<p>if "black" people from america, who cannot even name where in africa they came from, can put "african american" on ANYTHING let alone a college application, then someone who is ACTUALLY an african american has all the right in the world to put african american. AND if you want to base this on heritage. all civilization originated in africa. therefore you can all shut up</p>
<p>Let me be crass here for a moment.
White is white, black is black. No more mincing words.
Look at this girl and tell me, is she white or black?</p>
<p>The only time when this question should be a problem is when the person has a mixed background. Then, valid claims can be made for any of the major ethnicities which the person originated from.</p>
<p>"if "black" people from america, who cannot even name where in africa they came from, can put "african american" on ANYTHING let alone a college application, then someone who is ACTUALLY an african american has all the right in the world to put african american."</p>
<p>Do you know what town/village/city your ancestors lived in in the 1600s? I can trace my lineage's areas of residence back up to four generations, and that's only because I'm from a family that hasn't moved much from the Beijing area in about a hundred years. You'd have to have some noble blood or a DNA test to really know where your ancestry lived. </p>
<p>"AND if you want to base this on heritage. all civilization originated in africa. therefore you can all shut up"</p>
<p>All civilization originated in Africa, but it's been about 10,000 years since then. A few things happened in between that time and now, sheff88. People have moved and changed. We are genetically the same, but ethnically, culturally, totally different.</p>
<p>All white South Africans are from European origin, mostly Dutch or British. Ironically perhaps, is that the colonoziation of South Africa took place after the colonization of America, hence most white South Africans would be more closely tied to European roots than many Americans. </p>
<p>BedHead makes some great points. He/she really knows what he/she is talking about.</p>
<p>It would be great if we lived in a society where all this stuff didn't matter, but unfortunately it does.</p>
<p>that is completely false. mesopotamia is where civilization began. she does have the right to do whatever she wants, but it is also her problem if her application gets recinded. that question is there in order to categorize and get a sense of direction of ethnicity other factors, not just where you happened to live. if she is at absolutely no disadvantage then it is morally unacceptable for her to do that. please refrain from using harsh language as the college confidential moniters may warn you. even though she is my friend, i still believe that it is unacceptable, and her application should be rescinded. please do not refer to all blacks as "stupid" as you did when you said...if "black" people from america, who cannot even name where in africa they came from, can put "african american" on ANYTHING let alone a college application, then someone who is ACTUALLY an african american has all the right in the world to put african american. </p>
<p>if they are african american and are black, they have more of a right to put it on a college application than she does and they have the evidence to back it up as well. morally unacceptable should account for a plain rejection.</p>
<p>sheff88, dude you are so ignorant....</p>
<p>First of all you can get your admissions rescinded for that its called a violation of academic integrity...i sit of the board of academic integrity at my college and we have heard similar cases where a kid born in Egypt put he was black/African American (Which the application specifically asks if your black/African-American) and they ended up rescinded him and his guidance counselor (i thought this was pretty f'ed up) called all the schools he applied to to make sure he did not put that on all of his other apps.</p>
<p>even though putting black/african american if you are south african is some form of deceit, the bottom line is that it is the truth and therefore it doesnt matter if it gives you a leg up or not. this person was lucky enough to be born in south africa and she should be allowed to play her cards correctly, morally correct or not.</p>
<p>she can play her cards whatever ways she wants. she can go and lie about everything but as soon as admissions finds out she will not be able to go there regardless of how amazing or terrible her criteria is. especially top schools. they look into stuff like this very carefully becuase if they accept a liar and cheater they will begin a trend in the admissions process that is completely unacceptable... maybe she was born a cheater that could explain alot</p>
<p>Sheff: then it appears that morality doesn't command a high premium with you, correct?</p>
<p>it doesn't appear so T26E4... sheff you should look into a class in college that teaches proper etiquite and ethics</p>
<p>its not a matter of morality. colleges will still accept minorities regardless of how many south africans 'lie' about their heritage. morality means nothing in this instance, these few individiuals, and it is not a big number, are using an advantage that they have to try to get themselves into college. its the same thing as an athlete using recruitment to get into top schools. morality means nothing here because the colleges will still always try to make their campus more diverse giving minorities good chances to get accepted. a few outliers has no affect other than on the individuals themselves. you all need to stop being so close-minded. just so you know i have no relation to this topic i'm just voicing my opinion so fire away.</p>
<p>Let me go out on this note:</p>
<p>If she does go through with this, then she is putting the entire nation, my birth nation of South Africa to shame.</p>
<p>With the crime and poverty rate so high and no end in sight, for her to be fortunate enough to be in a position to live a better life and to be using the mere fact that she happened to be born in the Republic of South Africa as a reason why she should have an advantage over the next applicant is an embarrassment.</p>
<p>There is a generation of South Africans without much hope, stricken with the ills of AIDS and poverty, and this young lady is using the fact she happened to be born there in order to gain further privilage. </p>
<p>On behalf of those white South Africans who choose not to take advantage of their status for their own personal gain, I apologize that some would feel entitled to behave in such a manner.</p>
<p>May we work for a day in which all can live in the prosperity that we enjoy.</p>
<p>"if "black" people from america, who cannot even name where in africa they came from, can put "african american" on ANYTHING let alone a college application, then someone who is ACTUALLY an african american has all the right in the world to put african american. AND if you want to base this on heritage. all civilization originated in africa. therefore you can all shut up"</p>
<p>^^^Sheff, are you KIDDING ME?
-Did you seriously just blame African Americans for not knowing what country they came from. Do you not know anything about US history at all? That was possibly the most ignorant comment i have ever heard in my entire life. You made the least effective comment of this entire thread. </p>
<p>By your logic me lying and saying i cured cancer is the same as an athlete trying to get recruited for basketball. I'm just doing whatever it takes!!!!</p>
<p>White people know when they aren't black, its not like its hard to tell.</p>
<p>Its kind of amazing how dishonest and self-centered some people are.</p>
<p>Sheff, you're a troll. I found this other post by you which was far different from your real "chance me" post that you made on another thread. Very funny. Tell me: are you trying to be provocative or do you really believe the things you wrote? I hope the former, but now I know you're just a big troll, I don't care if it's the latter. You are discredited:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do I have any shot at harvard with a 1610 SAT and a below average 2.6 gpa? I take all APs and honors and have taken 6 APs and have gotten 5s on all of them.</p>
<p>I think this could help - this past summer I worked in harvard medical school to do research for inflammatory bowel disease.</p>
<p>I also started my own company and this past year i made $10,000 profit. With this money, I went to Africa to try to solve hunger and treat AIDS patients. I donated all of my money there to a small town called triame in Sudan to each family, splitting it up equally. This town is ravished by hunger and disease and I feel like I helped out a lot.</p>
<p>Despite my weak numbers, I feel like my ECs make me stand out a lot. Do i have a shot?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You can forge a new ethnicity especially when your cultural group has received cultural exchanges from other groups since the diaspora from the "motherland".</p>
<p>For example, I consider myself Singaporean, not Chinese or Asian-American (too big a label to identify with), especially as due to the cross-cultural influences that Singaporeans have which distinguish them. Being genetically Chinese does not entail being ethnically Chinese...</p>
<p>I protest being obligated to classify myself into some blanket ethnicity where they can then impose their cultural hegemony on me based on some pre-existing prejudicial conception of what being a member of that ethnicity entails. I refuse to be part of any of it. If permitted, I list my ethnicity as "Singaporean", and if not, I simply refuse to give it.</p>
<p>Ethnicity is not merely forged by genetics, but by culture. And I forgot mention, there is no genetic basis to race, a convenient conception that was invented by pseudoscientists to justify prejudice. There is NO reason why students should deal with this ******** pseudoscience called "race" when dealing with intellectual practices like college applications, or for that matter, collegeboard tests as well.</p>
<p>Look at United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind 261 U.S. 204 and Takao Ozawa v. United States 260 U.S. 178. Heck care about genetics, ancestry, culture or even background. What matters about race is perception and impression. Doesn't that fall into Austen's definition of prejudice?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Wow Galoisien! That was amazing. Half of it went over my head. </p>
<p>But one thing is clear: if you don't want to mark any of the squares, you are not required to do so. It usually says -- I actually think it is required by law to say -- that you don't have to fill in any of the blanks.</p>
<p>It's a free country! </p>
<p>Anyway, race has been used as the best available proxy for people who were born into lack of privilege or even into oppression. It may be pseudoscientific in origin, but it worked, apparently, as a proxy for this. And part of this was pretty simple, because even if they were was based on pseudoscience, the racial categories were the lines along which people were in real life oppressed or even enslaved. There's nothing that was "pseudo" about those experiences, and they were based on the simple notion of how certain people looked different from others.</p>
<p>There is an increasing movement afoot that affirmative action should be directed not towards racial categories at all anymore but towards economic categories. People from wealthy families have so many things provided to them in the way of privileges and advantages, it is thought, that the real assistance needs to be granted to the poor or disenfranchised of any race.</p>
<p>But overall, aside from just trying to provide better information, the system of racial categories was established to try to ease the undoing of the bad effects of racism, not to promote further racism. Though some criticize that it does promote more racism. It seems that that is your view. I am not sure I understood clearly though.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Will she wear her colorful ancestral African tribal clothing around campus? Will she share her soul food recipes that she learned from her bothers and sisters in the African American community? Will she write her freshman English essays about her experiences with the challenges of being an African American in modern America?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>God, some people just can't stop with the stereotypes... Dammit, NOT EVERY BLACK PERSON WANTS TO "write her freshman English essays about her experiences with the challenges of being an African American in modern America"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>WOW, I think this pertains to me</p>
<p>My ancestors were from the borders of Pakistan and India, but my family has lived in Kenya and Uganda for eight generations. My mom was born in Kenya and my Dad in Uganda. Now I'm not saying that because they live there so many years their race changed. I'm just asking if the term African American applied to me at any level. btw, I was born in the US. I currently have under my race that I am Asian...
Also, my common app essay was all about the sorrowful history of Africa and the epiphany I had when I first went there seeing the poverty. I related it the Heart of Darkness by Conrad. </p>
<p>....Just a question, its interesting</p>
<p>You're an Ugandakenyopakistindian American, of course. I had a friend from the same ethnic group when I was in high school. He could hip hop to Bollywood music.</p>
<p>Really BedHead?
Did he tell you what language he spoke? We speak Kutch, which is based on sanskrit. My parents can speak Swahili though.</p>
<p>Does anyone know the answer to my Q?</p>
<p>^that lineage is straight up wack. in a good way i mean. it's really interesting.</p>