Affirmative Action Essay Research Paper Is Affirmative — страница 2
Public Policy website, the article, ?Civil Rights and Racial Preferences? stated that ?the government required them to hire one black trooper for each white trooper hired until the patrols reached a substantial, specified level of racial integration.? The qualifications of the person were deemed secondary. The most qualified black trooper must be hired, period. Is it fair that the most qualified minority receives a job over the most qualified person without regards to color? Obviously not, and therefore quotas are not the right answer. The example about the patrols in Mississippi and Alabama demonstrates how quotas can cause reverse discrimination against white workers due to affirmative action. When quotas became popular, UC Davis held sixteen slots open for minority students to insure diversity. Bakke, a white male had been rejected admission into Davis in 1973 and 1974. He sued Davis for discrimination against white males and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. In Lydia Chavez?s book, The Color Blind, she quotes Justice Powell in his determining opinion concerning the Bakke case: ?Davis had violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth Amendment by setting aside sixteen slots for underrepresented minorities.? Following his opinion he concluded that race could be a factor in determining a student?s admission, but could not be the main reason for admissions. Depending on how much power a person reads into Powell?s opinion determines the direction that the affirmative action programs will take into universities. Some people took the opinion as he exactly stated: ?no quotas.? Others saw a difference between quotas and goals for promoting diversity. Harvard University interpreted the latter and found that in order to obtain ethnic diversity, that their admission process must pay some attention to numbers in order for a diverse campus. In broad terms, title VII of the civil rights movement explicitly states that it is unlawful to discriminate against a person based on race, gender, national origin, and religion. Although in the past it was necessary to bend or stretch this law in order for integration of underprivileged persons into society, today it has become unnecessary and therefore unconstitutional. Ward Connerly an African American, once favored affirmative action now believes that ?affirmative action statutes do not have a solid constitutional basis ? I have no doubt that the courts will eventually strike down all preferences based on race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin.? Programs that factor in ?race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin? are encouraging discrimination instead of trying to abolish it. If a law should state that it is unconstitutional for people to factor in race while choosing an applicant, then affirmative action is not in accordance but rather contradictory to the constitution. Fairness, in the sense of no racial preferences, is another reason affirmative action should be stricken from the law books. In a simplistic and broad sense, if two people were to apply to the same university, one being white and achieving higher-grade qualifications and the other black and lacking the same qualifications, under preferential affirmative action the university would accept the latter. This is not fair for the student who worked hard through his previous education and is denied solely because he was the wrong color. This also undermines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dream of living in a colorblind society. The ACLU website wrote an article ?Affirmative Action? where they quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: ?men should be judged by the contents of the character, not the color of the skin,? which demonstrates his idea of an integrated society. If universities are using race as one of the many factors in determining acceptance, then they are participating in discriminatory acts instead of judging a person by his character and past achievements. Affirmative action gives preferences based on color while a colorblind society does not factor in race. Most of the people in support of affirmative action programs claim that the policies level the playing field from past discrimination. I do not support this idea. If people want an equal playing field, the new programs must be designed prior to the child turning 18. Programs such as helping children out when they are in their primary education should be a part of equality. Middle and upper class schools receive more benefits than that of a school in the ghetto. According to Jonathan Kozol, the author of Savage Inequalities, in 1987 the city of New York spent on average of $5,500 per pupil. Kozol also states that in the wealthier parts of the suburbs $11,000 per
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