The Influence of Political Debates on Affirmative Action

Alexander summarizes her interpretation of the period when a number of black individuals were elected into government offices with the phrase “black faces in high places.” By this she means that although black individuals were elected, this development actually obscured the problem rather than remedied it. Alexander writes that in 1974, 64 percent of new federal employees came from minority backgrounds. These changes helped a relatively small group of African American households, and left the rest behind. On account of these changes, the idea that hard work was the way blacks could overcome institutional challenges was born. By masking the government’s responsibility to help all African American households, colorblindness led the public to believe the country

The African-American community is comprised of 34 million people, and makes up approximately 12.8 percent of the American population (Barker, Jones, Tate 1999: 3). As such, it is the largest minority group in the United States. Yet, politically, the black community has never been able to sufficiently capitalize on that status in order to receive the full benefits of life in America. Today, African-Americans, hold less than 2 percent of the total number of elected positions in this country (Tate, 1994: 3) and the number of members within the community that actually partake in voting continues to drop. In spite of these statistics, as of 1984, a telephone survey found that 70

On May 13, 1990, an eager yet serious Shelby Steele claims that affirmative action is “reformist and corrective, even repentant and redemptive”, in the New York Times. Despite the different political views, Steele does not want to insult these sincere intentions despite the conflicts that will arise once these policies take effect. Steele believes that affirmative action is similar to a “...Faustian bargain” as it creates more moral problems rather than fixing them. Shelby Steele points out the flaws of affirmative action and hopes to bring awareness to affirmative action by using appeals to logic, credibility, emotion, and other canons of rhetoric. Steele’s plan is to persuade the readers into believing the harmful effects of the policy.

Once the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passes, it is no longer legal to discriminate based on race in public accommodations, employment, education, and federally financed activities (Alexander, 2012). This law creates fear and uncertainty in working-class white communities since they live near black communities. Now blacks will be competing with working-class whites for jobs and included in their children’s schools. In the 1960s working-class whites are historically aligned with the Democratic Party, but the Republicans see an opening to win their votes after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Republicans exploit working-class white’s fears of blacks and discuss the need to restore “law and order” (Alexander, 2012, p.46). Once working-class white

The United States saw many debates regarding African-Americans in the late 19th century, debates on whether they could be seen as equal citizens, debates on whether they should be allowed the rights granted to white Americans, etc. Although all of these debates garner importance, the biggest debate may have come between two men who both advocated a different plan to uplift the African-American race as a whole. The two players in this debate

The timeframe of 1929 to 1945 is marked by two of America’s greatest crises in history, the Great Depression and World War II. This period of economic and political strife was the CPUSA’s “heyday”, with faith in the current system at an all-time low and susceptible to those suggesting an alternative. The start of the depression is also the beginning of a shift in the CPUSA’s political stance that made it possible for it to be influential. Moving from its sectarian, “pure-class” view of America that dominated the party’s first decade, it will start to bring the “Negro Question” and other black-related issues to attention. The purpose of this investigation is not to necessarily explore how well the CPUSA addressed the betterment of African Americans,

In her article “Black Conservatism in America,” Angela K. Lewis delves into the intricacies of black political affiliation and identification. Lewis, an assistant professor of government at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has done extensive research into the formation and types of black conservatism. She states that the current discussions on black conservatism fail to include any historical information, implying that black conservatism is a newly-formed ideology. Lewis’ research seeks to fill the gaps that currently exist by tracing the development of black conservatism. Specifically, this research aims to trace the levels of black conservatism over the last 25 years and to enumerate the support, if any, of black conservatism in the

In Ira Katznelson’s book, When Affirmative Action Was White , Katznelson argues for the implementation of affirmative action to decrease the marginalization of African Americans. Although he supports its execution, he’s also the first to address the faults within the system, that are in need of correction in order to see greater results of decreased racism. Katznelson starts off reviewing parts of America’s history, more specifically, times when government programs were instilled to better the lives of supposedly all Americans. These programs such as, the New Deal, Fair Deal, Great Society, social security, and many others were thought to be aimed at helping all, when in actuality, they were only there to serve white Americans.

Q-1: The unraveling of the relatively sonsensual poltics of the 1940s and 1950s were in large part due to “the return of social movements to American politics after the relative quiescence of the postwar period” (McAdam and Kloos 68). The civil rights movements of the 60s and their segregationist counterpart Pushed the two parties, Democrats and Republicans, to one side of the right and left, respectively, which undermined the prevailing centrist movement of the 1940’s and 1950’s. By the beginning of the 60’s, the Democrats remained split on decisions of race. However, this partisanship quickly changed in the face of the rising civil rights movement. With the importance of the “black vote” in the election of Kennedy, he found

Throughout the year 1877-1981 there was an extreme amount of change for African-American lives, especially in the attitudes of both white and black people across the USA. Although the process of change for equality was longwinded, it is clear that the attitudes were changing throughout this period, especially during the Second World War. The Second World War is considerably the strongest turning point amongst the events of this period, however many have argued that it was “seeds that wold later bear fruit that had been planted” . Regardless of this, there is strong

One of the controversial topics and philosophical questions that really sparked my interest was affirmative action. The author of text that I will be drawing connections from is Tom L. Beauchamp and his publication is titled “In Defense of Affirmative Action”. The theme behind his work is self-explanatory from the title. Beauchamp states the strong arguments as to why people want to abandon affirmative action, but also gives his own insight and support to defend its existence and continued implementation. He understands that there is flaws with affirmative action, but the policy does more good than bad, thus it should be continued.

Chace (2012) continues to state the various disconnect that the comments made by President Johnson has on current practices by once advocating the intent to give back to a race that had lost so dearly, is now not viewed the same. After these past fifty years, today’s realties are quite different. Restitution seems much less the focus of such affirmative action policies than in the past.

Bill Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States. Elected in 1992 and again in 1996, Clinton served as President until January of 2001, when George W. Bush became the 43rd President. Ward Connerly is the founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute. He has gained national attention as an outspoken advocate of equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, sex, or ethnic background. In this paper, I will discuss the position of these two politicians from affirmative action, I will highlight how each of them thinks about affirmative action, whether he sees it beneficial or harmful to the American society, and how he argues to

The election of President Obama marks the most noteworthy political accomplishment for African Americans in the United States during the post-civil rights revolution, thus bringing about a change in the country’s social and political landscape that was steeped in racial discrimination since the founding of this great nation. Because social and political conditions are subject to constant change, President Obama’s

Prior to the 1960s, rarely was there black representation in Congress. Putting aside for a moment the irony of this in a country that declared its independence under the banner of “no taxation with representation,” this posed a serious issue for the black community.