Thousands of Americans suffer discrimination today because of their national origin. They are cruelly barred, solely on account of where their ancestors were born, from realizing their dreams. This discrimination violates the Constitution and makes a mockery of civil rights-era legislation.
Worse, the discrimination these Americans suffer is the result of conscious policy. This is not about “implicit bias,” which assumes that we all have racist impulses and act on them subconsciously. No, the discrimination against these Americans has Supreme Court blessing.
I’m referring to Asian-Americans, or to be more specific, Americans of Chinese, Korean or Indian descent. Research demonstrates they’re discriminated against when they apply to Harvard and other elite universities, entry to which is an important rung on the ladder of success in this country.
The essay, like most of the literature, quotes a study that showed that “in order to be admitted to certain selective institutions, Asian applicants needed to score — on the 1600 point scale of the ‘old SAT’ — 140 points higher than whites, 270 points higher than Hispanics, and 450 points higher than African Americans if other factors are held equal.”
