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Affirmative Action In The Life And Times Of Strider Wolf

Decent Essays

For decades affirmative action has been an issue of much controversy in America. Affirmative action’s goal is to help those who suffer from discrimination, giving them a boost by favoring them in areas like education and employment. Someone always has something to say, whether it be for affirmative action or against it. With personal stories from And Still We Rise, “Carlos Doesn’t Remember”, and “The LIfe and Times of Strider Wolf” we can see evidence for both sides. Where Anecdotes from Olivia’s, Toya’s and Carlos’s life bring to light their struggles as minorities in inner cities, Strider Wolf’s hardships exist just an hour away in a rural Maine town. Even though the lives of Olivia’s and Carlos’s may seemingly appear to be very different …show more content…

Although he has not jumped from foster home to foster how like Olivia and Carlos, when his grandparents fell behind on their rent, they were forced to move from parking lot to parking lot, campsite to campsite, until they were finally able to find a home before the start of winter. Before coming to live with his grandparents, strider suffered from near-fatal abuse by his mother’s boyfriend. He had to hospitalized, “damage that doctors later would testify they typically saw in high speed, head-on car crashes.”(Boston Globe). Strider started school and seemed to be a bright young boy. His grandparents showed him and his brother all the love they had. Even though In Striders story, it doesn’t mention affirmative action, we can connect in and use it as an anecdote to display another perspective on the issue. Although Strider is not as old as Olivia or Carlos he too will soon be reaching the end of high school and looking to apply to college. What will happen to him? Will he be aided by affirmative action like Carlos, Olivia, and many other gifted students in similar circumstances? Since Strider is not a minority he will not have the assistance to help him succeed post …show more content…

I now believe that the current system set in place, while beneficial does not serve as the best way to help those in need. I think that affirmative action should be expanded to not only benefit those suffering from race discrimination like Olivia, and Carlos, it should also be based on a person’s socioeconomic standing. This way, Strider and people like him will also be benefited. Some people may argue that it doesn’t matter and that it is discrimination that is the big issue, but after listening to Carlos, he says that when he goes to school he does not feel intimidated or lesser because he is of a different raee, but because he knows he has less than they do, that they are “better” than him as society has made him believe through entitlement. How is it fair that even though Strider, Carlos, and Olivia all suffer from the same issues that only two are benefited on account of simply raee? Another amendment I would make to affirmative action is starting earlier. As seen in Carlos’s story and in the book And Still We Rise it is clear that affirmative action simply doesn’t reach kids in time. A program put into place starting around the fourth grade is a perfect way to help more kids in need. We need to get kids interested in their education and the future they could have before the hardships of their life take

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