People typically agree that discrimination is bad, but what if it isn’t called discrimination? Preferential treatment gives benefits to people of certain minorities. Sounds like discrimination to me. Yet preferential treatment is everywhere, and many are in favor of it. Why? Because these special privileges are given to minorities in hopes of fixing past pains. This new reverse discrimination is still discrimination.
Preferential treatment is seen in the workplace as diversity quotas. Giving people jobs because they are more diverse is wrong and demeaning. Minorities are just as capable of doing the job, so why treat them like they need a handicap? We also see preferential treatment when giving out scholarships. Free money is free money, so no one will complain if they are treated as a minority to get it, but is it right in a place where we are all are supposedly equal? I admit there are times when these scholarships prove beneficial. But not just minorities need help. It is actually discriminating against the majority who can’t get a scholarship because they weren’t born the right race or gender.
Preferential treatment is not bringing the equality Americans seek. It may discourage negative discrimination, but rather than diminishing the gap separating people, we sustain it by giving special privileges. Until people realize that treating people differently, even in a positive way, is still setting them apart, we will never achieve true equality.
Clara Dunlop
Hillsboro, Oregon
