Black board member hands out white only scholarship
theGRIO REPORT - More minorities enroll into college now than 30 years ago, and many receive financial support thanks to the wide array scholarships specified...
According to the U.S. Department of Education, more minorities enroll into college now than 30 years ago, and many receive financial support thanks to the wide array scholarships specified only for students of color. But when scholarships surface that are only meant for white students, many eyebrows are raised. In addition, when a Caucasian specific scholarships is handed out by an African-American board members, it truly causes a stir.
“Just because you don’t benefit directly doesn’t mean it isn’t beneficial,” explains Marcus Carter, 27, the black board member who presented a $500 Former Majority Association for Equality Grant to Brendan Baird. The FMAE is a group that only grants scholarships to white males.
WATCH WFAA-TV’S INTERVIEW WITH MARCUS CARTER HERE
Carter joined the FMAE after serving two tours of duty in Iraq and realized that awarding any scholarship to any student helps the greater good of everyone. I’ll can’t really say I understand where they’re coming from, being only 27 years old, I don’t feel racially oppressed,” Carter said.
FMAE founder, Colby Bohannan, co-created the organization’s white-only scholarship based on his audit of current available scholarships and the lack of private funding for white students. “It just got really frustrating when every other scholarship you happen to find online you need not apply to based on your ethnicity or gender,” said Bohannan.
The organization, which has collected over $18,000 in scholarship donations, hands out five national grants a year to white college bound students. The FMAE joins the University of South Carolina and the University of Southern Mississippi as the only other nationally organizations that grant scholarships for whites.
“If somebody else wants to go give it to the Martians of Outer Space, that’s okay,” Baird explained. “I don’t have any qualms with that. If these guys have decided they want to do it here and see that as an important cause, I’m more than willing to say ‘Yeah, I’ll take it’ because they speak the biggest color, which is green.”
