Poor African Americans and poor Hispanic Americans are eligible for the same benefits as poor white Americans. The primary difference is that African Americans and Hispanic Americans, no matter their income status, are targeted for affirmative action while poor white Americans are not. The academic success of Asian Americans, who outperform non-Hispanic whites at every level, including college admissions, demonstrates that people of color have equal access to education. In fact, African Americans and Hispanic Americans are much more likely to gain admission to elite univeristies than non-Hispanic whites with comparable academic records.

Some Native Americans receive federal aid not available to other races or ethnic groups because of treaties signed between sovereign tribes and the U.S. government. The unintended impact of these treaties is to bind American Indians to reservations. The practice of permitting Native Americans to operate gambling casinos in areas where gambling is otherwise illegal has made reservations adjacent to large population centers relatively prosporous, but most reservations lack job opportunities and are breeding grounds for poverty and alcoholism. Ending the reservation system would force Native Americans into the mainstream of America’s economy but would destroy the tribal culture. They would become like Irish and Scottish Americans who abandoned their clans or Hispanic Americans who share European as well as Native American cultural heritage.