Yet, a majority of white families and their children rarely consider these elite institutions to pursue their college educations. In some cases, they outright disdain these colleges and label them ‘elitist.’ Still they oppose affirmative action policies such as race-conscious admissions more than the rest of the nation. They are holding on to a societal legacy of racial exclusion that allowed generations of white Americans to find their way to financial security.

There lies an uncomfortable truth for whites to consider when it comes to affirmative action: They are opposing policies that take into account how historical and persistent inequalities impact other people’s children. Supporting colorblind views of history allows them to blame “biased policies” for their own hardships, instead of recognizing how racial exclusion has shaped the winners and losers of today’s society. In reality, it is policies like affirmative action that prevent them from enjoying the full racial privileges of the past.