“every noose of a rejection letter”

Until today, I had never heard a a rejection letter described as a noose, but I guess there’s a first for everything.

A young woman is irate that her grades and test scores didn’t qualify her for admission to the University of Michigan, and she blames racism. Moreover, she claims that she has been rejected for her “morals”:

“I believe that I have been rejected because of the morals that I stand for! I am Harriet (Tubman)! I will take back my freedom as a tool to help the others. I have left the plantation. …

“I am Ida B. (Wells)! I will make it my civic duty to document every noose of a rejection letter that the university produces to our black, brown and red bodies!”

Oh, boy.

The latter was Mitch Albom’s editorial comment, not mine. What caught my attention is that Albom is refusing to play her silly game, and behave in the usual unquestioning manner. Instead, he asked her some good questions — to which she had no answers:

When I asked Brooke why it’s wrong for U-M to set a similar bar (she was denied admission with below the U-M averages of a 3.6 GPA and a 23 on the ACT) she said U-M needed to “represent the state. Blacks are about 14% of the population, so it should be 14% roughly.”

I pointed out that whites were 79% of Michigan’s population, but officially 57% of U-M’s, so should we adjust that up? “That’s ludicrous,” she said, claiming it should only apply to minorities. I then noted U-M was 11% Asian American, but our state was only 2%. Should we adjust down?

“I don’t understand what you’re asking,” she said.

She does understand one thing, however. She didn’t get into UM, and she thinks she can bully her way in.

In the process, she is belittling the victims of slavery and lynching.