I'm a living argument for affirmative action

USA Today (Op-ed)

By Joseph Gallardo

June 3, 2016

I'm a living argument for affirmative action 

As a beneficiary of the exact affirmative action policy awaiting its fate this month at the Supreme Court, I feel compelled to share my story. There are many criticisms of affirmative action, and I believe most of them are flawed. One argument is that affirmative action is counter-productive for minorities — that we are better off at “slower-track” schools. But my life is evidence to the contrary.

I struggled mightily in school, in part because of my family’s frequent moves in search of safer neighborhoods. I had gone to three high schools and was anticipating a move to a fourth when, a few weeks into my sophomore year, I decided to drop out.

Although I returned to high school the following semester, it took me six years to graduate on the “minimum plan” — the Texas diploma with the fewest requirements — and even so I ranked 428 in my graduating class of 429.

My high school performance was nothing to be proud of, but I would be lying if I said I felt that way at the time. Most of my relatives never received a high school diploma and no one had ever gone to college. Thus in my eyes I had “made it.” However, reality hit me hard after graduation, and I found myself washing dishes for nearly a year.

I decided to quit my job and enroll at Palo Alto College, a junior college in San Antonio. Having learned little in terms of formal education, I expected the work to be extremely challenging. I entered college with no knowledge of the history of our great country, no understanding of math beyond basic addition and subtraction, and no idea how to differentiate between “to,” “too” and “two.” But as much as I struggled to grasp what seemed like an endless avalanche of new information, I was able to graduate and transfer to the University of Texas at Austin (UT).

I admit to feeling alone and intimidated when I first arrived at UT. I truly believed that everyone was a genius, and I just wanted to fit in. I rode the bus to classes each day from San Antonio in my first semester and one evening I cried to my sister. “I’m way out of my league here; I’m just not UT material,” I told her. Proponents of the mismatch theory would have been able to make their case using me when I first arrived on campus.

But then something happened. With the help of tutors, mentors and caring professors, I began to excel at the university. In a matter of months, I belonged at UT—and I knew it.

My journey to becoming the first person in my family to earn a degree culminated in 2014 at the university-wide graduation ceremony, where I was honored as one of three Most Outstanding Graduates. I then spent my final semester as an Archer Fellow in Washington, D.C., where I interned at the Supreme Court of the United States. I’ve done legal support work since graduation, and this fall I will attend Harvard Law School.

While my life has been permanently altered, it’s the indirect, long-term impact of affirmative action that makes it so important. You see, affirmative action allows us to set precedents for our families that will ripple down generations to come and extend way beyond our lifetime.

My sister, Gabrielle, enrolled in college right after high school but dropped all five of her classes. “School just isn’t for me,” she said. She served in the military and now, saying I’ve inspired her, she will complete her final year in UT’s nursing program in May 2017. She has maintained a 3.95 grade point average and plans to attend medical school after graduation. My 7-year-old sister, Nadia, says she wants to go Harvard or Stanford one day.

Would that not be the ideal outcome of affirmative action? We break barriers and reverse course on years of law-sanctioned inequality until affirmative action is no longer needed.

I write this knowing not everyone will agree, and I get it. You’ve never met me, my sisters or the many others like us. I hope I have helped you understand a little about our struggles and why we believe the things we believe.

In a speech I gave at the UT graduation, I joked about being admitted to the university by mistake. “I really don’t know how I snuck into this amazing place,” I said. “But I wish I could find the person who took a chance on me and give them the biggest hug, because the University of Texas has truly changed my life.”

Truth is, I know exactly how I “snuck into that amazing place.” Thank you, affirmative action.

Joseph Gallardo, legal assistant to the chief counsel at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, will enter Harvard Law School this fall as a member of the Class of 2019.

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