Jack & Jill Politics

Wonder how much of this bias goes on at prestigious Ivy League schools and Ivy-feeder private prep schools like this. Why should you care? Those who enter the halls of power at an early age have a higher chance of attaining wealth and power at a later age, no? This is why African-Americans and minorities still insist that affirmative action is important and that the playing field isn’t level yet. Clip from the story:

An African-American educator hired to promote diversity at the tony Riverdale Country School contends he was told to avoid the children of black celebrities and find more “full-paying Asians and non-Jews,” the Daily News has learned.
In a lawsuit set to be filed today in Bronx Supreme Court, Shereem Herndon-Brown says he was hired as admissions director to increase diversity at the $31,200-a-year Riverdale Country School’s middle and upper schools.

But he alleges his efforts were thwarted by Headmaster John Johnson.
Johnson persuaded Herndon-Brown to avoid recruiting children of African-American celebrities, like Sean (Diddy) Combs and Spike Lee, because such parents “would not be a good addition to the parent body,” according to the lawsuit.

Even famous wealthy black folks can’t catch a break. If they aren’t acceptable, then who is? I went to an elite private school and my education was funded with a set of three scholarships and my mother’s sweat and tears. I wasn’t wealthy but I knew within a few months why I had been recruited. My middle class background was unthreatening unlike P.Diddy and Spike Lee — or kids from harder knocks. Also I was smart enough for the white kids to sharpen their claws on in preparation for competing in the real world. I chose the Ivy League school I ended up attending in part because it had the highest percentage of minority students at the time of any of the Ivies. This percentage included minorities of all kinds and foreign students. That percentage showed at least a effort to striving for diversity. That percentage was 8%.

Hat tip: Playahata