Romney video brings up issues of race privilege, affirmative action

In this video framegrab from a May 17 video provided by Mother Jones Video, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser at a Florida fundraiser.

While controversy surrounding the recently leaked video of Mitt Romney’s remarks at a private fundraiser has been focusing on his comment about the 47% of Americans who will vote for President Obama no matter what, the rest of the presidential candidate’s speech raises questions regarding a number of other issues, including race privilege.

In the video, released by the magazine Mother Jones earlier this week, Romney brings up his father, a former governor of Michigan, who was born in Mexico.

“Had he been born of Mexican parents I’d have a better shot at winning this, but he was unfortunately born of Americans living in Mexico,” Romney said. “I mean I say that jokingly, but it’d be helpful if they’d been Latino.”

During the campaign season, both Democrats and Republicans have made appeals to Latino voters. For some voters, Romney’s comments in the leaked video have only strengthened their lack of conviction about the Republicans’ appeals.

“The Romney/Ryan campaign consider themselves victims of a nonsensical Hispanic conspiracy against Republicans, but in reality the political positions of the party are completely against the needs of Latinos in the U.S. today,” said Oberlin College junior Isabel Cohen, 20. “The Republican Party could easily gain Hispanic votes if they didn’t actively fight against the rights and well-being of Hispanic Americans by proposing bills like Arizona SB 1070 or if they stopped vehemently fighting against bills meant to help Hispanic youths such as the DREAM Act.”

In May, the Census Bureau reported that more than half of all babies born in 2011 were members of Hispanic, black, Asian and other minority groups, according to USA TODAY. As minority populations increase, so does the importance of their votes, which is why for some, Romney’s remarks hold a certain truth.

“Going off of people’s mindsets about minorities, he probably would get more support if his parents were Mexican. That’s how everyone thinks,” said Boston University junior Crystal Shah, 20. “What he said isn’t incorrect. It might be insensitive, but it’s true.”

In the leaked video, Romney’s audience responds with laughter and a suggestion from one supporter for him to “pull an Elizabeth Warren,” referring to the Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts who has been criticized for claiming Cherokee ancestry and taking advantage of affirmative action hiring policies.

For student voters, the issue of affirmative action is especially relevant in relation to school admissions. Shah, for example, recalled her sister’s rejection from a high school on the basis of the race that she indicated on the application.

“My mother called the school to complain because my sister had very high grades and she was told that the Asian quota was already filled and they couldn’t accept any more students outside of the quota limits,” she said.

On Oct. 10, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a case that questions the constitutionality of affirmative action in college admissions. Some students maintain that race should continue to play a factor.

“There should definitely always be an ethnically diverse student body at any school,” Cohen said. “If extra steps have to be taken to make sure that’s a possibility, so be it.”

Others regard affirmative action as a negative system that puts more emphasis on race than ability.

“People should actually have a connection with and be familiar with the cultures of the ethnicities they identify with. Everyone can say they’re a part of something, but if they’re not connected to it, what’s the point?” said Shah, arguing that the existence of affirmative action allows for the possibility of applicants choosing to identify with certain ethnicities simply in the hopes of increasing their chances of admission.

“You should be accepted into universities because of your intellectual ability and what you can give to the community,” said Carnegie Mellon University junior Alex Zwiren, 20. “You should work to get to where you want. You shouldn’t be gifted something just because you are something.”

Olga Khvan is a Fall 2012 USA TODAY Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.