This is going to be a half-criticism article on Fox news and half personal story because guys, I AM TRIGGERED. Excuse me if I get really emotional, it's just that this topic really REALLY makes me upset, and I feel as though it's finally time to address it.

I never experienced this much when I was younger. Or maybe I was just too naive or blind to realize it. However, as I started growing into my adolescent stages and young adult stages, I noticed that some people would look at me differently because they felt as though I got special privilege in society because I'm not only a woman but also a BLACK woman.

Just the mere thought that I had a leg up in certain instances, it's full-blown proof of other's REAL privilege in society. And it's proof that society will never see black people as worthy of anything because apparently, the only way we can be successful is if we have help from the government or from other people.

I did not get where I am today because I am black.

I got where I am today because I worked my ass off, made connections with people who I knew would help me strive further in society, and had faith in myself and my abilities.

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Let's back away from my personal story for a second to talk about Michael Brown, a 17-year-old senior from Houston Texas who applied to 20 colleges across the country (INCLUDING FOUR IVY LEAGUE'S) and got accepted with FULL RIDES to ALL of them.

What an amazing success story, right? And he's not alone. Kwasi Enin, Ifeoma White-Thorpe, and so many other successful black students have accomplished feats similar to this and it left people SHOOK.

But haters will forever be haters, and OF COURSE, we have people who say that they only got in because of "affirmative action," and not because they're really just intelligent students who worked hard to do well and achieve their dreams.

An ignorant Fox News Reporter had something excruciatingly idiotic to say about Michael Brown: "Don't you think it's a little that this kid applied to 20 colleges, basically wait-listing another kid... you're taking away a spot from someone who worked really hard..."

OH MY GOD, WHAT?

Worked really hard? As if Michael Brown didn't work extremely hard to be able to even apply to the 20 schools and get in?

He's literally only going to accept ONE school. It's not like he's accepting all of them at the same time, and then he's taking away education from another kid... OK.

Furthermore, even if he were to accept all of them (which is impossible, but bear with me), he wouldn't be taking away education from another kid. Because I'm sure other kids didn't just apply to that ONE school and got wait-listed... I'm sure that they had backups they also applied to and got into. It's not that serious.

Again, Fox News is just trying to cover up their racist attitudes and ideas, this time in particular about affirmative action.

I can't even TELL you the number of times I've heard people say that black and Hispanic kids only got into certain schools and programs because of affirmative action and that it's not fair because it's taking away resources from other kids.

* * *

Let me tell you guys a few stories that have opened my eyes to the idiocy of people who don't even know what affirmative action really is.

This one story will forever stick with me for the rest of my life. I was sitting in my AP Calculus class my senior year and my friends and I were talking about how we had just gotten into Rutgers. Someone I knew had gotten into the Honors College with me and we were speaking about possibly becoming roommates. All of a sudden, I hear this kid from the back of the class talk about how he didn't get into the Honors College because of all the "black kids who took his spot." I didn't hear him correctly so I kept asking people around me what he had said, but my Calculus teacher had cleared up the confusion: she said, "Now, Andrew, I know plenty of smart African-Americans who deserve the honors they are given" and that left it like that.

It wasn't the first time I had heard something like that, but it was the first time I finally felt like it was directed towards me because I was openly talking about it. For a second, I felt as though maybe I didn't belong in the Honors College because my skin tone outweighed my accomplishments in life. For a second, I forgot how my parents had raised me not to become an exceptional black person, but an exception PERSON. For a second, I forgot everything I did to get me to that moment.

For a moment, I didn't feel like Lanette. I felt like "that black girl."

Flash forward nearly a year later and I'm speaking to a guy who I guess I was interested in (I'm looking back on this now and cringing so hard. Kory, shout out to you from getting me out of the sunken place... LMAO). He was a year younger than me so I was asking him what places he and his friends had gotten into for college. He mentioned that some of his friends had got waitlisted or deterred from top schools in the United States because "People who don't deserve it get a free pass in because of affirmative action."

You know, one of my greatest regrets in life is the fact that I didn't drop kick his dusty ass right then and there. THAT'S RIGHT, HE'S DUSTY AND WASHED UP. It was absolutely repulsing to me and I couldn't believe that I had someone in my life who was so ignorant.

Most of my time spent at the Honors College was plagued by depression, sickness, and isolation. To go along with this, I didn't feel like I had truly belonged there. I don't know if it was because of these comments or what, but I felt like I only was in the place I was in because I was black.

When I tried to explain this to people they would say, "but you know that you're intelligent, so don't let them get to you."

But it's hard for a black kid in society to defy what other people paint them as.

All too often, we're portrayed as ghetto, uneducated, loud, obnoxious, or even undeserving of what we EARN. So hearing those Fox News Reporters talk about Michael Brown like that really boiled my blood and it made me realize that yes, I do have to work ten times harder than anybody else to get accepted in society. And even still... I won't be acknowledged for my accomplishments. It's really screwed up and I feel bad for all of those black kids out there who have been looked down upon at certain institutions because others feel like they didn't deserve to be there.

If anything, Affirmative Action helps level the playing field for all applicants. In 1961, President Kennedy established the Equal Employment Opportunity, which was to help people who wanted jobs to not be discriminated because of their race, name, religion, disability, or sexuality. His successor used this executive order to increase the number of minority employees. It wasn't to just fit a quota. They did it because they saw issues with unemployment in minorities, and they wanted to fix it.

A few years later, the college started to adopt the same thing, which increased acceptance rates for African American and Latinx students. In 2007, 70% of white high school graduates enrolled in college after graduation, however for Hispanics and Blacks, that percent was near the mid-50s to low 60s. However, by 2011, 69% of whites, 65% of African Americans, and 63% of Hispanic college graduates enrolled in college after their graduation.

If you don't see how this is a good thing, you need to get your morals straightened out.

It's literally college reaching out to underrepresented students who would have otherwise not been accepted to the university because of their background circumstances. For instance, many underrepresented minorities are also not in the best communities around the United States. Because of this, they don't have the best access to public schools, SAT prep, college advice, etc. They're lowkey "doomed" to be just another statistic — kids who come out of poor neighborhoods who don't go to college. Why does white applicant deserve more of a spot at another school because he has a bunch of extracurricular activities because he could afford it? Doesn't a minority who didn't have access to all of those activities because of their circumstances deserve a great education too? It's not fair.

Now, I know what you're saying: Affirmative Action was meant for the blacks back in the 60's who felt discriminated because of their skin tone. Why still implement it now?

Your privilege is showing, lmao.

We STILL need affirmative action now because black and Hispanic people are STILL discriminated against in the workplace, in the school system, and when applying for higher level opportunities. Just because Kennedy ordered the EEO, it doesn't mean that it's necessary used throughout the United States. Employers still put aside African American resumes when they see "ghetto" names, African Americans are still some of the lowest graduation rates, and furthermore, stereotypes and racism are still prevalent in our society. So I don't need affirmative action because...?

Affirmative action doesn't lower school standards, or amplify prejudice. It doesn't give unfair opportunities to minorities and it doesn't cause discrimination against white people. It doesn't give a "free pass" to black students who didn't work hard in high school. Affirmative Action is simply used to level the playing field. It's so that way all applicants have equal and fair opportunities to get into colleges they dream of. Because without it, you're literally stripping away countless opportunities for a young minority.

Now, why would you strip away someone's dream like that?

* * *

To Michael Brown, all I have to say is that I hope he is successful in whatever endeavors you choose to bestow upon us in the near future. He absolutely deserved it.

To past Lanette, I'm glad she finally understood that her blackness in society is nothing to be ashamed of because of what ignorant people say.

To all the minorities out there, continue to work hard and prove them wrong.