ou are a New York City taxicab driver, a very dangerous profession in our society. You are hailed late at night by a young African American male. You observe the male’s clothing and decide that this may be trouble. Despite your obligation to pick him up, you drive on. Was your decision to racially discriminate a significant one? Dinesh D’ Souza, a former editor of The Dartmouth Review, does not seem to think so. In his recent visit to the Dartmouth campus and in a debate over affirmative action, D’Souza asserted that racism, although it may still exist, is no longer holding back the African American community and is not a justification for affirmative action.
As D’Souza writes in his book, The End of Racism, “Racism undoubtedly exists, but it no longer has the power to thwart blacks or any other grouping achieving their economic, political, and social aspirations. It cannot be denied that African Americans suffer the slights in terms of taxi drivers who pass them by, pedestrians who treat them as a security risk, banks that are reluctant to invest in black neighborhoods, and other forms of continued discrimination.” Mr. D’Souza, although he may not realize it, has pinpointed the importance that race still plays in our society. Race matters. It matters to the taxicab driver who sees a young black male as a mugger; to the cop who assumes that a black male in a nice car is the likely perpetrator of a crime; to the shopkeeper who follows the minority around the store.
These are not minor inconveniences. These are barriers to opportunity. Mr. D’Souza argues that the taxicab driver who drives away is playing the odds in his favor. Why? Because the taxicab driver has incomplete information. The cabbie is “playing sociologist” and uses skin color to make assumptions about the behavior and character of his fare. D’Souza does not realize that we are all taxicab drivers. We all operate under incomplete information. We all therefore make assumptions. If D’Souza admits that in an arena of incomplete information, people sometimes defer to race to guess whatever information they are missing, then race plays a key part in the way that people, even today, evaluate each other.
This is a harsh truth; America is no meritocracy. For every cop who follows you, for every person who chooses not to hold the elevator for you and for every person who decides to cross the road rather than talk to you, you are hurt in the game of life. The recipients of this discrimination have to work harder to achieve as much as those who do not receive it. If one group fares worse than another, could this be a cause? Imagine two people of equal ability start a race with one runner on a far smoother part of the track to run on. If during the race, the other runner begins to fall behind because his course is harder, is the race unfair? The runner on the gravel path is running a different race. When colleges admit their applicants, they are not and should not be blind to such discrepancies. Just as high school grades from different schools must be compared in context, the burden that is daily racial discrimination must be as well.
For D’Souza, discrimination is a burden unworthy of respect. He writes, “African Americans now live in a country where a black man, Colin Powell, who three decades ago could not be served a hamburger in many Southern restaurants became chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.” For D’Souza, there is a Colin Powell within us all. If he can do it, so can we all. This argument is wrong. One wealthy woman in a sexist society does not mean that society is free of sexism. If one African-American plays the game of life so well that he can overcome the bad hand given him, does that mean all African Americans should be expected to play with worse hands? Colin Powell’s success does not imply that equal opportunity exists for all. Incredibly, D’Souza fails to deeply reflect upon the fact that his own example, Colin Powell, was a beneficiary of affirmative action and is proof that recalibrating entrance evaluations to account for race has positive results. His argument is dangerous. If D’Souza had been writing immediately following the Civil War, maybe he would have pointed to African Americans elected as Senators from the South as his example of why racism did not matter even then.
D’Souza unfortunately expects more from some communities than others. He blames the culture of the African American community for its lack of success in attaining the American dream. His cultural explanation, however, begs the question: does social circumstance create culture or does culture create social circumstance? Is the Black community’s belief that it cannot succeed at the white dream a product of the racism it faces, or is the racism it faces a reflection of a lack of desire for success? Imagine that in this unfair race, the runner on the harder path, because he is falling farther behind despite effort, starts to lose hope and starts to run slower. It is definitely the case that the mindset of the runner affects the way he runs the race. Is it fair, however, to blame the disheartened runner? D’Souza thinks so. He, D’Souza, was not disheartened. Therefore, he asks why anyone else should be.
D’Souza is speaking from his own experience. It is essential that this be understood. D’Souza’s life experiences are the critical foundation to his perspective. When we search to create a diversity of perspectives in a community, we are in fact searching for a diversity of experiences. Race matters in the way someone will be treated all his or her life. We walk a different earth because our skin color is of a certain hue. Our race is a unique and transformative contributor to our perspective. It is not just a proxy for class or economic advantage. When colleges look to create a diversity of perspectives on a campus, they would be foolish not to consider the assumptions of race that have been a subtext of nearly every event in a candidate’s life. Two people, one black and one white, will have experienced the world in different ways. The experiences, and consequently perspectives, of those who have been the victims of discrimination will be uniquely different from the rest.
For D’Souza, it is not important that someone experiences discrimination; it is that person’s response that is worthy of consideration. His distinction, however, is a faulty one. It is not a diversity of conclusions that we seek, but a diversity of questions. Successful in life, D’Souza asks the question of why anyone else cannot do the same. Imagine a Dartmouth filled with Dinesh D’Souzas. That Dartmouth community might choose not to question a number of things. D’Souza does not realize the fundamental truth of his own conclusions; that his life experiences were essential to his perspective.
We, the students of Dartmouth, are here to learn. The pedagogical framework that is the college learning environment is principally built on the intellectual and social interactions of the student body. We learn from each other.
We learn when what we believe based on our experience conflicts with the perspective of another. We learn when those who have been treated differently question our assumptions. In this learning, in the classroom and outside, race matters. Experience is fundamentally altered by race. In an academic community that looks to learn, diversity of race is essential. Dinesh D’Souza is wrong: race still matters.
