Affirmative Action Is Not Based On Reason Or Actual Experience

Instead, the opposite appears to have happened. When the emphasis is placed on aiding people with certain skin colors or ethnic backgrounds, affirmative action sets the races further apart than before. Could this be just another form of segregation? The attempts at boosting minorities to the level of the others have grotesquely failed. To raise minorities the government has pushed down the majority group, fueling racial conflicts. In addition, lowering the bar for minorities for admission into jobs or schools has created a harmful atmosphere for them. Because some of them could not originally qualify on merit and skills, many face failure or extra hardship when they get ushered into their job or school. As Charles T. Canady said in his speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D. C., "Preferences do nothing to help develop the skills necessary for the economic and social advancement of the disadvantaged" (43). Meanwhile the majorities receive punishment because of their lack of a specific skin tone or origin. "Entitlements by race, sex, ethnicity and sexual orientation-categories that in no way reflect merit-" Shelby Steele described, "are at the root of the great social evils in American life" (175). It is unfair to reward or turn away applicants because of something that is only theirs by ascribed means. When prospective college students or job applicants are considered, the competition should be solely based

Affirmative action is a policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination of minorities through active measures in order to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment. In other words, it is policy that was established to hopefully eliminate racial preference and equalize the United States. The fight against discrimination has been a long lasting one that started with the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, which ended in the desegregation of all schools (Ficker). Affirmative action was put into place in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Executive Order that mandated government contractors to “take affirmative action” in all aspects of hiring and employing minorities (Brunner). Upon its arrival, the policy

Affirmative action was created to assist minority groups against discrimination, but affirmative action does more harm than what it can do to help. Affirmative action was created with the intention of leveling the playing field so that everyone can have an equal opportunity to be hired or accepted in to a school, but it does the opposite of what it is meant to do. Affirmative action is reverse discrimination against white males, lesser qualified people are admitted into jobs and colleges, and not all people have an equal opportunity to advance.

The revered civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” In other words, don’t discriminate people because of their race. This should hold true in all aspects of life. Every American deserves an equal opportunity to succeed, which is why affirmative action is inherently racist. Affirmative action refers to various government policies that aim to increase the proportion of minorities and women in jobs and educational institutions historically dominated by white men. The policies usually require employers and institutions to set goals for hiring or admitting minorities. It is responsible for colleges discriminating against Eastern Asians and whites and for employers hiring workers based off of skin color rather than skills or experience. People can’t change their race (except for former president of the Spokane N.A.A.C.P. chapter, Rachel Dolezal, apparently), yet many colleges and employers favor certain races over others by using quotas, or a fixed number of people of each race.

Affirmative Action is one of the many social issues facing America today. Affirmative action was signed into place in 1961 by President Kennedy and allows minority groups or people who face discrimination to become employed or get an education that is equal to that of a white male. Groups that Affirmative Action aims to help are women, blacks, Latinos, and people with disabilities. While these policies were signed to slowly rid the workforce and schools from discrimination, it hurts people who do not face discrimination, specifically whites. Many white men and women lose special opportunities to work or go to college because of certain standards that the Affirmative Action laws require. Universities and the military require a certain number of minorities in order to meet the standards and have a more diverse atmosphere. An example of this is the California V. Bakke supreme court case of 1978.

According to Newman, affirmative action is a “program designed to seek out members of minority groups for positions from which they had previously been excluded, thereby seeking to overcome some institutional racism” (Newman, 536). Affirmative action made its debut with a piece of legislature passed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and continues to this day. However, the concept of affirmative action is a controversial issue that continues to be hotly debated.

Affirmative action was an outcome of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. In the past, affirmative action has been used to improve opportunities with education and employment for excluded minority groups in American society President Kennedy was the first to use this term “in an Executive order that directed government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin” (Affirmative Action, 2014).

The questionable existence of affirmative action continues to create a pervasive tug of war between proponents and opponents of affirmative action. The cornerstone of affirmative action policies initiated from the U.S. Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unequal—ultimately forever changing the system of education in America. This groundbreaking decision served as a gateway, with the goal of “leveling the playing field” and remedying the grotesque American past rooted in harsh racial discrimination against non-white individuals, primarily of African American descent. As a result of swift implementation of affirmative action policies, cultural and racial diversity quickly diversified

Affirmative Action is an outcome of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. Its purpose is to provide equal opportunities for members of minority groups and women in education and employment. It is not until 1961 did the term “affirmative action” was first used by President John F. Kennedy. He made it very clear in an Executive Order that directed government have to take “affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.” Since a lot of cooperation still tends to hire white male, by enforcing affirmative action, the number of minority groups and women in the labor force will increase.Affirmative Action helps to eliminate the imbalance in the society and reform the American system. The US Department of Labor describes affirmative action as the banning of discrimination.

Affirmative Action was one of the major solution of the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, intended to provide all equal situations and opportunities to the people of minorities groups in education and employment. According to President Kennedy, he decided to use the term "Affirmative Action" in an Executive Order that directed the government contractors to hire all kinds of people and make sure that employees are treated fairly during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. It was created to help those races who have been historically suffering under segregation to get representation in society and to balance the income disparity. It has been the special tool box that the government uses to accelerate the progress

Those who support affirmative action say that this system erases racism, but instead it actually enables reverse racism. Reverse discrimination, which is discrimination against non-minority persons, has been a huge problem since the rise of affirmative action. There are many cases of white people being discriminated against because of their skin color. During the 1970s there is one court case that sticks out. It was about a boy of white skin color. He tried to apply to medical school and was denied twice. He went to the supreme court twice about how he was denied because of his skin color. (Regents)There is also another court case where a group of firefighters went to court because they were refused a raise because of they were white and not a minority.( "PSLweb) This system, now, raises more problems than solutions. Because of affirmative action there is a new racist target and that is white people. White people are being discriminated against because of the inequality they may have caused in the past. I believe that isn’t fair. With affirmative action they are just fighting racism with even more racism. Fighting fire with fire doesn’t solve anything. White people don’t have to be punished because of something their ancestors did a long time ago. We should learn to just let go of the past and learn from it.

A topic like Affirmative Action is one that I usually try to avoid during casual conversation because in can quickly turn a conversation hostile. One of the reasons that these conversations turn hostile is due to the fact that I am a white male, which, many would see as two facts that automatically make my opinion on the matter inadmissible. With that being said, just because I would rather not discuss it on a regular basis does not mean that I do not have an opinion on the matter. Also, just because my skin tone and gender would have landed me on the better side of the fence in the past, does not mean that I do not have educated and sympathetic opinions on the matter. Ultimately, I see Affirmative Action as a positive thing which is meant to help out groups of people who are struggling to accomplish what many would call the "American dream". However, I do have several quarrels with how Affirmative Action is carried out.

Affirmative Action has been around for a very long time, as time progress so have the people of this nation. The people we were in the 50’s and 60’s are significantly different from who we are today. I think that Affirmative Action is a good contribution and should be kept around. When I think about all the great things that minorities can do I don’t see were any harm is being done.

Affirmative action is perhaps the political hot potato of the decade. Its divisiveness has escalated racial tensions all across the nation, in forums political and academic. It also creates problems on a daily basis for millions of Americans in the workforce, education, housing, and so forth. Affirmative action, by its very definition, uses discrimination to attempt to create equality. Its ultimate goal is to make everyone equal to everyone else- intellectually, ability-wise, and (dare I say?) socially. What the proponents of this racial and gender communism do not realize is that society can only function in the absence of complete equality. Society is always in

Affirmative Action has been an issue of contention since its inception during the Civil Rights struggles of mid 20th century America. Discrimination could no longer be tolerated and the Unites States government had an obligation to encourage equality at all levels of the social infrastructure. The main type of discrimination being addressed by Affirmative Action programs was racial discrimination. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines racism as: ‘a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.’ The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination of any kind, laid the foundation for the introduction of Affirmative Action