I'm not suggesting that people at UNC are engaging in racism. If anything, their hands are tied by Supreme Court precedent that makes it very difficult for a state school to consider race in the admissions process (Duke, as a private school, does not have to worry about the affirmative action decisions). But, IMO, you can't subjugate an entire population of people for 250+ years in southern states like North Carolina and then express dismay when there is a residual longterm effect -- and then go, oops sorry about that, now go out and excel on par with those who subjugated you for 250 years while growing up in often broken families, attending crummy schools, surrounded by bad examples, with family members in jail -- often b/c of an inequitable approach to enforcing drug laws, with extremely limited resources, etc. And if you express any frustration about how nobody seems to be doing anything to address the fact that you have both hands tied behind your back -- well you're a bunch of whiney brats. I know we probably just disagree on this subject. But, reality is that just sweeping it under the rug is not going to make the problem go away. A lot of this stuff has been simmering under the surface for awhile, and is not just starting to spill over in the aftermath of some ugly situations.
I am not african american and can't pretend to know everything that they're feeling. But, personally, I think I can appreciate why an 18 year old african american kid at UNC could feel frustrated and alienated.
