Being questioned, with suspicious, sideways glances and pointed inquires; having to justify our legitimacy with documents, superior behavior, and prominently hung credentials is such an omnipresent part of being a Black person in America that it almost becomes background noise. Almost.  

Every Black person has been forced or felt compelled to justify their presence when they have been in a place that a White person (unconsciously or consciously) has deemed “their domain”. Showing up in honors classes, upscale restaurants, exclusive neighborhoods, Ivy League schools, positions of leadership, fancy hotels or high-end department stores may also bring the need to present two forms of identification, the compulsion to list our professional accomplishments, the impulse to conspicuously display anything that shows that we belong, and the restraint not to strike the colleague who finds a way to mention “affirmative action.”  In addition to the the efforts it takes to reach certain levels of success; we must deal with the indignity of regularly having to prove that we rightfully earned it.

We provide these reflexive justifications despite knowing that many of those who question us achieved their position because they got a 300 year head start – profiting off the free labor of our ancestors.  We produce our “bona fides” of legitimacy although we know that many of those whom we present to unfairly benefitted from good contacts, family legacies, generational inheritances, and an overall benefit of the doubt.

Even in instances in which there is only one Black person in a class, dorm, boardroom, conference, restaurant, country club or business, there will be some present who feel as if we stole that one space from a more deserving White person.  There will be some who will question and resent our presence.  We can’t forget Lolade Siyonbola, a Yale undergraduate interrogated by campus police officers after a white student found her sleeping in a common room of their dorm and called police.  Or D’Arrieion Toles who was blocked from getting in his own apartment by a White woman, who wanted proof that he actually lived there.  And more broadly, there was

Abigail Fisher, who argued that her 2008 rejection by the University of Texas’s flagship campus in Austin occurred because of the university system’s affirmative action policy.

We suffer the indignity of having to repeatedly justify our existence although we know most likely we worked harder and had to overcome more to achieve any accomplishment we’ve achieved.  We have succeeded despite on average coming through statistically worse school systems.  75 percent of Black students attend majority minority schools. And research has shown that schools and school districts that serve large proportions of poor and minority students have historically been shortchanged when it comes to things like access to high-quality teachers, advanced course offerings, early education programs, STEM resources, smaller class sizes and school counselors.

Our Black students emerge from these crumbling facilities, with their more limited course offerings and outdated books – and then are presented with demonstrably culturally biased tests as an alleged “level” playing field.  Yet most of these students don’t have access to private tutors or enrichment programs.  Counselors fail to tell our kids about practice tests and test prep services to best arm them for these tests.  And then these same counselors look at the resulting standardized scores and grades and steer our children away from the most competitive schools.  Our children face these hurdles, while many White students benefit from built-in advantage, on top of advantage, on top of advantage. 

When Black parents have attempted to get their students into better school systems; they have been jailed for lying about their addresses. Counties are vigilant in ensuring that the public school system is segregated (and unequal). When Black students are able to attend higher rated public schools or private schools they must not only get the same or better grades than their peers; they must also maneuver the challenges presented by systemic racism, teacher biases, and being one of the only person of color in a class or school.

So in most instances when we end up in the Ivy League classroom, the Wall Street brokerage, the Fortune 500 boardroom or the upper-middle class community – it has been hard fought and well-earned.  The path has been steeper and rockier than for most White people, but those same White people still question our legitimacy and whether we “belong.”  So to learn (officially) from the recent college admissions scandal that it’s, in fact, many rich, privileged White people who do not belong is angering.  That even with every built-in advantage imaginable, they still cheated to get a seat in the entering class.  It is THEY who are illegitimate, not US. 

They who stare when we walk in a fancy restaurant; they who call the police when we are in our own neighborhoods; they who find slick ways to ask us at work where we went to school or how we know

‘so-and-so”; they who preach about how anyone can make it in the United States; they who ‘tsk tsk’ about affirmative action have been cheating a system that had already given them a significant head start. I’m busted and disgusted by this.  No . . . in fact I am infuriated (which is my nice way of saying I’m pissed).

5 Responses

  1. You have totally hit the nail on the head!
    #45’s presidency has brought out the worst in our society, from blatant racism, bold racists, scheming conniving people, dishonest, racist politicians, and finally the most narcissistic, misogynistic, womanizing, lying, delusional, racist, bigoted, President in America’s history!
    Why when they already have every advantage, would these privileged, spoiled, rich, ( you only had to erect a new building, or give an enormous donation to the college, to get your child in as usual.) parents use bribery to insure that their child had a place in college?
    For years, privileged children have been given a coveted placement in colleges because their rich parents donated enormous sums of money to the institution.
    What happened?
    Isn’t bribery in vogue anymore?
    These parents must not have received the memo or play book on how to get your child in college if you are rich.
    I hope they serve time in jail. ( but they probably won’t. Privilege runs deep!)
    Now we know how #45 got a medical deferment for the military, and we definitely know how he obtained his degree from Wharton,
    On the Daddy’s Money Plan!
    Crooks!😡

  2. The “system” will not punish them for their actions; this is the “norm” for many “elite” white people. The ensuing punishment will come to those who facilitated the “criminal” acts; not because of the acts themselves, but because of the blatant disregard behind the acts. The parents involved will not receive ANY prison time; they will pay fines, court cost and probation. They probably will not be ostracized by their community because the act of cheating is acceptable amongst the white elite.

  3. These acts are symptoms of white rich privilege blatant in any scenario that may generate a potential “no ” outcome. I feel sorry for the two daughters having to quit attending USC for fear of being bullied or labeled cheaters. Life is already difficult for young people and subjecting them to this level of scrutiny and peer judgement was unnecessary! This sound like the parents desire for bragging rights, outweighed the students need for normalcy, integrity and fairness. Normalcy, being achieving placements based on their own hard works and commitment to themselves.
    When students of color are accepted into prestigious academic institutions and then graduate those are true causes for bragging rights. Even then the student who did all of the hard work and achieved their goals deserve recognition.
    As a parent of an Ivy League graduate, I share my child’s success but always include what my minimal contributions were i.e., mostly peaceful home environment, transportation and profound belief in my child’s ability to achieve that which she or/he desires. I am sorry for the shame these students are experiencing with these publicized cheating scandals. Even if the students begged their parents to help them get into a specific school, the fault still falls onto the parents.
    Get these students some therapy and most importantly apologizes to them. After-all, the buck stops with you Mom and Dad. Money can’t purchase everything you want so things must be achieved off of the sweat of the individuals brow. Be assured that cheating is the cowards way of gaining what they want. However, it can’t be labeled successfully completing the goal.

    1. I am disgusted by that channel 11 news piece and I agree totally with this lash out to the priviledge society. I would like to offer my experience in high school. I recall taking tests that I studied hard for, but some how in a classroom filled of majority white kids. They would almost 90 percent times finish before me. It wasn’t until ten years later I learned they had passed the answers to one another that was given to them by the teachers. Here was thinking I wasn’t as smart as I thought I were ,after seeing some of the the white kids whom I knew was more intelligent than finishing tests before me. 1976 through 1982!😏

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