Paradox Blog

I believe Government and those in power should help the poor and the weak but I do not believe they will do so voluntarily. Thus I supported Affirmative Action in the past and will do so in the future. It is the same distrust of power that I am firmly against SCA 5.

SCA5 piggybacks the national debate on race-conscious admission in higher education but it is not Affirmative Action. SCA5 smells fishy and is rotten to its core. SCA5 violates the spirit of Affirmative Action that thou shall not discriminate. Asian Americans are a special case in the debate of Affirmative Action. We are well represented on college campuses but we are still a minority. SCA5 seeks to give college admission officers legalized tools to overlook qualified applicants. SCA5 does not address its potential impact on Asian Americans or seeks to ignore it. If it is the prior, it is a bad bill, the latter, discrimination.

In this heavily Democratic state of California, despite Prop 209, Affirmative Action has never been abandoned nor forgotten. UCLA and UC Berkeley use "holistic review" process to circumvent Prop 209 in their selection of students with aim to achieve diversity. I cannot believe the hypocrisy of Chancellor Block of UCLA to seek support of such bill while in the same address pretends to show sympathy for Asian American students suffering racial bias.

In the blog sphere, one young Asian American has shown support for the bill out of guilt while acknowledging its unfairness. I urge young Asian Americans in your pursuit for social justice you first have to stand up for yourselves. You have to defend your own rights before you can be strong for your cause and for others. Do not support this bill. Trust your gut feeling. It is discrimination.