During the past two semesters, I have spent more than 40 hours looking online for scholarships. It’s ridiculous. I’ve been awarded scholarships, but only because I have in-road connections. Also, those were Central Arizona College specific.

So I’ve been searching and searching for scholarships for people that are a little above average, who have done some extra-curricular work, who have volunteered a little, and who are white. This is harder than getting George Bush to form a sensible opinion on something.

In Pinal County, Arizona, only 10.% of the population has a Bachelor’s degree or higher. This is 15.6% lower than the national average of 26.5% (source). Can’t I get some type of “Wow Your County Really Sucks At Being Smart” scholarship?

Pinal County is what is known as a “Minority-Majority District” (source). This means that the traditional “minority races” outnumber the traditional “majority race” (i.e. Caucasian with no Latino/Hispanic background). So, does this mean that I qualify for minority scholarships? No. I am still white.

I think that while racism will always be an issue, and certainly traditional minorities have less desirable statistics pegged to them, special “X-race only” clubs and “X-minority only” scholarships only serve to compound the racism problem in America.

Let me give an example: In my town, a minority-majority town, I feel discriminated against almost every time I go into a public place. I have been scoffed at, spit on, called every single name imaginable (is “f—–g white ho” the best you could think of?), not to mention the angry tension I feel in the air when I walk into Walmart. I guess those people don’t know that I’m not racist– my little sister is dark-skinned and my family has hosted a black guy from Africa for three years. At the public high school, I feel this problem is accentuated by the “Black Pride Club” and the “GOLD Scholars Program” (a program that offers scholarships and memberships only to those who are of Hispanic origin).

While the Black Pride Club has good intentions, it isn’t executed all that well. I’m sure that a “White Pride Club” that celebrates a European origin would get national media attention for being a modern Ku Klux Klan.

The GOLD Scholars does little better than the Black Pride Club. I have a friend who is almost in my same shoes, and while in high school, she asked to join the club. She was denied membership.

The only way to eliminate racism is through education, and it seems to me that educational institutions are providing easy outlets to be racist.