Grew up in rural Asia on a small farm. Every morning I have to wake up before the sun goes up to fetch water to take care of the animals.
The animals we had to sell to get basic necessities such as salt, paper, clothing, gas and oil for light and cooking. We ate meat for at most 10 days a year. Always for a special occasion. The rest of the time was mainly potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. Usually diluted into soup.
Coming to America where even poor Americans can enjoy something like a McDonalds burger every single day was unimaginable.
Sadly there are still people right now in these rural impoverished areas growing up like I did. You don't realize it when you are poor and haven't experienced anything else.
One of the most amazing experiences was flying in a plane for the first time in my life.
-From my father who managed to obtain a PHD after fighting through hell created by Communism
I'm a Chinese American and I have experienced this type of behavior during the college admissions process, and during the hiring process with larger companies.
During the college applications process, I noticed I was receiving vastly different responses than my girlfriend (wife now) who was African American.
Perhaps you could chalk it up recommendations or personal projects. But my girlfriend and I were both A students that made the varsity swimming team. She was African American and had 5/7 full tuition responses including Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. While I only was accepted into Columbia, with partial financial assistance. We both wanted to attend Yale at the time and this put a dent in our future plans.
I have also experienced a similar scenario in the "pre-interviewing" resume selection phase, right out of college with no experience. My friend group noticed comparatively that those who were not White or Asian tended to get faster and more initial responses to schedule an interview. (I will note that this occurred exclusively when submitting for large Fortune 500 companies, and not for smaller business such as startups. Perhaps some selection bias) However after a while with some work experience on the resume, this doesn't manifest as much.
It is my belief that university admissions and diversity initiatives need to focus more on individuals than race. The goal should be equality of opportunity and evaluation rather than equality of outcome.
The animals we had to sell to get basic necessities such as salt, paper, clothing, gas and oil for light and cooking. We ate meat for at most 10 days a year. Always for a special occasion. The rest of the time was mainly potatoes, cabbage, and carrots. Usually diluted into soup.
Coming to America where even poor Americans can enjoy something like a McDonalds burger every single day was unimaginable.
Sadly there are still people right now in these rural impoverished areas growing up like I did. You don't realize it when you are poor and haven't experienced anything else.
One of the most amazing experiences was flying in a plane for the first time in my life.
-From my father who managed to obtain a PHD after fighting through hell created by Communism