Affirmitive Action

The Facts

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issues an Executive Order 11246 requiring federal contractors to “take affirmative action” to ensure that they do not engage in discriminatory practices against workers because of race creed, color, or national origin. Two years later gender was added to the list. Affirmative action is the practice, usually by institutions or employment in government and business, of giving preference to racial minorities and women. The politics were originally developed to correct decades of discrimination and to give disadvantaged minorities a boost. The diversity of our current society as opposed to that of 50 years ago seems to indicate the programs have been a success. Now, many think the policies are no longer needed and that they led to more problems than they solve.

One particular kind of affirmative action is racial quotas, or deciding on a specific number or percentage of members of a given minority group that a company or institution had to accept. These racial quotas improved diversity to some degree, but was considered too crude by many people. Now affirmative action usually involves involves using race, gender, socioeconomic background, and/or sexual orientation status as a positive factor in hiring or admissions decisions.

Supporters

George E. Curry, a strong supporter of affirmative action (AA) knew it would happen when anti-affirmative action supporters would begin to poke fun at the decision made by the Supreme Court on the University of Michigan landmark case. A group of Conservative students at Roger William University in Rhode Island is offering a Whites-only scholarship valued at only $250 each. In addition to Whites-only scholarship, other attempts at humor include so-called affirmative action bake sales. At Southern Methodist University in Dallas, for example, Young Conservatives of Texas offered cookies at different prices. White males were charged $1 for each cookie, white women were charged 75 cents for each cookie, Hispanics were charged 50 cent and African Americans 25 cents. Similar bakes sale were held at Columbia University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Texas, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan and the University of Indiana. A ...

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...till present discrimination today.

But at the same time, minority students in top colleges are disproportionately from middle and upper-middle class backgrounds, this it true for white college students as well. AA does not cure all of America’s social ills, but it can help eliminate the gaps between the average incomes and educations levels of different races. I think AA should be applied to not only race but economic background as well. I think the current system is out dated on both ends of the argument. However since we will never live in a colorblind society, I believe that there should be monitors to make sure that all admission and hiring is done on the up and up. No discrimination and no reverse discrimination.

Curry, G. E. (2004, March 1) Affirmative Action War Still Rages

Retrieved June 25, 2004

Http://georgecurry.com/columns/index1.shtml?id=1078378827

Connerly, W (2002, May 12) Ward Connerly and the American Civil Rights Institute Retrieved June 25, 2004

http://www.mediatransparency.org/people/ward_connerly.htm