By Emil Amok Guillermo
I feel for Nan Zhong, a Chinese American suing the University of California because it rejected his son, Stanley, a child prodigy hired by Google at age 18.
Zhong believes America is the land of meritocracy, where affirmative action and DEI are dead.
Well, it depends on who the boss is.
Zhong has accused the UC system and the U.S. Department of Education of discrimination against Asian American applicants, the third of its kind in recent weeks, according to AsAm News.
Earlier this month, the Students Against Racial Discrimination sued the UC system for its holistic admissions approach. Another group, The Equal Protection Project sued four Pennsylvania state universities for discrimination against Asians.
If you thought the Harvard case, which used Asian Americans to end affirmative action last year, settled things, you’re wrong.
Some Asian Americans apparently will keep suing until their kid gets in.
No lawyer would take Zhong’s case, so he used AI to file his suit. He may not even have “standing” as the harm was to his son and not to him personally. But Zhong disagrees and presses on because, as he puts it, he’s “really pissed off.”
Zhong’s anger helps expose the existence of legal discrimination, how it is allowed to happen, and the fact that nothing can be done about it.
Not when it’s dictated from the top.
TRUMP’S PERSONAL “DEI” LANDSCAPE
For example, I don’t know any Asian Americans or Native Hawaiians cheering Tulsi Gabbard’s rise to Director of National Intelligence.
Maybe Kash Patel—the guy who wants to run the FBI.
Like Gabbard, Patel, and let’s include RFK Jr.—the wormhead, former dope addict, and anti-vax mercenary who has now been sworn in as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services– are all allied.
They are three peas in a pod, three objectively unqualified people who have risen to the top, not because of merit, but because of allegiance to one man, Donald Trump.
The records of Gabbard, Patel and RFK Jr have all been exposed and are not stellar.
Gabbard has never worked for an intelligence agency and is considered a liability by some conservative legislators for her dealings with Russian and Syrian leaders. With Gabbard at the helm of intelligence, would you share secrets with the U.S.?
Patel has ties to key Jan. 6 figures. He’s been an original election denier that Trump lost in 2020. But if you think those are partisan issues, what about the idea of managing an agency like the FBI. He doesn’t have a resume to match any previous FBI directors.
And then there’s RFK Jr. Let’s just say the worm in his brain qualifies him for a disability, mental and physical. If you put aside the controversial issues like vaccinating his kids but publicly being anti-vax in situations where people have died, then just go with his management experience.
Has he ever led anything that qualifies him to run an organization with 13 supporting agencies, 80,000 employees, and a budget of around $1.7 trillion in mandatory funding and $130.7 billion in discretionary funding?
No.
Is he the guy you choose on merit?
The answer to RFK Jr again is a resounding No.
As it should be for Gabbard and Patel. But it isn’t.
Ironically, they wouldn’t be hired in a traditional DEI world either because more qualified people of color exist to fill those positions.
But in this era, they are hires in Trump’s made-to-order “DEI.”
Trump’s pets.
They get in when congressional decision-makers fold, fearing they will lose their jobs to candidates funded by Elon Musk, the richest man in the world.
And this is the model of meritocracy at the federal level that trickles down to higher ed and everywhere else in American society?
It says what the boss wants goes. You have to get the top person’s approval, and give him/her your undivided loyalty. And then you’re owned.
It’s antithetical to diversity, equity and inclusion, AND merit.
It works well for Trump but nobody else.
Look at Pete Hegseth, the former Fox weekend anchor and current Secretary of Defense who is negotiating away Ukraine’s rights as he seeks Trump-Putin’s vision of an end to war. Trump has a younger, more telegenic man standing in for him. Ukraine and the world are a lot worse off.
For Hegseth, it sure beats weekend mornings at Fox.
And that’s where we are in these Trump times.
It’s sobering.
But so is the fact that the Harvard case that went all the way to the Supreme Court really didn’t settle the idea of meritocracy in higher ed or in society.
Zhong knows now the Asian “winners” weren’t winners after all.
They were used, of course, by the anti-affirmative action folks. Duped. Betrayed.
My views on affirmative action may differ, still, I join them in bristling at the headlines about Gabbard and RFK Jr.
Meritocracy in America? Trump makes it a laugher.
Zhong’s lawsuit is a bit of a longshot. But at least his son, Stanley, the prodigy without a degree, has a great job at Google, something most people with a UC degree would kill for.
Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, commentator, and humorist. He has written on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, Patreon, and substack.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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