The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines racism as "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." I completely agree with that definition, and it is for this reason that I cannot bring myself to accept affirmative action as fair or just.

For those of you that haven't been paying attention to the news in recent years, affirmative action means taking steps to increase diversity within universities and places of business. In order to achieve this diversity, admissions offices and employers are expected to give preference to minority students and job applicants.

These expectations go beyond equal employment to become a new form of discrimination. This new "anti-discrimination discrimination" violates the very civil rights it is allegedly meant to protect. In Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech, he said, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Does affirmative action not defy this dream of racial equality?

When a university expects less of a student because they are a minority and chooses to accept them over a Caucasian student with a higher ACT score and GPA, the university is embracing the belief "that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." Affirmative action essentially tells a minority student that "it's ok to get lower grades because you aren't white." This does nothing but encourage the idea that white people are smarter and more capable than minorities, which is absolutely not true.

Steps should instead be taken to ensure a student's right to be accepted on their merits. Minority students should not ever be patronized. Guarantee all students that if they work hard to make something of themselves they will be granted the same rights and opportunities as every other student, no more, no less.

Robby Appleton is an undeclared freshman from Jackson.