Did you know that sometimes white people don't get into college because, well, it's our fault? It's the fault of people of color. Apparently that's what we're going with, it's been an ongoing theme for some time, and there's just different examples that pop up of this theme. [00:00:20] This theme of how minorities are preventing privileged people from achieving their dreams. When they don't get, it's got to be someone's fault, right? Viral social media posts purporting to show video footage of a college applicant [00:00:36] being rejected by his apparent top Ivy League choice claimed the decision was made based on race. The video, entitled Bro Got Rejected Because he's White, was making the rounds on social media nearly six months after the US Supreme Court reversed four decades of precedent, [00:00:55] banned colleges and universities from ever considering race or ethnicity in admissions in any way, for any reason. Footage features a person wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with Cornell University's name, and apparently sitting in front of a computer screen [00:01:11] before presumably opening an email to learn his admissions faded to the school. Whoever made this video wanted everybody to know just how supremely qualified this kid was for Cornell, which isn't even the most competitive Ivy League school when it comes to admissions. [00:01:28] While it's unclear when the video was filmed, the Supreme Court in June made itself very clear when it struck down affirmative action, and ruled that colleges and universities may never use race as a stereotype or negative. And at some point, they must end the 6- 3 opinion along with ideological lines, it did go along. [00:01:49] Also, dictated that nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. News one. Don't you love these kind of? [00:02:07] I know legal scholars who are parsing and trying to understand what the hell you're talking about here. This is from the Supreme Court. These are the highest justices in the land, right? Or I'm talking about somebody else. Despite the dissent's assertion to the contrary, [00:02:25] universities may not simply establish, through application, essays, or other means, the regime that we hold unlawful today. All of which means, of course, that Cornell could not have rejected the applicant in the video because he's white. [00:02:43] However, even if affirmative action was still in place, a student in the video and his alleged 1460 SAT score still fell short of Cornell's academic standards for applicants who typically have an SAT score between 1470 and 1550. [00:02:58] Okay, that's according to the college board. Beyond that, the college board also noted that Cornell is extremely selective and accepts just 7% of, on average, more than 71,000 applications annually. In other words, while student's grades were indeed elite, [00:03:15] they simply just weren't elite enough, perhaps for his top choice of universities, rejected because he's white. Now I know we may not know who posted the video or when it was posted, but I sure do may or know the intent here and the message here. [00:03:35] But I'll let you unpack it for our loyal viewers. >> Speaker 2: Listen, so we should also in the context of this video, it's perfect because especially if you spent time to look under the comments before it was deleted, you will see how white people feel in this country. [00:03:52] And there's been studies that show that white people believe, usually Republicans, white Republicans believe that white people are discriminated against more than anybody else, especially black people. This was a continuation of that feeling, this video trying to play on the people. Here's what's funny though. [00:04:08] They didn't even do enough research to realize what was the minimum standard for SAT scores to get into Cornell and just because your scores are enough, do not mean you're gonna get in. 71,000 people apply, 4000 people are accepted, [00:04:26] this idea that it's not enough just because you had so-called on paper enough. The laziness that goes into this is the same laziness we see in the arguments that defend white supremacy or try to make black people less than. I think here's what's also dastardly in this, and [00:04:45] people should definitely pay attention because it is as American as apple pie. There is an inherent belief that I am supposed to be somewhere because I'm white regardless of the credentials. And that's what the 1460 not been enough says to me in my soul. [00:05:04] It doesn't matter that I did, I had the sweater, why wouldn't you accept me? I had the sweater, and I applied, and I'm white, so I'm supposed to be there. The idea of rejection is something new for white men in America. The idea that America is something more than a country for [00:05:20] white men is at the root of all of this. Diversity is a problem for so many white people because white men feel threatened. The idea that a white man has a right or an obligation to respect rights of all of us is what's at root at America's white supremacy, and [00:05:36] why it's on the rise right now, and why white people feel threatened. This is how white men can go down to the border and scream at brown people who this country was stolen from and say you are illegal. It is grounded in something that is absolutely loony. [00:05:52] You, sir, came over here and stole this land from people that look just like the people trying to cross the border, and you have the audacity to call them illegal. It's all rooted in white fragility, period. >> Speaker 1: About our differing viewpoints. [00:06:09] You, sir, don't belong parking your boat here on this dock, sir. I just work here, I've asked you to move, sir. But if your view is that I started with the whole pie, right, God given, entitled whatever, then you don't wanna give up any of the pie. [00:06:29] Whereas the other point of view is I'm just asking for a chance to give some crumbs off this pie. I'll work for it, I'll help make it. That's right, I already did chef it up. I might have provided all the ingredients and all the labor for [00:06:46] the pie, and now I want a piece of what? Well, the fruit of my labor, if you will, okay? What's that pie that has all the different fruits in it, including rhubarb mayor, I love that razzle-dazzle something. You know what I'm talking about, it's got berries, strawberries, rhubarb. [00:07:03] Anyway, all this talk about pie, Mayor, I apologize and you're gonna have to bring us back to some intelligent conversation. But I do love that pie. >> Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think it's important to talk about that America itself is all of those ingredients that you're talking about in that pie, right? [00:07:21] They're brown fruit, black fruit, and many other fruits. And unfortunately, for white men who have for the past 300 plus years had to share with no one, regardless of who produced it. They're really feeling a pinch right now, and I don't know why. Because if you still look at what's going on in this world, [00:07:38] white men are still doing better in this country than anybody. They're least likely to be sentenced for crimes they commit, and when they are sentenced, they get less time than anybody. They are overpaid more than anybody in this white women, black women, black men, and Latin X folk as well. So I don't understand what they're complaining about, but [00:07:55] for the idea that other people shouldn't have as much as they do. >> Speaker 1: You don't wanna share anything, and when you don't get one thing, we're used to being disappointed and being resourceful, picking ourselves up. [00:08:11] That's why don't talk to me about how people of color don't know how to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. That's all we've been doin, that's all we take pride in doing, okay? If you wanna block here and block there, I want some pie just like you. [00:08:28] So I don't know if this is a real student or fake, but you're right. Look under the hood, you couldn't even bother to do your homework, and know what the threshold SAT score is. Okay, you were outside of that. Then maybe you don't belong in Cornell, apparently you don't, [00:08:48] and I'm okay with that. Go elsewhere, be resourceful, pull yourself up by your bootstraps.