

We are a society of law governed by fair and just laws that say, “if he’s not guilty, we don’t punish him.” Clearly, I, as a human being under the age of 144 years old, have never owned slaves. The notion that modern Americans should be punished for owning slaves generations ago is no less ridiculous than suggesting that we go out and invade the African nations that sold them to us – you know, for social justice.

And even if we suspend all rational thought for a moment and suppose that African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved had a legitimate grievance against the whites who enslaved them, the policies of reverse racism ignore the fact that most whites back then didn’t own slaves. It ignores the fact that many whites immigrated to this country long after the Civil War. It ignores the fact that not all blacks in this country are here as a result of slavery. Are you going to tell me that the son of a Nigerian who came to this country in the late 60s fleeing their civil war deserves some sort of advantage over the grandson of a German immigrant who came to this country fleeing Nazi rule in the 1930s? Is that fair? How does that even make sense?

Let us suppose for a moment, in our madness, that all people who have pale skin (regardless of who they are or how they got here) somehow owe something to those people with dark skin (again, regardless of who they are or what their exact grievance is) because of a socio-economic system (set up hundreds of years ago, shattered generations ago, and completely outlawed decades ago) and that, somehow, two wrongs make a right and reverse racism was somehow acceptable … supposing all of that, how does any of that entitle other racial groups – I’m looking at the Hispanic and the Asian communities here – to be allowed to demand the same sort of discriminatory advantages?

What claim do you have to reverse racism that the Irish didn’t have? Or the Italians? Or even the Polish? You’ve been exploited by overworking, underpaying people who want to take advantage of the fact that you’re new to the country and don’t speak English or have any solid connections in your new country? That’s immigration in general. Anyone who gives up their residence, culture, and lifestyle is going to have to deal with it. Are you discriminated against because of your strange customs? The same thing was said about German-Americans. Are you paid lower wages because of an influx of willing replacements? So were the Irish.

Just about the only major case of institutionalized racism I can find regarding Asians is the Japanese Internment during World War II, during which time thousands of (white) German- and Italian-Americans were also detained, and while that is quite possibly one of the saddest chapters of our nation’s history, formal apologies and over 1.6 billion dollars in reparations have been paid to the Japanese people who were detained there.

So, explain to me again why people of a certain skin color deserve a competitive advantage over people of another skin color?

Those who attempt to justify this type of racism without just coming right out and admitting that they are, in fact, racists tend to all bemoan the same point: they live in poor socio-economic conditions. Unfortunately for them, there’s a flaw in their argument. People who suggest that because of disadvantaged socio-economic conditions, an entire race of people should be given an unfair advantage in life over their equally disadvantaged white counterparts are engaged in blatant racism.

Yes, I’m white. I also grew up dirt poor, the son of a single mother who worked as a secretary and a father who couldn’t afford to pay child support. Sound familiar? To make ends meet my mother had to throw Tupperware parties and make my clothes instead of buying them from a department store. I grew up lower class. My mother was able to buy a home and eventually help me some with college, but my father, to this day, still wanders from place to place looking for work. If I hadn’t started my own business and become comfortably upper-lower class, I’d still be making 9 bucks an hour working security like I was before – or maybe 10 working construction and busting my ass like I did when I was in college.

Nothing was handed to me. I haven’t received any special favors because I’m white. And yet, if I were a minority, I could apply for dozens more grants for college. After I graduated, no one held a spot for me to meet their Affirmative Action quotas. No one says, “Hey, he’s white, let’s promote him to showcase our diversity!”

I’m not asking for hand outs. What I want is equality.

You can’t despise racism with one hand and promote reverse racism with the other. You can’t play the race card at every opportunity and then claim to be a “civil rights” group. You can’t whine and complain about the man holding you back when you’ve never made an effort to better yourself. Doing so is hypocritical and manipulative at best. At its core, it’s blatantly racist and evil.

Equality means everyone has an equal playing field. Holding someone back because of the color of their skin is racism. Giving an advantage to someone because of the color of their skin is racism. Stereotyping black people as victims is racist. Stereotyping white people as oppressors is racist. I realize this is asking a bit much, but I’m begging you on this one: Please, can we stop seeing race and start seeing people? Can we do our best to realize that as much as we resemble one another, every person has a unique situation, temperament, and beliefs? Can we admit that these differences transcend racial lines and that deep down inside we are all human?

All I’m asking for is common sense and free-thinking.

… I have a feeling I’ll be waiting a while.