The Impact Of Affirmative Action In South Africa

In both countries, the schism between Africans and their government worsened. To illustrate: “[The Emancipation Proclamation] ended [slavery] . . . , but blacks . . . had more in common with African-American slaves . . . than with the [Caucasian businessmen]” (Bausum 2012, 19). For instance, Congress passed the discriminatory Jim Crow Laws – in order to establish a hierarchy based on “the plantation mentality” (Bausum 2012, 14). For South Africans, the National Party (the Nats) in 1948, made apartheid the official law. Both forms of segregation continued the cycle of poverty for coloured people and “ensured [that Caucasians had better quality education], hospitals, and other public services” (Rose 2011, 12). For example, African-American garbage men’s insufficient salary “was based on their garbage routes” rather than an hourly wage (Bausum 2012, 14). Similarly, black South African staff received inadequate pay and the law outlawed strikes and the formation of unions.

In both America and South Africa, the schism between Africans and their government worsened. Even though both nations gained independence from Britain, the colonial mindset was persistent and continued to victimize other races. Despite the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery, the United States’ Congress passed the Jim Crow Laws. In other words, these laws ensured that “blacks . . . had more in common with African-American slaves . . . than with the [Caucasian businessmen]” (Bausum 2012, 19). Similarly, South Africa’s National Party in 1948 legalized apartheid – South Africa’s brand of segregation. More specifically, these laws isolated races into separate buildings and enforced racial purity. To make matters worse, segregation ensnared coloured people in poverty by depriving them of quality government services. For instance, in both countries intermarriage was a crime. Also, the African-American garbage men received insufficient salaries that “[were] based on their garbage routes” rather than an hourly wage (Bausum 2012, 14). In

The Founding Fathers wanted all men to be treated equal. The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson, 1776). Unfortunately, equality for everyone has not been truly realized. The main issues affected were people’s skin color and gender. Women and people of color were not considered to be equal for many years. To correct this issue Affirmative Action was implemented. Affirmative Action helped people of color and women to be considered for jobs and accepted into colleges equally among other candidates. Today, equality between races and genders has improved, although Affirmative Action should be modified to meet the needs of today’s society.

at education and so on. African Americans had grown tired of living in an unjust world

Since its implementation in the United States in 1965, affirmative action has been a heated topic of debate. Designed to address the issue of inequality in American society, affirmative action is a number of programs and policies designed to give women and racial minorities more opportunities in education and the job market. As a result, affirmative action has received opposition, mainly from blue collar white males who feel that it compromises their best interests. In this paper, we will attempt to evaluate the impact of affirmative action on all Americans and its effectiveness in addressing the issue of inequality.

Race-based affirmative action has been challenged by a great deal of objection during the course of it duration. According to its opponents, Affirmative action proves to be inconsistent. Affirmative action based on race increases race consciousness instead of supporting color-blind justice. By giving people special consideration to ensure equality, it contributes to inequality. The constitution of the United States calls for equal treatment, therefore, allowing racial consideration poses a contradiction.

Throughout America there are many different views on the effects of affirmative action. Many see it as a negative policy which gives an unnecessary advantage to minorities in America. In a 2009 Pew Poll, “58% of African Americans agree” and only “22% whites agree” that there should be “preferential treatment to improve the position of blacks and other minorities” ("Public Backs Affirmative Action”).

In the United States justice is defined as equal treatment of all its citizens under the law. When one citizen is mistreated an injustice has been committed against all people. Affirmative Action is a program whose purpose is to make sure that citizens are treated equally by enforcing a set of policies which are designed to promote the inclusion of all individuals regardless of race, disability, sex, or religion. In the United States democracy we are all equal, but some groups have been enjoying more advantages in society than others for centuries. Current statistics show the depth of modern day racial gaps, which are rooted in historical discrimination and modern-day structural racism. Generations of nominal disadvantages have created

This nature of positive discrimination policies exists in lots of countries. Some countries, such as Malaysia, use a special system, whereby a percentage of jobs or school vacancies must be reserved for members of a loyal group, which does not really help bringing the social gaps. In America, specific loyalty does not exist, but those members of minorities actually are given favor in selection processes. The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 finally outlawing school segregation enhanced life for African Americans in regards to education. However, only five percent of undergraduate students, one percent of law students, and two percent of medical students in the country were African American in 1965. In order to help African Americans in employment, President Lyndon Johnson signed an Executive Order in the same year that requested the government facilities to use Affirmative Action policies in their hiring to increase the number of college admission offices had employees. In the following few years, universities and education institutions began using favored admission policies, and the enrollment of African American and Latino students has increased. Though the actions have been made to create equal opportunity, there is still gaps in college enrollment between minorities and white students remain.

In the mid-1900s, discrimination and segregation movements were rampant throughout America. African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and other minorities were often denied jobs based on the color of their skin alone. Many minorities were excluded from colleges and found themselves unable to obtain a proper education. In order to combat such discriminatory and racist actions, the Civil Rights Movement enacted a program to prevent the denial of students into universities because of unfair factors such as race, ethnicity, background, etc. This program is called affirmative action. Through affirmative action, the Civil Rights Movement aimed to help historically disadvantaged people gain acceptance to institutions for higher education. However, their plan to increase the representation of minorities in universities utilized the very practice it sought to destroy: discrimination.

Affirmative action has been one of the most effective tools to correct a history of inequalities in our nation’s history against people of color and women. The huge advances made during Civil Rights era still has not completely eradicated centuries of sexism and racism. Opportunities for advancement for those previously omitted remain few and far between in comparison to their counterparts. Race and gender are not, nor should they be, the only selection measure but they do warrant to be one of the many influences considered in college admissions, hiring, and awarding of grants and other forms of financial aid. Many prestigious and well regarded school universities such as Harvard and Stanford have been at the forefront of this ideal. Nonetheless, affirmative action remains a heavily contested social issue in the United States.

South African Apartheid was the government enforced policy of extreme segregation and discrimination which lasted from 1948 to 1991; this affected both Black and Asian citizens of South Africa and deprived them of their basic human rights. Before Apartheid, South Africa already had conditions that were comparable to segregation in the United States: there were laws restricting voting, buying land, and jobs. The National Party in South Africa is the all-white government party that gained power through white supremacy and white nationalism, and they believed that they had a God-given right to control Africa. The implementation of Apartheid by the government of South Africa was a disastrous decision that negatively affected non-European citizens

The government of South Africa played a huge role in apartheid. During apartheid the government of South Africa worked to take away the citizenship of the Blacks with the laws (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). “Social rights, political rights, educational opportunities, and economic status were all determined by the group a person belonged to” (History of South Africa in the apartheid era). Black people were denied by the government the option of appealing courts against forced removals (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Since the government had established laws prohibiting social contact between the races separate schools and public places were set up for the different races (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). The government even tried to segregate churches in 1957 but failed (Pascoe, 80)

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

During the Apartheid era, teachers had to under went changes within the education systems and teaching methods. As the National party introduce the idea of the Bantu Education act of 1953. This act would in its basic forms classify each race into their own future careers. The non-white or black students would have all their classes taught in Afrikaans. This new form of segregation also enforced segregation within schools. This act did not only impact the students but as well as the black teacher’s as the government had the power to decrease their salaries. In the year of 1953 a dramatic drop of teacher trainees as the amount of black teachers to started to decrease. The government also started taking the funds from non-white schools and placed