[525] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: in defense of affirmative action
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Edmund W Golaski)
Thu May 3 19:24:01 2001
Message-Id: <200105032322.TAA03856@mint-square.mit.edu>
To: Aaron Solochek <leko@MIT.EDU>
cc: mit-talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 03 May 2001 13:45:45 EDT."
<Pine.GSO.4.30L.0105031339160.24246-100000@biohazard-cafe.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 19:22:54 -0400
From: Edmund W Golaski <mrbonk@MIT.EDU>
> If a poor Italian saves up some money, gets a decent suit and goes
>to get a job, it would be pretty hard to tell he's an Italian as
>opposed to some random other white person (assuming he has no accent,
>which after the first generation could very well be the case.)
Last names typically give some indication of ethnicity. Lots of people
used to change their last names to make them sound less "ethnic",
because it could mean getting or not getting a job.
I grew up expecting my last name to cause me some trouble, because for
my father it did. As it turns out, I don't think it has, but then
things are better now than they were when my father was growing up. If
I have anything to say about it, they'll be even better when my kids
are growing up.
-Edmvnd
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Edmund W. Golaski S.B.'99 - S.M.'01 mrbonk@mit.edu
MIT Rapid Autonomous Machining Lab http://web.mit.edu/mrbonk/www/
-- That which does not kill me only makes me drink more coffee --
-------------------------------------------------------------------
