In-direct benefits of Affrimative Action

A few days ago I had a conversation about affirmative action with a friend of mine and then when I reading the readings for tomorrow's class it hit home. My friend is a feminists advocate and she told me that she doesn't like affirmative action because she doesn't want to be accepted somewhere just because she is a woman. I gave her that, but also said that it is unfortunate that affirmative action is still needed, but I believe that it is.

This memory got me thinking about all the things I've benefited from affirmative action. The main one is that my middle school and both my high school principles were Black men. Of course, the benefit wasn't realized until recently, but I benefited from it nonetheless. I was able to grow up knowing that there is no difference in performance between people of different races. Of course, my positive feelings were backed up by the fact that my principles were also really really good at their jobs. In middle school my mom and the principle meet at the end of every year to discuss my accommodations and to talk about my performance in school over all. In short, he was very involved with the students and really cared for them and their success. In high school, the first principle had the same approach to his job. All the students love that he was the principle and I'm remembering all the great things I heard from teachers close to me.

When I was in 11th grade there was a dispute over the qualifications for the National Honor Society. Some of the administrators wanted to lower the GPA requirements from a 3.8 to a 3.4 (I believe). Basically, the students didn't want the change because it would defeat the purpose on the club and the administration want the change so that more people could be included. My principle took the student's side. Unfortunately, because he stood up against the administration he was "fired." It's interesting that the following year the sub-principle was also Black.

The situation with my high school principle was not about race in anyway, shape, or form, and that is the benefit I got from it. I was unaware how unusual it is to have all Black principles growing up. I was witnessing that race really doesn't matter. I wonder what would be different if I didn't have Black principles. I can only assume that affirmative action helped them get hired. Assuming this I, a privileged white woman, would have never had what I do to look back on. Although still a small percentage, I would not have experienced Black people as the boss. I would have only seen it done on shows, such as Law and Order. I guess the goes back on exposing children to more than what they receive from the media. Making sure that they see more than just White people doing positive things in life, not just the people in the background; the people that "don't matter." My principles are only known by the local community, but they mattered (they still matter) and I'm beginning to realize how much the issue of race factors into my experience and the situations as a whole.