Essay Affirmative Action is Racial Discrimination

In the controversial realms of affirmative action, the largest issue staunchly fought over is whether minorities should be given preferential treatment in the workplace and in the schools. One side declares that those in the minority group need and deserve governmental aid so that they will be on equal footing with the majority group. Opponents of affirmative action point out that setting apart groups based on their race or ethnicity is purely racism and can lead to reverse discrimination. I am against affirmative action for the aforementioned reasons, and would not consider such racism as necessary for creating a healthy society, as proponents would insist. It is my belief that affirmative action today is out of date and is

The topic of “Affirmative Action” policy, placed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965, introduced the program to reduce discriminatory acts towards “underrepresented and minority groups, which required and ensured any applicant are employed—without regards to race, creed, color, or national origin (663).” In Richard Rodriquez article “None of This Is Fair,” published in 2007, he tells his own account of discrimination as a student. Rodriguez attended Stanford, Columbia, and the University of Berkley during the “Affirmative Action” period. Being of Mexican-American heritage, Rodriguez writes in great detail about his struggles, emotionally and mentally, throughout his collegiate years. Rodriguez’ main argument is all individual rights,

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 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.

Affirmative Action. For many Texas high school students, these two words haunt them. Their future, or at least their future at the University of Texas, depends on these words. For Abigail Noel Fisher, a 2008 graduate from Sugar Land, Texas, affirmative action and its race bias policies allegedly ruined her chances of getting into this prestigious state university. Fisher argues that race should not be a factor in college admissions processes, Fisher argues for equality. Equality in respect to race is in our constitution; it surrounds us everyday. In theory, race should be irrelevant in this day and age. Humanity has established that one race is not superior to another, so why should race matter at all in the college admissions process? Why should the University of Texas, or any other university, have that “check your race” box on their applications? Abigail Fisher, and every other person applying to the university, deserves as much opportunity as every other student of any race. When it comes to college, intelligence and character should be key to admission- not the color of the applicant’s skin. The University of Texas’ current affirmative action policy is an unfair college admissions process that the Supreme Court should ban so that admissions are based on intellectual ability in high school, national testing scores, extracurricular activities, and community service; this should be changed so that every person,

Among the citizens of America affirmative action is a sensitive subject with some seeing it as a necessity to help those who have been repressed and others seeing it as reverse racism. Many Americans may also be conflicted about affirmative action, because it is such a complex issue. People fervently debate affirmative action, because it is a complex issue revolving around one’s own race, experiences, and desires.

There were a large “series of federal court decisions, culminating in the high court’s Franks v. Bowman Transportation decision in 1976, prohibited affirmative action in layoffs” (Dennis Deslippe). Dennis is a highly regarded associate professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexual studies at Franklin and Marshall College. He has devoted his whole life to studying equality within the United States and its effects. His writing prompt ideas that the United States government realized through a court case exhibits how ineffective the affirmative action really was and this proposes that affirmative action was not necessary for society, especially in a time of need for the American citizens. The United States government were not the only ones to push against this idea. There were Jewish American organizations that “took the lead in lobbying government officials to abandon policies,” and argued that “not only violated individual rights but might also revive quotas like the ones that kept racial and religious minorities out of the nation’s most prestigious institutions through the mid-twentieth century”(Dennis Deslippe). The court systems at the time were not the only ones to notice just how unjust the affirmative action plans were. Every day people came to rise up in a voice against these laws that went against the Bill of Rights. Which is examined when Allan

In the early 60s the concept of affirmative action was being tossed around. By the 1980s affirmative action was common place. Affirmative action was put in place to ensure that someone was not over looked for an opportunity on the bases of their gender,

Affirmative Action remains one of the more complicated and controversial topics dealt with in American society. Affirmative Action is an action or policy designed to protect specific groups who suffer from discrimination, and provide them with programs and special opportunities. These government or private programs were designed to set right historical injustices towards the members of these groups who have suffered things like employment and educational disadvantages from racial discrimination. The goal for these actions are to redress past wrong doings by fixing things like inequalities in employment and pay, as well as increasing opportunities for education. By achieving this, the outcome would restore equal access and opportunity in favor of the members of these groups. These groups generally consist of certain minorities that have suffered from social ills such as slavery and segregation.

When addressing legal issues of diversity in the modern day era, one main topic is brought to discussion, affirmative action. It was put into place by the federal government in the 1960’s and was initially developed to close the gap in relation to the privileged majority and the unprivileged minority in America (Aguirre Jr. & Martinez, 2003). While it has been controversial since its origin, it remains controversial as critics argue it tries to equalize the impact of so many

In 1971, the Department of Labor under Richard Nixon issued an order requiring all federal contractors to develop "an acceptable affirmative action program," including "an analysis of areas within which the contractor is deficient in the utilization of minority groups and women, and further, goals and timetables to which the contractor's good faith efforts must be directed to correct the deficiencies." (3) By now, affirmative action goals had become the full-fledged policy of U.S. government contracting.

     Martin and Tulgan (2002) claims, “ Affirmative action is the positive steps an employer takes to employ women and minorities in numbers equal to or greater than their availability and to proactively seek to employ those with disabilities and veterans” (p.89). Over the course of the years equal employment opportunity laws and regulations were put in place. The Equal Pay Act was established in 1963 to set pay based on the job category, and to prevent wage differential based on gender. In 1965 the Executive Order 11246 was passed to stop

When the Civil Rights Bill was being debated on the floor of the Senate, Barry Goldwater predicted that this particular bill might be abused. Herbert Humphrey, however, stated that he would eat every page of the bill if ever it were used to justify discrimination against anybody on account of race or sex. The bill eventually passed and became the Civil Rights Act. From college admissions to government contracts, the Civil Rights Act has been grossly abused by giving race and gender primary consideration in admissions and hiring, resulting in blatant reverse discrimination.

A major controversy encompassing the country is the issue of affirmative action. Many believe that the abolition, or at least restructure, of affirmative action in the United States will benefit the nation for many logical reasons. Originally, affirmative action began as an attempt to eliminate discrimination and provide a source of opportunity; affirmative action did not begin as an attempt to support just minorities and women. In addition, affirmative action naturally creates resentment when the less qualified are preferred instead of the people actually deserve the admission or job. Another reason that has existed since the abolition of slavery is the myth that women and ?minorities? cannot compete

The Government imposes a variety of socio-economic programs on its contractors as part of long-standing federal efforts to further affirmative action through federal contracting. Affirmative action regulations apply not only to minorities and women but to handicapped individuals, special disabled veterans, and veterans of the Vietnam era (FAR 52.22-35 and -36). For almost fifty years Former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s answer to “balance the opportunities” for minorities and women, affirmative action has attempted to eradicate America’s historical discrimination against minorities, women and individuals with disabilities. Affirmative action began as a plan to enable the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised (minorities, women and