¶ … Against Affirmative Action
Contrary to the common perception, not all opponents of "Affirmative Action" are white males. Many African-Americans are also opposed to its continued application. For example, Ward Connerly, University of California Regent is black and a leading opponent of Affirmative Action. He believes that:
Affirmative action is an undesirable "crutch" for the black people on which they have started to depend believing that it is not possible to achieve anything without this "crutch."
The original intent of Affirmative Action was to eliminate discrimination rather than having different standards for blacks and whites for university admissions and hiring in government jobs. Connerly views such "preferences" as discriminatory.
Affirmative Action poisons the relationships between different groups and builds resentment because of the wide-spread perception among the white males that it works to the advantage of the minorities at their cost.
Connerly believes that preferences in jobs and admissions unnecessarily marginalize blacks, Latinos, and females who lose their sense of accomplishment by the "stigma" of having been given something instead of competing for it fairly in a level-playing field. (Montgomery, "Poison Divides Us.")
Walter E. Williams, Professor of Economics at George Mason University, writing in the Cato Journal (Vol. 17, No. 1-Spring/Summer 1997) points out that:
It is ironic that initially, civil rights organizations fought against the use of race in hiring, access to public schools, and university admissions while today, they fight for the use of race in the very same areas.
He terms Affirmative Action a "zero-sum-game" and quotes the example of the UC, Berkeley's affirmative action program for blacks whereby blacks are admitted with average SAT scores of 952 compared to the average white...
Affirmative action is an initiative based on a set of policies that are intended to eradicate both present and past prejudice against women and minority in areas of employment and businesses where they were historically marginalized. Theses discriminations can also be based on ones race, religion, color or nation of origin (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2009). Brief History of affirmative action Civil rights movements originally endorsed programs that would enable African-Americans acquire
Affirmative Action Lit Review Affirmative Action Review of Literature Has Affirmative Action outlived its use in today's society? And if so should the program change or simply come to an end? The issue of Affirmative Action (AA) is one that is currently being hotly debated by both policy makers and the public. Like racism itself there are many opinions all of which are run the gamut between logical and illogical and constructive and
Affirmative Action At its most objective definition, affirmative action entails "positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded." Affirmative action acknowledges the presence of institutionalized and systematic forms of discrimination: which may not be apparent to members of the dominant or privileged culture. For example, white males will not even notice that no Blacks
..aims to compensate people for past discrimination and its effects. A main effect of past discrimination is current competitive disadvantage; affirmative action gives victims a competitive advantage to compensate for this injury." (1998) the Discrimination-blocking affirmative action according to Anderson: "...aims to block current discriminatory mechanisms by imposing a countervailing force in the opposite direction. It doesn't remove the factors -- prejudice, stereotypes, stigma, intergroup anxiety -- that cause discrimination;
Furthermore, it is also believed that the evolution of American society is at a point where all forms of discrimination can be done away with. Dworkin therefore appears to advocate a simple acceptance of all affirmative action programs in terms of their original intention; to redress the collectivist wrongs perpetrated against a collective sector of society, by another collective. In this, those belonging to the historically repressive collective should,
Criticism of Affirmative Action Over the years, specific criticisms of Affirmative Action have developed as a result of the endless debate and legal wrangling over the issue, as well as the division in American society about the topic. The first criticism of Affirmative Action to consider is the assertion that the burden of compensating victims of discrimination usually becomes the responsibility of those who are not individually responsible for the discrimination
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