Reply to NY Times on new application essays dabbling in so-called "identities"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]T[b]he people opposed to this only do so because they think race or gender are the only way people identify and they are afraid that being white and cis may hamper their kid's college app.[/b]

But it is BS because there are so many ways your identity is defined. Physically, racially, culturally.

My  husband wrote his essay on being an only child.

When I read the question from the article, “Tell us about an aspect of your identity or a life experience that has shaped you," I immediately thought of how much of my life has been shaped by my physical disability (missing a limb). In fact, I wrote about this in my college app essay in 1994.

Sorry if it offends you that I was shaped by this, and that I shouldn't have written about it. I know some of you want to believe or downplay the experiences of others as cashing in on "trauma," but you are so far off the mark.

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Yup. As always, the people who claim not to want to talk or think about race and gender can’t help but show that they are actually obsessed with it.
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white/hetero/athletic/intelligent male:
People look at me and before they know anything about me or my background they think: 'toxic masculinity', 'privilege', 'racist', 'misogynist', 'homophobic', etc. They see the root cause of all that is wrong with society these days apparently.  I am a walking billboard for them to direct their hate.
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Give us some specific examples of how it's impacted your life. [/quote]

NP here. If you asked any middle or UMC black person the same question, they are unlikely to have glaring examples to point to, like lack of homeownership or difficulty getting into colleges (on the contrary actually, they benefit). What they would point to were probably many small micro aggressions and insults to their personhood that accumulated over their life. This now happens to white cis males all the time, and if you can't see that you are blind.  [/quote]
+1000. Look at the rhetoric proliferating throughout college campuses, mass media, and major employers. White people are constantly warned that our mere presence in a ““predominantly white institution”” makes POC feel challenged, uncomfortable, and unwelcome. How is being told that our very existence is threatening not an example of racism and bigotry?[/quote]

Well maybe you should listen and discuss. Have you ever found yourself spending years in an institution that was predominantly not your own race? What do you think that would be like? Are you brave enough to spend long amounts of time somewhere where you'd be a minority and very few people would be anything like you?

Why not engage in conversation and try to understand why someone feels unwelcome? Someone telling you they feel unwelcome in an environment is not personally targeting you. If they are saying YOU personally make them feel unwelcome, well, maybe you've done something.

[b]What has your workplace specifically told YOU on a personal level about your very being?[/b] I'm white and I have not had your experience of "constantly being warned" that *my* mere presence--me, personally-- is challenging to my non-white colleagues in my workplace which is in fact a very white institution. But I have been in a few meetings where colleagues of color have shared their feelings about always being the only POC in their departments, meetings, etc., through their entire careers. That does not feel threatening to me, personally. It feels revealing and I understand better where they are coming from and why it's important to encourage diversity in the workplace.

Try it. Understanding other people is a great skill to have.[/quote]
I see where you are coming from, but I don’t agree with this perspective. Say, for example, I told a group of people—including a number of black people—that being in black-majority environments makes me uncomfortable, but it’s not anything to do with those specific black people. I do not think that conversation would go well. But for some reason, certain people believe it is socially acceptable to say this about whites.[/quote]

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