my ethnicity

[blk_reign]

under the conditions that her ancestors weren't a part of  the Middle Passage...

we need a new poll.. does anyone know anyone that is Black (of our generation) that is passing in 2005?

and..fyi I never said that she wasn't half African... I said she wasn't Black American/ African American...

Using which set of conditions?  Your judgement?

She's just as Black American/African American as you or Sinbad.

[lex19]

i do and does it count if they may not know they're blk?

[blk_reign]

that's a whole notha topic. .and it doesn't count if they don't know

i do and does it count if they may not know they're blk?

[FossilJ]

the bottom line is this.. if (s)he has identified with South Asian all of this time and as stated such on her undergraduate applications... all of a sudden checking African American is going to bite him/her in the ass once the Character and Fitness portion of the Bar registration comes into play..

This is a really good point, if they do pay attention to your undergrad files as well, which I imagine is a possibility.

[FossilJ]

under the conditions that her ancestors weren't a part of  the Middle Passage...

we need a new poll.. does anyone know anyone that is Black (of our generation) that is passing in 2005?

and..fyi I never said that she wasn't half African... I said she wasn't Black American/ African American...

Using which set of conditions?  Your judgement?

She's just as Black American/African American as you or Sinbad.

You guys are still missing my point, or choosing to ignore it.

She may not identify with African American culture, or even be accepted into it, because of whatever reasons (I guess the Middle Passage is as good an arbitrary variable as any other).  In fact, I'm not even disputing the genealogical historicity of what current African Americans, the descendants of those who did make that trip, see as their culture, nor the fact that current "Africans" don't identify with that culture.

It's because that isn't my point.  My point is that law schools look at the color of your skin, not your cultural heritage.  To a law school, she is as African American as the next person who shows up. 

Should it be this way?  No.  Is it this way?  Yes.  Should she take advantage of that?  Well, that's what we're disputing.  I say, given the mitigating circumstances of her youth, she should. 

But I'm just a hardass.  I also understand why you would be so set against it, and I can't say I don't see your point.  For me, however, this is an issue of pragmatics, not of ethics.

[One Step Ahead]

What do you mean, why?  It's pretty clear.  If you are going to give someone something, they should be able to prove why they deserve it.  You can't just say, I am black, therefore I deserve to be admitted to your school with favored status, becuase you aren't just putting yourself against the majority, you are putting yourself against other minorities as well.  An upper class black girl who lives in a Brownstone in Brooklyn Heights and has two college educated, professional parents and has no idea what being deprived means does not deserve the same consideration as a working class black girl who lives in the projects in Newark with abusive real parents and foster parents who make minimum wage.  It's obvious one of those girls has had to overcome significant obstacles to get to where they are that the other didn't.  If you are looking to create diversity of experience rather than just finding different shades of people to put in your brochures, then the only way to do that is a diversity statement.

You honestly think Denise Huxtable deserves prefered status over a black, Hispanic, or even white applicant who grew up in povery and overcame having abusive, or maybe no parents? 

thats silly.  do you have to prove why you deserved the benefits of being white?
btw I'm not saying that there isn't a case to be made for including a system of SES based affirmative action  in addition to a race based system.  I have long advocated for this, but there is something about race the remains a particularly pernicious factor in one's experiences/worldview so that even Denise Huxtable has a set of experiences that her white counterparts do not.

[One Step Ahead]

under the conditions that her ancestors weren't a part of  the Middle Passage...

we need a new poll.. does anyone know anyone that is Black (of our generation) that is passing in 2005?

and..fyi I never said that she wasn't half African... I said she wasn't Black American/ African American...

Using which set of conditions?  Your judgement?

She's just as Black American/African American as you or Sinbad.

You guys are still missing my point, or choosing to ignore it.

She may not identify with African American culture, or even be accepted into it, because of whatever reasons (I guess the Middle Passage is as good an arbitrary variable as any other).  In fact, I'm not even disputing the genealogical historicity of what current African Americans, the descendants of those who did make that trip, see as their culture, nor the fact that current "Africans" don't identify with that culture.

It's because that isn't my point.  My point is that law schools look at the color of your skin, not your cultural heritage.  To a law school, she is as African American as the next person who shows up.  Should it be this way?  No.  Is it this way?  Yes.  Should she take advantage of that?  Well, that's what we're disputing.  I say, given the mitigating circumstances of her youth, she should. 

But I'm just a hardass.  I also understand why you would be so set against it, and I can't say I don't see your point.  For me, however, this is an issue of pragmatics, not of ethics.

And you know this how?

[FossilJ]

under the conditions that her ancestors weren't a part of  the Middle Passage...

we need a new poll.. does anyone know anyone that is Black (of our generation) that is passing in 2005?

and..fyi I never said that she wasn't half African... I said she wasn't Black American/ African American...

Using which set of conditions?  Your judgement?

She's just as Black American/African American as you or Sinbad.

You guys are still missing my point, or choosing to ignore it.

She may not identify with African American culture, or even be accepted into it, because of whatever reasons (I guess the Middle Passage is as good an arbitrary variable as any other).  In fact, I'm not even disputing the genealogical historicity of what current African Americans, the descendants of those who did make that trip, see as their culture, nor the fact that current "Africans" don't identify with that culture.

It's because that isn't my point.  My point is that law schools look at the color of your skin, not your cultural heritage.  To a law school, she is as African American as the next person who shows up.  Should it be this way?  No.  Is it this way?  Yes.  Should she take advantage of that?  Well, that's what we're disputing.  I say, given the mitigating circumstances of her youth, she should. 

But I'm just a hardass.  I also understand why you would be so set against it, and I can't say I don't see your point.  For me, however, this is an issue of pragmatics, not of ethics.

And you know this how?

Because you check a box to lump yourself into a sorting category.

[One Step Ahead]

under the conditions that her ancestors weren't a part of  the Middle Passage...

we need a new poll.. does anyone know anyone that is Black (of our generation) that is passing in 2005?

and..fyi I never said that she wasn't half African... I said she wasn't Black American/ African American...

Using which set of conditions?  Your judgement?

She's just as Black American/African American as you or Sinbad.

You guys are still missing my point, or choosing to ignore it.

She may not identify with African American culture, or even be accepted into it, because of whatever reasons (I guess the Middle Passage is as good an arbitrary variable as any other).  In fact, I'm not even disputing the genealogical historicity of what current African Americans, the descendants of those who did make that trip, see as their culture, nor the fact that current "Africans" don't identify with that culture.

It's because that isn't my point.  My point is that law schools look at the color of your skin, not your cultural heritage.  To a law school, she is as African American as the next person who shows up.  Should it be this way?  No.  Is it this way?  Yes.  Should she take advantage of that?  Well, that's what we're disputing.  I say, given the mitigating circumstances of her youth, she should. 

But I'm just a hardass.  I also understand why you would be so set against it, and I can't say I don't see your point.  For me, however, this is an issue of pragmatics, not of ethics.

And you know this how?

Because you check a box to lump yourself into a sorting category.

and again you know this how?  do you work on an admissions committee?

[blk_reign]