The Justification of Reverse Discrimination in Hiring Essay

The academic debate over affirmative action has become a bitter stalemate. Opponents consider affirmative action to be reverse discrimination, while supporters say that the relationship between blacks and whites is hardly symmetrical. The sterility of this debate suggests that it is time for a fresh perspective, and an analysis considers affirmative action in light of critical race theory (CRT). One of CRT’s tenets is that conventional civil rights scholarship has limited application to current racial problems. Because of the practical and political limits on affirmative action, disputes about its legitimacy are likely to fade as attention shifts to other problems and remedies.

The lifelong dream of a virtuous student, acceptance into a prestigious college of choice, crushed by the prejudice of a single law. Hopes upon hopes of attaining one’s dream job, demolished due to the same impassive law. Affirmative action, a national dilemma, continues to crush the dreams of many across the country; although meant with noble intentions, affirmative action offers an ineffective, impractical, and useless rectification to correct a historical social evil, the growing imbalance of different ethnicities. Instead of augmenting this common problem, affirmative action plays a critical role in reverse discrimination, equating race to diversity in opinion, and destroying the idea of meritocracy.

On a personal level, society needs a shift in its approach to race. Instead of creating divisions, Americans should try to understand their biases. Recently, initiatives with this goal have sprung up in universities. Soon after the Civil Rights Act, many universities in America implemented affirmative action initiatives, which sought to level the playing field between white and minority applicants, the latter traditionally having a disproportionately low acceptance rate. Doing so increased the minority population on campuses and brought the issue of discrimination to the forefront of national attention. By acknowledging historical patterns of discrimination and taking explicit action to reverse that trend, a peaceful method to decrease racial inequality emerged. However, white applicants have protested affirmative action, labeling it “reverse discrimination.” Yet this only emphasizes the faults in racial understanding – members of traditionally privileged groups recoil at the notion of elevating minorities, not realizing that their lower starting place necessitates a boost later. For unity, both groups must reach a mutual understanding about race’s role in modern society.

Systematic oppression and discrimination against people of color and immigrants have placed these ethnic groups in present positions that fail to provide them with the necessary resources and opportunities to maximize their full potential.Questions, however, start to surface about the fairness of holding the American government and society responsible/accountable for the persecution that African Americans and other minorities were submitted to. Although the past American society and government did play roles in the suppression of the minorities throughout American history, the current American government and society are now completely different entities. Comprised of a variety of people from a multitude of backgrounds, the present day American government and society differs greatly from their predecessors. If advocates of affirmative action justify it as a form of compensation, then the usage of Affirmative action accepts and condones the idea of retribution. It is unfair to hold the new diverse generation of Americans responsible for past persecution and injustices committed by past

Abstract- Racial discrimination happens all the time and most of us are unaware of it. The most common place for this to happen is in the workplace. Now people can be discriminated against because of their race, religion, or any other numerous things. Also, discrimination can occur during the job interview or even after you got the job. This paper will shoe the effects of racial discrimination and how it can be prevented. In addition there are some very important laws that deal specifically with discrimination, like the NAACP or Affirmative Action. These both will be discussed.

The phrase, "If I had only been black I would have gotten into my first-choice college” has been heard recently to explain some of the white people’s view on the topic of affirmative action in educational institutions (quoted in Wise, 2014). By first glance the programs seem as if they are favoring every race besides white because by the looks of it, it is giving the upper hand to every other group. However, by using some of the examples Tim Wise talks about in his article, “Whites Swim in Racial Preference” readers are able to see that the laws are only in place to help level the playing field for all races. Affirmative action programs are not in place to give an advantage to any single racial group but are there to help in eliminating racial profiling when applying for a job or going to college. His idea that whites are just swimming in the privileges like fishes swimming in water, totally unaware that it’s there, is a prime example of why Affirmative Action programs cannot be successful while the white privileges are still existing.

Affirmative action is a social policy created to promote the welfare of minorities by supporting the idea that individuals are all created equal and should not be judged by race or gender. Therefore, in situations like job and university applications, we should consider minorities to be as feasible a choice for hire as a white male candidate, taking into consideration their background. In short, it tries to give minorities that have been at a disadvantage their whole life, an opportunity to ‘equal the playing field ' by providing a broader context by which to measure an applicant or prospective employee. In the end, however, this goal is not realized. Instead, superficial ‘quotas ' are established and the

A person’s ethnicity or racial identity is deemed greatly irrelevant in determining the socio-economic success of an individual. Some supporters of this view push even further suggesting that strides made to acknowledge disparities by centering or giving attention to a specific race, would lead to ‘reverse discrimination/racism’ as a particular group of people would be given an unfair advantage. (Carson, 2013:1).

Reverse discrimination has become a joke with in many minority communities, “approximately seven in ten black (74%) and Hispanic Americans (70%) do not believe discrimination against whites is as big of a problem as discrimination against other groups” (Public Religion Research Institute 38). This is because many people hold the opinion that only minorities can be discriminated against. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “Race

Affirmative action has assisted many members of minority groups in creating equal opportunities in education and employment. Who could object to assisting these minorities, who suffered years of discrimination, in getting the equal opportunity they deserve? The problem is, affirmative action promotes racial preferences and quotas which cause mixed emotions. One time supporters of affirmative action are now calling out “reverse discrimination”. If we want a stronger support for affirmative action we need to get rid of the preferential treatments.

Class and race work to give some an unearned advantage over others based on their race, nationality, educational status, and social class (McIntosh, 1988). McIntosh argues that whites enjoy a

In the middle of this debate, we have the moderate. They tend to want to compromise between both views and try to take the golden mean of any political issue. A reflection of this compromising trait would be to take race and sex out of the equation and “considering socioeconomic status” (Potter 2013). Since the target of the Liberals is to help the disadvantaged, lower classes blacks and hispanics, then why not make is for all races in that class to help please the Conservative more since reverse discrimination “reverse discrimination” (Williams 2017). This can be seen in places like Oklahoma with their “State Question 759” where they made it illegal to take race, sex, color, national origin,religion, or sexual orientation...” into considering

“Justice” is a term that should not only prefer to different portions of distribution, but also to the institutional conditions to develop individual capabilities, as well as cooperative communication. Under this conception of justice, many people in the U.S. consider disciplinary justice as an appropriate approach to sustain social order. However, it seems like there are more chances that the minorities are targets of the inequality in justice system, especially in socio-economic and political problems.

Because of the complex nature of the discussion on affirmative action and the controversies and the emotion surrounding it, it is imperative to first recap on the causes of race and inequality in the United States of America. The policies on affirmative action were proposed as a fractional remedy for the socio-economic impacts of past and present disadvantage faced by certain groups in the population, especially with regard to biases on gender and race. Such disadvantages ought to be addressed, in a society that has built its international pedestal on justice and equality, for proportionality to be existent within its borders. This needs demonstration that the sharing of certain advantages in the United States is not consistent with the principles underlying just distribution( Anderson, 2004).

Although slavery was ultimately outlawed and laws prohibiting discrimination against African-Americans passed, racism against this community remains and is manifested in more subtle ways today.1 For example, the Washington, DC, Fair Employment Practices Commission has found that blacks face discrimination in one out of every five job interviews. The American Sociological Association notes that, “today employers use different phases of the hiring