Texas Non-Profit Offers Scholarships To White Men Only

A Texas non-profit, Former Majority Association for Equality, has begun to offer $500 scholarships to a group they contend is discriminated against when it comes to funding for higher education: White men. Thus far, the group hasn’t received any applications. The Austin American-Statesman reports:

(Colby) Bohannan, a mass communication major and Iraq war veteran, and others formed the Former Majority Association for Equality — a San Marcos-based nonprofit group that is offering five $500 scholarships exclusively to white male students.

Bohannan, the group’s president, said the name comes from the idea that “if you’re not a male, and if you’re not white, you’re called a minority.” However, he said, “I’m not sure white males are the majority anymore…”

Applicants need to be at least 25 percent Caucasian, have a GPA exceeding 3.0 and demonstrate financial need.

This isn’t the first time such a scholarship has been offered, there have been a couple already, and these guys aren’t actively taking any stance on affirmative action. Instead, they’re doing it by omission by saying “It’s time to give everyone an equal shot.” The problem with this whole story and the reporting around it is ignores an essential fact: The reason affirmative action and race/gender-based scholarship exist is because white men have historically kept resources, such as education, from everyone else.

To say that white men have the cards stacked against them is in the very least disingenuous and at the very worst wholly ignorant.

In the group’s defense they told The Statesman they have “three women, one Hispanic and one African-American” on their board, you can see a photo of them here. It also seems from the web site that Bohannan’s brother (or someone related to him) is on the board, and from the looks of it, the one Latino looks incredibly uncomfortable. The group also claims that they’ve raised $485 and hope to award scholarship by July 4.

Whatever.

If these guys want to do this, that’s fine, if he’s an Iraq war veteran like he says, I don’t know why he’s not benefiting from the G.I. bill — that’s another missing piece of this story. Why is he in such dire financial need if he’s a veteran? I know other veterans who are receiving great educations after their service.

The missing pieces of this puzzle, whatever they may be, would probably paint a much clearer picture of what everyone’s intentions are, but in the big scheme of things, I’m not sure how much this really matters in a state that’s moving toward a Latino majority.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD