I did not know that Richard Rodriguez held such polarizing opinions until I read this autobiography. I disagreed with many of the premises for the arguments he presents. Surprisingly, many of his anecdotes resonated with me so I find myself struggling to reconcile these experiences and viewpoints with his arguments. In short, I told my friends, "Richard Rodriguez seems to have believed all the things white people said about him and Latinos generally."
Particularly, the chapter on Affirmative Action (AA) asserts that AA policies actually harm underrepresented minorities (URMs). Rodriguez claims that AA places URMs in difficult conditions under which they might not flourish. I'm particularly sensitive to this argument as I went to Rice which I perceived as much more academically rigorous than the public universities in my state. I do not know if my perception is true. Anyway, my high school classmate once remarked that I only "got into Rice because [I'm] brown." I then went on to earn a B average while I saw my previous classmates post their honor roll statuses on Facebook. I cannot go back in time and choose University of Texas or Texas A&M instead, yet I can imagine that I might have earned higher grades at universities considered less 'elite.' Regardless, I thrived at Rice in friendships, community, and extracurriculars. I worked various on campus jobs for three out of my four years, I was the editor-in-chief of the campus yearbook for two years, conducted independent research for three years, and completed the requirements for a BA in English Literature alongside my Biochemistry BS. Maybe Rodriguez is right, I was admitted to increase Rice's hispanic/Latinx population, not on my good grades and high involvement in high-school, and maybe Rodriguez is right that I would have performed better at a less elite institution. Yet, here I am, a doctoral student at another elite US institution. Recently, I was listening to a podcast about the Fisher v Texas supreme court case. The podcasters made the excellent point: I chose to go to Rice even though I was admitted to A&M. Few students are forced to choose specific institutions yet anti-affirmative action arguments such as the one Rodriguez promulgates essentially assume no agency for Black, AAPI, indigenous, and other URM students. So yes, I wasn't a straight A student at Rice but there's no guarantee I would have been a straight A student at any other university anyway.
My second year high school teacher assigned this reading over the summer preceding her course. I appreciated her dedication to presenting us with a variety of literature. We read The Joy Luck Club, Shakespeare, and The Autobiography of Malcom X among other texts. I remember her and her class fondly.
Yes, if only because I found Rodriguez's experiences as a Latino who lived through the second vatican council, civil rights, and into the 21st century at the very least provacative. I do think (as shown above) he gets the AA argument wrong. Yet, his other experinces had some resonance with me that I appreciated.