“Why was I rejected?” is the most common question students have after receiving a college rejection, and it’s a fair one. Even with high SAT scores, GPAs, and plentiful extracurriculars, the upper echelons of higher education can remain out of reach for many students like Calvin Yang. Yang was a plaintiff in “Students for Fair […]
Tag: racial inequality
An Argument Against Reparations is An Argument Against Equality
The recent repeal of affirmative action has catalyzed national discussion about what policies most effectively advance racial equality for Black Americans. Affirmative action, while not reparations, was a social inclusion policy that sought to increase minority representation in universities where students of color may not have been accepted due to systemic discrimination. While affirmative action […]
Facial Recognition Software Reflects Systemic Inequality
I paid for lunch today with my face. Well, not really—but I didn’t need cash or a physical debit card, courtesy of Apple’s Tap-To-Pay technology. I didn’t even have to touch the screen; Apple’s incorporation of Facial Recognition Software provides users with unparalleled convenience, allowing us to unlock our phones and use countless features with […]
Education Is Not The Great Equalizer
We have all been fed a lie: “Education is the great equalizer.” That line dominates the public discourse on K-12 public education. However, it’s certainly not true in the Bay Area nor in California. Piedmont High School and Oakland High School are less than 3 miles apart. Yet the academic performance of their students couldn’t […]
Has the Left Gone too Far?: Addressing Racial Inequality in Primary Education
Launch yourself back into your first grade class and imagine this: Your teacher asks the class, “What’s four plus four?” Simple enough, you raise your hand and respond once called on, “Five!” Your teacher responds, “You’re close, but that’s the wrong answer.” Well, the Pathway for Equitable Math Instruction would agree you’re wrong, but not […]
What’s Behind the Racial Wealth Gap?
Standing in front of the steps of the Washington Monument in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’” King used this metaphor in his famed “I Have a Dream” speech. Perhaps more revealing than Dr. King’s quote, […]
Affirmative Action: Back on the Ballot
This November, one line could change California dramatically. Proposition 16 reads simply “That Section 31 of Article 1 [of the California Constitution] thereof is repealed”. And yet on a ballot packed full of controversial issues, Proposition 16 could be the most controversial of them all. In this installment of On the Ballot, we discuss Affirmative […]
Bail Reform: The Antidote America Has Been Looking for, or an Instrument of Discrimination?
“Crime wave” is the phrase that surrounds the newest set of criminal justice policies passed by New York and California. If you look up “bail reform” on Google, the first page of results reveals a host of articles in which it is a keyword, authoritatively bolded. There are publicly available transcripts of police chiefs in […]
Racial Inequalities Permeate the Legal Marijuana Market
The date April 20th seems to be a holiday at the University of California, Berkeley and various other college campuses throughout the state. Walking through campus on this unofficial holiday will lead to encounters with dozens of food trucks and tables occupied by eager students trying to sell their snacks for those suffering from “munchies,” […]