My oldest son had a friend in elementary school who was clearly African-American. His mom had blonde hair and blue eyes. Another mom told me that he must be adopted. I didn’t really care if he was from the moon, the boy was nice to my Aspie-lite son and that was all that concerned me. One day, we made plans to meet at a fast food restaurant for lunch and a play date. The boy’s father showed up. He is African-American and the boy was NOT adopted. We had a nice chat about the best temple in town because they were planning to enroll their son in Hebrew school.
As for affirmative action, I know for a fact that I didn’t get into a top law school because of the quota system. I attended a CUNY undergraduate and my pre-law advisor promised he could get me into the school based on my GPA and LSAT. After the app went in, my advisor told me that a URM girl was applying as well and that she was getting the slot, even though my stats were better. Perhaps if I had been a full pay, but I was at a CUNY school because I was putting myself through school. I was devastated, horribly upset. I wound up at a brand new school, where I was offered a free ride due to my stats. I met my H there and no longer regret the lost opportunity because I have my children.