Araraukar wrote:New Limacon wrote:There were the literacy tests for voting in the American South to keep out blacks
Then those damn blacks need to learn to read. What were they going to do on the ballot anyway? Draw a picture of the guy they wanted to vote for?
This was an instance of the test being intentionally biased. Especially in areas where almost no one has formal education, it's easy to ask the white guy to write his name, and then ask the black one to write out the preamble to the Constitution.
New Limacon wrote:Harvard's admission process to keep out Jews
Really? How?
This is based on a single article I read, so it may not be entirely accurate, but the story is
here, for your perusal.
Basically, Harvard has a "personality" section. From the story:
The admissions office at Harvard became much more interested in the details of an applicant’s personal life. Lowell told his admissions officers to elicit information about the “character” of candidates from “persons who know the applicants well,” and so the letter of reference became mandatory. Harvard started asking applicants to provide a photograph. Candidates had to write personal essays, demonstrating their aptitude for leadership, and list their extracurricular activities. “Starting in the fall of 1922,” Karabel writes, “applicants were required to answer questions on ‘Race and Color,’ ‘Religious Preference,’ ‘Maiden Name of Mother,’ ‘Birthplace of Father,’ and ‘What change, if any, has been made since birth in your own name or that of your father? (Explain fully).’ ”
These intangibles make it easier to deny candidates based on race or religion without explicitly saying that.
New Limacon wrote:Even the SATs, while not intentionally racist, were criticized several years ago for questions like the "oarsman-regatta" analogy. (The complaint being the type of people who would be in a rowing club would not be the type of people living in Harlem.)
I doubt most of the white answerers from, say, Iowa farmer homes would belong to a rowing club either...
No, and I would be unwilling to predict how a person answered the question only knowing their race. But
as a whole, more whites are likely to be rowing than blacks are
as a whole. In civil rights, we have to look at how entire communities of people are being affected, not just individuals.