“…a friend recently pointed out that Ivys put a lot of store in legacy admissions...but not a lot of black people were being accepted in the 1960s. So whites have a built-in leg up when it comes to Ivy admissions due to being more likely to be legacies. That's a problem (though I think the solution there might be to just end legacy admissions, rather than create new rules to help young African Americans compete with legacy whites).” — Source: Comment on Heal the West-Can the DEI Be Salvaged? By Julian Adorney, March 14, 2024 Can the DEI Be Salvaged?
I am listening to beautiful music as I pen this essay.
We can be so wrong when we run pattern recognition programs on black Americans. When I began writing my book, Letters in Black and White: A New Correspondence of Race in America, my co-author Jennifer Richmond presumed my life story. “When trying to understand these new trends, I work to put myself in another’s shoes. But not having grown up in a black ghetto or having had to navigate the streets that Ta-Nehisi Coates describes in his book Between the World and Me, I honestly have trouble doing so.” Letters in Black and White, p. 24. Over the course of four years, I disabused Jen of her pattern recognition.
The childhood world of Ta-Nehisi Coates in inner-city Baltimore, Maryland is as alien to me as a childhood in Prague, Czechoslovakia. On second thought, I probably share the same aversion to dogma and slogan words as a child who grew up in Prague in the 1960s and 1970s. Vaclav Havel is my hero. The Power of the Powerless
In a comment on the Substack Essay Can the DEI Be Salvaged, I perceived another example of faulty pattern recognition. The writer Julian Adorney suggested that black Americans lack the same leg-up when it comes to legacy admissions as whites. I could let this misperception of individuals pass but, in these times, the whole truth is important for readers.
While it is true that blacks in large numbers were not accepted into the Ivies in the 1960s, this statement misses the rest of the story. History did not stop in the 1960s. Beginning around 1968, blacks appeared in numbers at all Ivies throughout the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s, the 2010s and the early 2020s. I asked my wife, a Yale graduate, to confirm the latest class for which black legacy candidates might apply for admission to the Class of 2028. My wife said that would be the Class of 2006 roughly. So, in theory, all of the black graduates from the Yale Classes of 1968 to 2006 have legacy children who might have applied to Yale. Like my daughter. That would be almost 40 years of black legacy applicants.
In other words, there are ample numbers of black legacy students who have benefitted from parents who graduated from Yale between 1968 and 2006. I don’t know the total numbers but surely these legacy black applicants would have a leg up on white applicants whose parents were high school drop outs. Adorney is a great writer but even great writers may succumb to lazy pattern recognition of black students.
I write as a Dad of legacy children of various Ivies and quasi Ivies — Harvard, Yale, University of Virginia. Why would Adorney in his comment be blind to the existence of my children, and other black legacy students, whose parents graduated from Ivies in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.
Time did not stand still in the 1960s. At least two generations of black Ivy League parents ranked up legacy privilege for their sons and daughters. These children of whom I know a few took every advantage of legacy admissions to the Ivies.
Now, was being black and a legacy a lock in Ivy admissions? Of course not. Life doesn’t work that way. Being a legacy is just a thumb on the scale. No promises. No guarantees. I know a black legacy who got into the University of Virginia (UVA) but did not attend due to the out-of-state costs. I know another black legacy who got rejected by Yale. Ouch! I know another black legacy who got into the Echols Scholar program (reserved for the top 5% of the entering class) at UVA but bade farewell to Mr. Jefferson’s University in favor of a typical Ivy. There is the black legacy who got wait listed by Harvard. Make that two black legacies. And there was the black legacy who attended Harvard like his Dad. And there was the black legacy who got into Harvard but chose to attend the University of Maryland at College Park. There are many more examples too numerous to name from my own personal knowledge.
Tonight, however, I am not feeling high on the Ivies. There are protests in New Haven. Young students are behaving poorly and risking their good name in service of disruption. I applaud protest. I did a sit-in while at UVA but, to be honest, I did it because it was the thing to do. I never harassed or assaulted others. Bad Protests in New Haven I know someone who is caught up in the protests. I fear for her conduct, that she might forget all of the good things we taught her as a child, that she will comport herself with decorum, not get caught up in conduct she will regret years later, Things We Regret, and for the love of God, not risk being arrested.
I place my faith in my adult child to value common sense over emotion of the moment.
Conclusion: When our adult children turned 21, our adult children began to perceive the world on their own terms. And we want our adult children to engage the passions and high ideas of their generation with conviction and discernment. New Haven today is a test for many parents as we bite our tongues and hold our breaths and all the rest.
One more word about pattern recognition — privilege can be, and is, a black thing. Do not be led astray by dogma and slogan words. Tonight, after suppressing my anxiety about the goings on in New Haven, my wife and I talked at length with our daughter. Her plans are modest compared to some in New Haven. I am not a billionaire/triple smile and another glass of smile on the rocks!
On the other hand, there is no comparison to me and my summer plans after graduation from UVA. Bagging groceries awaited me at Ukrops grocery store. I also had a second job with a law firm as a paralegal. Work, work and more work. My New Haven family member will be enjoying Spain and France after graduation. Martha’s Vineyard, maybe? A country place upstate in New York? Perhaps. There’s always a choice of city places in Brooklyn. These are summer options I never knew as a scrappy kid. Times are way better for the legacy black children of the Ivies.
Let’s update our pattern recognition to reflect reality for some. Inner-city Baltimore, Ta-Nehisi Coates and ghetto life is not our reality. Jen gets it now. We should all get it. Caricatures and stereotypes mislead and deceive us. Jack and Jill
I shared the lovely music I am listening to with my wife. My wife reminded me that my mom-in-law wanted our daughter to play the harp. Just like Sophia in this You Tube video. Mom-in-law was willing to foot the bill.
Good evening!
I'm glad I didn't skip the music video.
It’s funny how people like to associate people based on a lot of things. My mother was from Virginia, and at some point, before her time, there were relatives who had slaves. My mother was very kind, and she certainly wasn’t racist. However, I remember how upset she was when a couple in her church confronted her about her family having slaves.
I know you aren’t necessarily talking about family, but let’s face it, all of us can look back through our ancestors to discover all kinds of things, both good and bad. We have no control over them, but they also have no control over us. I also like the example you gave of your friend assuming you had the same experience as other blacks, as if all had similar lives. Great example.