Angry White Boy Blues...

So, it’s that time again. That time when we get down on our hands and knees and plead for scholarships from any person we can. We often don’t know who is giving the money, why or how, all we care about is that we get it. This time of year is good to many. But for people like me; not so great.

People like me? American? Male? White? Yes to all of the above. Those three things have hurt me more than any poor test score or criminal record ever could. White folk like myself don’t get very many scholarships. Many people say I am wrong, but they are wrong. Trust me, I know from being there. Many people have different speculations as to why it is that way. In a word, racism.

I know, I went there. Yes, I am playing the race card. But it’s still relatively new for Caucasians to cry racism, so I still think it is a valid tactic. Let me elaborate and then see if you still disagree with me.

I applied for the maximum number of private donor scholarships allowed by BYU-Hawaii, a measly 3. I don’t know why trying to get as many scholarships as necessary for tuition is discouraged but it didn’t make much of a difference to me seeing as how I was only eligible for a small fraction anyway. Why don’t we look through some of the scholarship requirements:

"...for a Hispanic male or female..."

Nope. Not for me.

"...to any qualified Pacific Islander..."

Guess again.

"...for women who..."

Stop right there and move on to the next one.

"...who’s parents served a mission in [insert random and seldom heard of country here]..."

Next.

"...which demonstrates economic need..." Oh, I have a chance. "...with outstanding academic achievement..." Yes, yes. "...and is Tongan, Samoan, Indian, Filipino, Cambodian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Indonesian, Hispanic, Hawaiian, Eskimo, Homosexual, Insane, or…well, basically any race but WHITE."

Dang. So close on that one.

See what I mean? And now for my rant. I never want to hear another person from "da ghetto" tell me that they don’t have enough opportunities to go to college. They have more opportunities than most people I know. There are more scholarships available for African-Americans than squares of toilet paper in the new Bounty Mega Roll™©®.

Yes, I know that you likely had a great-grandpa who might have been a slave. It was bad. It was wrong. My great-grandpa never owned a slave. He was LDS and stood with the church on it’s sympathy toward victims of it. And even if he did, why has the scale not only been tipped level, but now leaning on the other side? Why does this entitle anyone to anything? Fair treatment? Yes, I love that. This is NOT it. This is reverse racism.

It goes beyond this. I can’t go into some neighborhoods because I will get beaten up or killed for being white. This is not considered a "hate" crime – just a white guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I were to use the understandably inappropriate "N" word (Nigger – for those of you who don’t know American slang) I could face some very serious consequences. There is a neighborhood in Wahiawa on Olive Street that I know few if any Ha’oles (whites) would feel safe walking down at night. I admit that this is drifting away from the scholarship issue but it all is connected to my central theme. We have entered reverse racism. The first place I noticed it was with scholarships. It has, however, shown itself in many other facets of my life.

So, now is where you usually hear a call to arms. Unfortunately, I don’t have one. First, I don’t think that going on a rampage against minorities is ethical and would not solve anything. I also don’t want to bring back separatism. Second, I don’t think we could do anything about it anyway. I hate to claim defeat, but what can I do? If I were to start an all white school you’d never hear the end of it. This will not affect the all black schools, of course. Besides, I don’t want an all white school anyway.

I guess what I really want is freedom. I don’t want continued racism. And this means a reduction of special treatment to someone for the simple grounds of skin color and heritage. Why must 99.99% of the scholarships out there specify race? What does this have to do with my education? What does this have to do with anyone’s education? Why would the fact that my mother is Navajo influence a committee to make decisions on my worthiness as a pupil? It’s ridiculous! I am outraged! Yet, I take it and accept the paltry scholarships I can get.

I wish I had a solution. For the time being I don’t. I do have about 1/256th Cherokee, but that has yet to pay off for me. Regardless of my odds, I still grab a hold of all of the scholarships out there. I apply for the ones I can. As for the others; I have been able to find something valuable in them as well. I have been able to save plenty of money on toiletries. There really are much more racially driven scholarships than squares of toilet paper in the new Bounty Mega Roll™©®. Don’t believe me? Take the challenge like I did.

Oh, and I recommend you print on soft paper...