we're the asian kids in affirmative action america (whoa)

On Halloween, the Supreme Court held oral arguments for two affirmative action cases, one against Harvard and one against UNC. The verdict? Well, there isn't a verdict in appellate proceedings, and we don't know yet (and probably won't for a while), but the Supreme Court does seem poised to strike down affirmative action. Being Asian American is a weird position to occupy in this debate--on the one hand, the educational benefits of diversity are very real to me, but on the other hand, how would I have felt if I had gotten rejected from Yale despite stellar scores and doing everything "right?" In this episode, I unpack my own experiences with affirmative action in the context of affirmative action's history in California and the United States and try to enumerate why affirmative action makes so many Asian Americans angry. Which side should we be on?[timestamps]intro - 0:00Harvard and UNC - 0:54a brief history of affirmative action - 6:55my college experience - 12:27final thoughts - 21:25[additional references]https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-31/california-banned-affirmative-action-uc-struggles-for-diversityhttps://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.htmlhttps://blog.press.umich.edu/2010/01/sandra-day-oconnor-revisits-revives-affirmative-action-controversy-new-release-next-25-ye/--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/currently-workshopping/message This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cecexie.substack.com/subscribe