Imagine operating in a very politically left arena never really knowing if your titles, promotions, and acceptance into elite spaces was because you were actually one of the best out there, or because you belong to a people-group that your higher-ups find favorable.
That has literally been my life.
I graduated from one of the most prestigious music conservatories on the West Coast in 2012, and to this day, it lingers in my mind whether or not they admitted me because they saw great potential, or because I’m Black and they needed Black students.
The best way I can describe this feeling is this: it sucks.
It sucks in certain competitive spaces, knowing if it comes down to you and the straight white guy, you’ll most likely get picked.
It sucks in certain competitive spaces knowing if it comes down to you and the gay Black guy, he’ll most likely get picked.
Or if there’s a Black man who identifies as a woman, we can just all forget about it.
Then you feel bad for thinking that because, what if they actually were better than you? Or what if you were actually better than the White guy? What if the trans person was really the best?
Politics aside, this has always been my personal issue with ideologies that have driven Affirmative Action, and most recently, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Maybe I’ll put my research together and write a more academic piece on why I have always opposed this ideology.
But right now, I just needed to say this.
I’m happy Affirmative Action is gone.
But I wish the collective mindset of those in my space would also be gone.
Measure me against the next person based on what we actually bring to the table, not what we look like or identify as.
I just watched episode 2 of Marvel’s Secret Invasion, and this quote stuck out to me. It was when Nick Fury and Col. Rhodes, two Black men, were arguing. Fury was arguing that they both got to their positions because they had to wrestle it from mediocre men who didn’t look like the two of them. Col. Rhodes' response was:
“The reason we wrestled this power from mediocre men who don’t look like us was not simply to turn around and hand it to mediocre men who do.”
May we strive for excellence, not affirmation.