Affirmative Action

Affirmative action is a policy or a program of giving certain preferences to certain (usually under-represented) groups. This typically focuses on education, employment, government contracts, health care, or social welfare.

There is much debate concerning claims that it fails to achieve its desired goal, and that it has unintended and undesirable side-effects. There are also claims that the practice is itself racist or sexist

Affirmative action began as a corrective measure for governmental and social injustices against demographic groups that have been subjected to prejudice. Such groups are characterized most commonly by race, gender, or ethnicity. Affirmative action seeks to increase the representation of these demographic groups in fields of study and work in which they have traditionally been underrepresented.

What it the purpose of keeping a program that is designed to help out America's society when if fact it only cause discrimination problems? It is disguised as an equal opportunity program, Affirmative Action discriminates against non-minorities. Many groups protest the abolishment of affirmative action for sake of higher minority student admissions into prestigious universities; however protesters fail to view that minority dropout rates are nearly fifty-percent higher than whites. In employment; many unqualified applicants are hired solely in the fact that they are members of a minority group.

Affirmative action is a program that was created to give minorities and woman, "an equal chance" or special consideration for employment, education, and contracting decisions. \"Employers holding contracts with the government must take affirmative action to ensure that they were not discriminating on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin\" (Unknown). It was first put into action during the 1960's. The Civil Rights movement of 1964 emphasized the program. "The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to eliminate discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities in private hiring practices and labor union activities" (Unknown).

During that time discrimination among minorities and woman was extremely high and there were barriers. "Minority beneficiaries of affirmative action hiring plans were sometimes stereotyped as inferior employees" (Unknown). What the program did was that it required employers the hire any person regardless of their race. But now and days, affirmative action has changed. The program first started with President John Franklin Kennedy. But his motives weren't what he intended in the 1960's. The programs soul purpose was to give minorities and woman a fair chance for employment and education. The first time the program was actually brought into affect was the dispute between whites and black in the college administrations. The amount of black in colleges was conflicting with the amount of whites enrolled. The second time affirmative action was brought into affect was to help minorities with insufficient financial funds, because many could not afford a better education and thus putting them in a disadvantage.

Even thought it was a controversial issue, affirmative action was ousted in the 1996 ballot. The program was officially removed in November 5, 1996 by proposition 209. This proposition was lead by California Against Discrimination and Preferences (CADAP). CADAP was found in August 1994, when in fact woman feminist were fighting for equal rights since the 1960's and 1970's to gain equal rights. Affirmative action promised to give a woman an "equal chance" when in fact the program treated woman unfairly by "making" them inferior by giving them a "special treatment". Sex should not bias a decision of employment or affect education decisions. A woman should be employed to their qualification and not gender preferences, than to rely on a program.

Racial preference programs were designed to break the barriers that kept minorities out of certain positions; these programs simply added the barriers. "Affirmative action was and is and exception to the constitution, because rather than treating people equally it treats minorities more favorably than others" (Brent 102). This is totally exempting the concept of "all me are created equal". Employment should not be based on color; it should be based on the most qualified person or the job. "'Angry white men' blame affirmative action for robbing them of promotions and other opportunities" (Unknown). "Judging simply by the results, the playing field would appear to still be tilted very much in favor of white men" (Unknown).

What is the use of hiring an unqualified person? With affirmative action, it allows this to go on. Employers are judging minorities job positions only by the color of their skin; also called racial preference, an obscure for of racism and discrimination, and the government should not any part in preferring certain racial groups. Affirmative action promotes reserve discrimination. "Soon after the EEO Act of 1972 was implemented, legal suits based on racial and sexual discrimination began to pour into courts, creating backlogs in the handling of cases and indicating that discrimination was widespread" (Unknown). Giving the job position to less qualified candidates is favoritism; this harms those who should be obtaining the job position.

With affirmative in action, a more dedicated person who worked hard in his/her education would lose a position to a minority who "slipped" in the position undeservingly. Even highly merited black people have become victims of affirmative action as well. "People of color do not need special treatment; people of color need equal treatment" (Johnson pg. 93). To prove this statement blacks have proven be equal with whites. To illustrate this, one of the most prestigious African-Americans in the military service, General Colin Powell, gain to his rank and position without any favoritism or "special treatments". His hard work and dedication is all that it took for him to get where he is at now; Affirmative action does not exist in any military branch in the United States. As a result, it proves that minorities can compete at any level with anyone without any being biased or treated differently.

What affirmative action does is that it assumes that blacks are inferior to white. Which makes people think that blacks need special treatment just to have a chance. The program lowers standards and causes a minority to question his/her capabilities. Not only does it Affirmative action assumes that minorities are incapable of success; the program undermines the achievements of blacks and other minorities, implying that their position were handed