Affirmative And Affirmative Of Affirmative Action

727 Words2 Pages

Affirmative Action- The results
When the topic of affirmative action is brought up, we immediately think when whites and black were segregated and how blacks fought for equality. However affirmative action is more than allowing blacks and whites and any other minorities attend the same school. Affirmative action is about permitting not only blank men and women, but also other racial minorities that were for times excluded, to have a “fair chance” at education and employment.
Affirmative action played a great role in the civil right movements, as it was the stepping stone towards equality in the United States. While the concept is good in theory, there are many challenges that have aroused. Many of these arguments against affirmative action have been brought up by people that feel have been rejected due to their race, mainly among white people. Conservative ideologies seek to eliminate affirmative action. Bitterness among white people, specially white men, see affirmative action as a way to give preferential treatment to people of color, who are seen as undeserving or as having already benefited enough from such programs (STEIN). The famous case of Cheryl Hopewood vs University of Texas School of Law (UTLS), where a lawsuit was filed due to being denied admission, despite Hopewood was a better applicant that many accepted minority students(STEIN). She believed the reason behind her rejection was due to her race. According to her lawsuit, her LSAT scores and grades were higher than accepted students from minority groups. Hopewood felt deserving admission based on meritocracy. However, as Harvard Professor Michael Sandel pointed out on one of his lectures…”minority kids may have gone, in some cases to school where the educati...

... middle of paper ...

...ve been part of a hiring committee more than once. I recall a time where we interviewed applicants for a telephone position. A Philippine women applied for the position. She had extensive phone experiences, specially on customer service, which we were looking for at the time. When it came time for the interview, she had a slight tick accent , and while she was very polite, she did not get the job. The reason? One of the interviewers believed she would not sound good on the phone due to her accent. While this was not the official reason the interviewer provided, this was plain discrimination in my eyes. These is just an example of the reason why we still need affirmative action.
Affirmative action is not about giving an “undeserving advantage” to minorities. It is about validating they are not ignored and provided with the same rights and advantages as everyone else.

Open Document