Latino assemblyman: Asians not ‘people of color’
The increasing rift between Latino and Asian Democrats over Latinos’ newly revived interest in gutting Proposition 209 took a funny twist in the Sacramento Bee. So much for the Rainbow Coalition — it turns out that one lawmaker thinks Asian-Americans are no longer “of color”:
“When Luis Alejo applied to college at the University of California, Berkeley, admissions counselors could consider his race; when he applied to law school, it had become invisible.
“It was only after a string of rejections led him to beg for a face-to-face interview with an admissions officer, Alejo said, that he won a spot at the University of California, Davis, law school, launching a career that in 2010 elevated him to the state Assembly.
“The year Alejo was preparing for law school, voters altered his prospects by passing Proposition 209, California’s ban on race-inclusive admissions policies. Alejo and others unsuccessfully fought the initiative, a losing battle that he described as a formative political experience.
“’All our fears came true,’ said Alejo, a Democrat from Watsonville. ‘Once it went into effect, we saw dramatic drops in the numbers of students of color being able to attend some of our most prestigious graduate and professional schools.’”
But of course there haven’t been overall “dramatic drops” of “students of color” if you include Asian-Americans. They are the largest ethnic group at UC campuses — 35 percent at UC Berkeley and 33 percent at UCLA.
This is delicious and obnoxious at the same time.
What makes it delicious is that Alejo’s omission of Asian-Americans from “students of color” status so undercuts majority Democrats’ attempts to stop the Latino-Asian rift from growing.
What makes it obnoxious is that Alejo acts as if he holds the moral high ground in advocating for a return to UC admissions policies that punished Asian-American students with de facto quotas — in the name of atoning for white racism.
Racial justice? Social justice?
Joke justice.
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/04/25/6355330/split-by-affirmative-action-bill.html#mi_rss=Latest%20News#storylink=cpy
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Luis, Face facts bro., you ain’t smart enough Just like basketball, if you ain’t good enough you don’t make the team.
Uh oh-we’ve got trouble in rainbow land. Seems not all colors are created equal. Maybe Oprah and the Reverend Sharpton can do a TV special to once-and-for-all nail down who is a color and who isn’t….
Luis, another racial bigot from what La Raza calls the chosen “bronze” people. This state deserves what it is getting. 🙂
It’s always grated on my ears to hear race hustlers like Alejo use the term “people of color” To me, as a Caucasian, I’ve always considered the term a racial slur.
Is not ‘white’ a color?…or are all of us (now including Asians) just colorless peoples?
The disgust factor about how special these groups think they are is getting way beyond revolting. How about just assimilating and shutting the hell up! Just what the state needs another self-obsessed affirmative action wannabe in Sacromania. That the old meritocracy is missing is glaringly evident to all of our overwhelming deficit. (And just forget the legacies, OK? They are always there. And they don’t take up as much space as AA wannabes have. And their dad’s contribute to the schools. So just relax and accept Prop 209 and fade into normalcy…)
“It was only after a string of rejections led him to beg for a face-to-face interview with an admissions officer, Alejo said, that he won a spot at the University of California, Davis, law school, launching a career that in 2010 elevated him to the state Assembly.”
No UC law school offers “face to face” meetings for admissions, Zero. If what he is saying is true, then he was given preferential treatment above all other applicants, and it was 100% illegal, as no other applicants were allowed a “face to face” meeting.
Totally inappropriate.
Agreed, but I know someone who got into UC Berkeley the same way. After his “in person” interview with the Admissions coordinator, she deemed him Berkeley material and let him in.
Agreed, but I know someone who got into UC Berkeley the same way. After his “in person” interview with the Admissions coordinator, she deemed him Berkeley material and let him in.
I was referring specifically to the UC law schools, Boalt, Hastings, King and UCLA (before UC Irvine opened up shop), they did NOT do interviews, in fact I don’t know of ANY of the 200 ABA LS that do give face to face interviews (they SHOULD!).
I would bet undergrad is the same, as the number of applicants per open slot staggering. Were you referring to undergrad or LS?
It would appear that his place in law school was wasted. Instead of doing useful work as a lawyer in private practice for clients who employ him willingly, he is instead a parasite on the taxpayers.
Because passing the bar and chasing ambulances is, y’know, like, hard. Don’t know on what planet the CA state assembly is considered an “elevation.” I certainly wouldn’t want my daughter to date one.
Should be “another parasite” but otherwise, spot on
California politicians are mostly liberal democrats and are killing the state
SB400 (3%@50) was passed 70-7, Repugs while not AS dangerous as Dems are still dangerous.
My, how things have changed for young minorities today! When I was drafted back in 1964, it was “go to the head of the line guy (no matter what color you were) sign-up, and don’t let the door hit you in the butt on your way overseas (to Vietnam)!” I was glad to serve, use my GI Bill benefits to obtain my degree, and move on with my life. Has affirmative action made this path no longer honorable for young adults today?
But… but… I couldn’t get into the law school I wanted, and I’m white. Does that mean I was being discriminated against? Maybe it had more to do with my LSAT score. Oh, but I forget myself, those kinds of tests are racist. They don’t consider forms of learning and knowing other than the White Man’s logic.
I know lawyers who scored in the 99th percentile on the LSAT and couldn’t draft a compliant nor litigate a real case if their life depended on it.
I know gov lawyers just as bad.
I’m fine with Alejo talking his way in, I think it shows moxie and seriousness. I would not be fine with him prefrencing his way in. In my opinion, he benefited from the repeal of Prop 209.
I’m fine with Alejo talking his way in, I think it shows moxie and seriousness.
No it doesn’t.
It doesn’t show “moxie” or seriousness, it shows an applicant who was able to game the system and get an advantage no other applicant was able to get- a face to face interview…typical gov manipulation.
I thought the NYT has already declared that White Hispanics are also not people of color. Remember when the Zimmerman case was making all the headlines. First, the NYT said Zimmerman was White. Then, after his picture came out, the New York Times said he was a White Hispanic. It defies logic that a White Hispanic can be a person of color.
JoyO, you don’t understand because your ‘white privilege’ does not allow you to understand the logic of ‘oppressed’ minorities who were discriminated in the past…and you’ll probably said “but Asians were discriminated too” to which I reply “look, a squirrel…!”
‘Hispanics’ are NOT latino if they have origin in the following countries: Spain, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Puerto Rico.
Persons with family origin in Mexico, the Dominican Republic are considered to be ‘latino’ only if their skin color is dark enought that they would be considered ‘mestizo’ in their family’s country of origin. If, for example, they have family origin in Mexico, but have blue eyes and light hair, they cannot be ‘latino’.
So you see the racial preferences game gets very complex and very ugly very fast.
Bottom line is Louis’s grades sucked…..
I would love to see Mr. Alejo school transcript and see his grades…I’ll bet it would be an educating experience…
and Obama’s but that isn’t going to happen either
This is and ugly ugly article….THIS GUY DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR TIME!
Affirmative Action policies are desired by people incapable of qualifying through their own efforts. And unfortunately the taint of Affirmative Action reflects badly on all “people of color.” After all, how do you know the doctor or lawyer or engineer you’re looking to employ really earned it or was simply filling a quota?
Alejo is a white person of Spanish descent. There used to be some logic to A.A. for blacks, but getting ahead because of a Spanish name has never made sense.
“All our fears came true,’ said Alejo, a Democrat from Watsonville. ‘Once it went into effect, we saw dramatic drops in the numbers of students of color being able to attend some of our most prestigious graduate and professional schools.”
Think about this statement. Rephrase it to:
“For a while we were able to use a quota system to gain entrance to more prestigious schools than our real achievements would have supported. This gave us an advantage because our lower than average students were able to gain prestige, not by merit, but by stealing it from the accomplishments of White and Asian students, while their lower competence diminished the prestige of the school for its White and Asian students.
But then Prop 209 put and end to this and now that we have to compete on merit instead of a quota, our guys have to pull their own weight instead riding on the coattails of more accomplished students.
We don’t like the end of the free ride…”
I would rather have admission policies by pure merit. If that leads to a world where all dentists, doctors, and lawyers are Asian (or Hispanic, or Causasian, or Jewish or Martian) I could handle that so long as the dentists, doctors and lawyers were competent at dentisting, doctoring, or lawyering.
Just as people come in different heights, and all have respect, and value, people come in different IQs, colors, and educations, and all have respect and value.
What strikes me is that he graduated from Berkeley. So, as a Berkeley grad, he still expected a boost from affirmative action? Was Berkeley discriminating against him?
What percentage of DNA makes one a “person of color”? The president is 50% white and 50% black. Why is he called the first black president instead of the 44th white president?
[epithets deleted…] ALL people are “people of color.” White is a color too. Besides, there is NO SUCH THING as a “white” person or a “black” person. No. There’s. Not.
No two so-called “white” people are the same “color,” no two so-called “brown” people are the same “color,” and no two so-called “black” people are the same “color” either. Also, NO ONE is qualified to say where the “white” category ends and the “brown” category begins. No one. Neither can ANYONE determine where the “brown” category ends and the “black” category begins. No one. The truth is, that we are ALL “people of color.” All of us. We are all some shade of brown. Some lighter, some darker. Collectively, we human beings are all varying shades of the SAME smoothly gradient brown color palette or spectrum. We are ALL brown. Get over it.
Humanity’s ridiculous, senseless (almost childish) habit of grouping, categorizing, and then labeling people (regardless of the intent/motive) can be extremely problematic — and irritating. And it is usually very divisive, in the end.
What does Ben Rhodes know about CIA torture at Benghazi and what did Hillary know about torture at Benghazi and when did she know it???
Why are conservatives so afraid to say Hillary, CIA and TORTURE in the same sentence? If your not asking the questions that the WaPo and DailyKOS asked, then please explain why? Seriously, someone should ask Obama and Hillary the questions and don’t act like no ones going to listen to conservatives, that’s so wuzzyfied and it only guarantees the left will never get more serious. Except for the liberal media who have the balls to do it, they’ve already asked yet the right was silent.
The Washington Post has discussed whether or not
Hillary Clinton and Obama were torturing terrorists in Libya at a secret CIA site. Call her out for torture.
Bill Clinton tortured 3 terrorists, did Hillary sit in on torture talks, Bubba has never been investigated like Bush and there’s no
Statute of Limitations on torture or water boarding. How do we know Clinton didn’t break any laws or violate the Civil Rights of the so called humans as liberals portray them. Hit Hillary and generate buzz talk because the liberal media are still curious.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
http://www.democraticundergrou…
http://www.alternet.org/story/…
http://pubrecord.org/torture/7…
As an mixed race Asian who was called every racial slur in the book, I assure that Asians are people of color. I however also believe that we all are.