A dream should not be deferred

Last week we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic 1963 speech, “I Have a Dream.”

There are few better examples of Dr. King’s “dream” than the quest for higher education in minority communities. Higher education is now more important than ever, with 87 percent of Americans agreeing that a college degree is critical to job prospects.

In 1955, just eight years prior to Dr. King’s speech and a year after Brown v. Board of Education, John Lewis Brandon, LeRoy Benjamin Frasier Jr. and Ralph Kennedy Frasier enrolled at UNC as the first black undergraduate students. The latter two ended up transferring to N.C. Central University.

Fast forward to today and the share of UNC students identifying themselves as a race other than Caucasian is 33.1 percent. The percentage of African-American students has risen to 10 percent this year as well. Part of what makes UNC great is the different people we come in contact with through diverse organizations, events and friendships.

UNC prides itself on being a diverse campus, and the increase of these populations will continue to support this ideal. However, just because these numbers are on the rise doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.

Just a few months ago, the Supreme Court case, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, brought up the question of whether public universities violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause if race is a factor in an admissions process. Instead of making a decision, the justices sent the case back to the lower courts for review.

The University’s current admissions policy does allow for race to be considered when looking to achieve diversity, but racial quotas cannot be established as per the 2003 Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger.

Seventy-five percent of the North Carolina residents who live at or below the poverty line are of either black or Latino descent. Many students who come from these backgrounds do not have the opportunities available to them that many of their counterparts do.

They have a dream too, and it deserves to be achieved just as much as anyone else’s dream.

At my former high school, located in an underrepresented community, many of my peers were intimidated by applying to UNC. Why?

Many of these students think that they are not capable enough to attend this University. They need to know that their dream is not deferred.

To align with Dr. King’s vision, public education should be held accountable for meeting the needs of all citizens, not just some.

As we reminisce on the past and look ahead toward the future, it is important to remember that no matter who or what we are, we have an equal chance to make our dreams a reality.