Affirmative Action and Racial Equality

1480 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of affirmative action on society

Affirmative Action and Racial Equality (1) Issue Identification Many individuals do not know the meaning of the term “affirmative action.” In order to clearly understand the issue, one must first know the necessary terms associated with it. Affirmative action is a term given to an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination (i.e. African Americans, Asians, etc.). For example, certain scholarships for African Americans can be regarded as affirmative action opportunities. Another example of affirmative action could be an institutional program designed for African Americans. So why is it important? Affirmative action policies and programs are designed to insure that qualified individuals of minority groups have equal access to programs and are “to par” with other individuals of the same merit. Please note that I said qualified and of the same merit. Affirmative action does not place individuals in minority groups at an advantage. This is a common misconception by some people. Affirmative action can be seen in the college admission process, the promotion process for higher-level positions, and in other various areas. The goal is to advance and promote equality through the policies. Please note that affirmative action was never meant to be an instant cure to inequality. In contrast, it was meant to promote equality. Many Americans, from all backgrounds, equally support affirmative action as an effective way of advancing equality. This has been shown through obvious differences and data. Without affirmative action, several individuals of minority groups would have disadvantages when it comes to promotions in their jobs, acceptance to medical school, and other areas. What does that mean? Basically, e... ... middle of paper ... ...hanged. However, we will always have those lurking variables in companies and educational institutions like Mr. Dennison, the executive of The Contemporary Service Corp. Works Cited "Affirmative Action." Affirmative Action RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. "Affirmative Action Data." U.S. Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Gorman, Ryan. "Revealed: 'Racist' Executive Who Oversees Security for the US Open Called African Americans 'scum Suckers' and 'n*****s' in Leaked Emails." Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. Marsh, Julia. "Barneys Busted Student for ‘shopping While black’." New York Post Barneys Busted Student for Shopping Whileblack Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. McKenna, George, and Stanley Feingold. "Does Affirmative Action Advance Racial Equality?" Taking Sides. 18th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2013. N. pag. Print.

Show More
Related

  • The Hoodie Image Analysis

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    On a recent night, shopping online for a light jacket or a cotton sweater — some kind of outerwear to guard my body against a springlike breeze — I click on the ‘‘new arrivals’’ page of the website of a popular retailer and. encountered, unexpectedly, another instance of the complex oddity of race. Here, projecting catalog­model cordiality in the sterile space of an off­white. backdrop, was a young black man in a hoodie. On the street, a black guy in a hoodie is just another of the many millions.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Selective Incorporation

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    3.The term Affirmative action has played a huge role in the past one hundred years of American politics. It is simply defined as an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer. Civil Rights of American citizens have drastically changed because of Affirmative action. With almost anything in politics, there is a debate for and against Affirmative action. Supporters of this say that this helps encourage e...

    Read More

  • None of This is Fair by Mr. Richard Rodriguez

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    After long years of suffering, degradation, and different sorts of discrimination which the disadvantaged group of people had experienced, the “Affirmative Action Law” was finally passed and enforced for the very first time on September 24, 1965. The central purpose of the Affirmative Action Law is to combat racial inequality and to give equal civil rights for each citizen of the United States, most especially for the minorities. However, what does true equality mean? Is opportunity for everyone? In an article entitled, “None of this is fair”, the author, Mr. Richard Rodriguez explains how his ethnicity did not become a hindrance but instead, the law became beneficial. However, Mr. Richard Rodriguez realized the unfairness of the “Affirmative Action” to people who are more deserving of all the opportunities that were being offered to him. Through Mr. Rodriguez’s article, it will demonstrates to the reader both favorable, and adverse reaction of the people to the Affirmative Action, that even though the program was created with the intention to provide equality for each and every citizen, not everyone will be pleased, contented, and benefit from the law.

    Read More

  • Description of Racial Microaggressions

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wise, T. (2012). Dear white America: Letter to a new minority. San Francisco, CA: City

    Read More

  • Reverse Discrimination In College Admissions

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    Affirmative action, the act of giving preference to an individual for hiring or academic admission based on the race and/or gender of the individual has remained a controversial issue since its inception decades ago. Realizing its past mistake of discriminating against African Americans, women, and other minority groups; the state has legalized and demanded institutions to practice what many has now consider as reverse discrimination. “Victims” of reverse discrimination in college admissions have commonly complained that they were unfairly rejected admission due to their race. They claimed that because colleges wanted to promote diversity, the colleges will often prefer to accept applicants of another race who had significantly lower test scores and merit than the “victims”. In “Discrimination and Disidentification: The Fair-Start Defense of Affirmative Action”, Kenneth Himma responded to these criticisms by proposing to limit affirmative action to actions that negate unfair competitive advantages of white males established by institutions (Himma 277 L. Col.). Himma’s views were quickly challenged by his peers as Lisa Newton stated in “A Fair Defense of a False Start: A Reply to Kenneth Himma” that among other rationales, the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action (Newton 146 L. Col.). This paper will also argue that the Fair-Start Defense based on race and gender is a faulty justification for affirmative action because it cannot be fairly applied in the United States of America today. However, affirmative action should still be allowed and reserved for individuals whom the state unfairly discriminates today.

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action Encourages Racism

    398 Words  | 1 Pages

    In his essay called "Affirmative Action Encourages Racism", Thaddeus Watulak argues that affirmative action is a racist policy, which relies on racial stereotypes and reinforces racist attitudes in the society. I mostly agree with him because I believe he touches some very important points, which are not taken to account in the first place.

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action in College Admissions

    1570 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, affirmative action is “an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and women.” However, despite its well-intentioned policies, it has been the source of much controversy over the years. Barbara Scott and Mary Ann Schwartz mention that “proponents of affirmative action argue that given that racism and discrimination are systemic problems, their solutions require institutional remedies such as those offered by affirmative action legislation” (298). Also, even though racism is no longer direct, indirect forms still exist in society and affirmative action helps direct. On the other hand, opponents to affirm...

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action and Racial Tension

    1704 Words  | 4 Pages

    Subconscious prejudices, self-segregation, political correctness, reverse discrimination, and ignorance all wade in the pool of opinions surrounding affirmative action and racial animosity. With racial tensions ever present in this country, one might question whether the problems can be solved by affirmative action.

    Read More

  • Racial Bias in College Admission

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sacks, David, and Peter Thiel. "The Case Against Affirmative Action." Stanford Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.

    Read More

  • Is Affirmative Action still needed?

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today there is considerable disagreement in the country over Affirmative Action with the American people. MSNBC reported a record low in support for Affirmative Action with 45% in support and 45% opposing (Muller, 2013). The affirmative action programs have afforded all genders and races, exempting white males, a sense of optimism and an avenue to get the opportunities they normally would not be eligible for. This advantage includes admission in colleges or hiring preferences with public and private jobs; although Affirmative Action has never required quotas the government has initiated a benefits program for the schools and companies that elect to be diversified. The advantages that are received by the minorities’ only take into account skin color, gender, disability, etc., are what is recognized as discriminatory factors. What is viewed as racism to the majority is that there ar...

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    Affirmative Action Affirmative action can be defined as action taken to compensate for past unfairness in the education of minorities. The current system of affirmative action allows universities to admit applicants from certain ethnic and minority groups with lower credentials. The main purpose of affirmative action is to produce a diverse campus population that is comparable to today's society. The use of race as a facto by which someone is admitted to college in the long run will compromise the quality of the university. Implicating affirmative action to solve the problem of diversity on today's campuses has lead to the creation of problems.

    Read More

  • J.R.R. Tolkien Research Paper

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ibata, David. “Lord of Racism.” Chicago Tribune. Jan. 12, 2003, arts and entertainment: 11. Print.

    Read More

  • The Reluctant Fundamentalist's American Dream

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Herd, Sandra. "Scorched by the Scourge of Post-9/11 Racism." Interview. NBC News. N.p., 2006. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action Policy

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    I will begin by explaining what an affirmative action policy is and will also provide an example of a situation where an affirmative action policy is being used. Next, I will argue that affirmative action policies are not morally justifiable because affirmative action policies reward the wrong minorities and punish the wrong non-minorities, and affirmative action policies do not support a meritocratic society. Lastly, I will state how an individual for affirmative action policies would respond to these ideas.

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action: Positive Discrimination?

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    Affirmative action is a policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination. Affirmative action is used to reduce any form of discrimination. There are two kinds of discrimination. One is de jure discrimination and the second is de facto discrimination. De jure is by law so any discrimination done by legal matters. De facto is in fact so usually society or customary practices bring about this discrimination. Affirmative action is used for positive discrimination. For example in education, schools are allowed by law, so it is de jure discrimination, to use affirmative action to increase the opportunity of the disadvantage to get into that school. Affirmative action reduces de facto discrimination and increases de jure discrimination so there is a smaller gap between the two. Another example is welfare checks; only the poor get welfare checks by affirmative action. So the fact that by law poor people only get welfare checks than it is de jure discrimination. Using affirmative action with education diversity benefits the minorities because students will get use to interacting with minorities, therefore, reducing de facto discrimination towards minorities. This benefits the state because it encourages minorities to compete to go to a school in a state where they promote diversity. If a school in a state promotes diversity than more minorities will look to apply to that school. Consequently the more people that try to get into the school the higher the income from the school will rise benefitting the state.

    Read More

More about Affirmative Action and Racial Equality

Open Document