Is Affirmative Action simply revenge against whites of 200 years ago?

Question

Qualified white males who had nothing to do with what happened the last generation or generations before are being told to put their lives on hold and let "others" thrive. Is this simply revenge? Why should people today suffer for crimes committed centuries ago? Should it be called Affirmative Racism?

Answer 1

Agree that it's just a ploy to buy votes....
Nobody alive in the US today ever owned slaves...and nobody alive in the US today ever WAS a slave. (Except possibly a few new African immigrants, some of whom have recently been enslaved by other Africans.)
Bottom line is that when African Americans finally achieved equal opportunity under the law...they were not ready to compete equally. So they started clamoring for equal RESULTS...no matter what. And there were politicians who saw a chance to sew up votes for generations.

Answer 2

First, the United States proclaimed a group of people it previously considered inhuman to be fully human. That's not a small feat, nor easily understood. It took a Federal action and a war to make this recognition legit and requires federal action to alleviate the damage of the preceding mistake. To declare a group a human in the eyes of the state is simply not enough, particularly for a slave population, because now you have a larger set of citizens who are filling the lowest rung of your nation's economic strata. This isn't productive and reinforces old stereotypes. The more similar you can make the economic stratification of the formerly alienated population to that of the general population the greater the chance that you can provide an understanding that they are just as human as any other. Until the group's stats are roughly equivalent to those of the general population, you haven't hit that goal, and you're hurting the productivity of the nation as a whole.

Answer 3

Well, let's see.

I am a woman. Affirmative Action has made sure that MY application will be considered for a job that I am 100% qualified for. It has allowed the break of of countless Good Old Boy networks in corporate America- networks that have traditionally allowed sycophant white males with half the IQ I have to fall into jobs making twice my salary because THEY happen to have testicles istead of a vagina.

Affirmative Action has made sure that the workplace doesn't look OR sound like Archie Bunker's living room, but a lot more like th real world.

Bite me white boy.

Answer 4

Here's a surprising realization: Racism still exists in America.

have you caught your breath? It's true. There are still lots of kinds of racist people in this world. Not to mention classist, elitist, nationalist, etc.

It's a much different game though. I've talked to very rich people whom admitted to being racist. Why? Just for the hell of it. They didnt' want to let ANYBODY get a piece, but if someone was gonna move up, it sure as hell wasn't going to be a black person. It's a disgusting attitude. Yet it's true.

Many employers may not be racist, but SOME are. Therefore, we have affirmative action. Does it make that much of a difference? Not really. Does it balance out the poverty ratio of black to white in america? no. Does it put an end to racism? no.

Let's say you're from southeast D.C. Your family is incredibly poor. You have above average intelligence (surprise, people in the ghetto can be SMART). There's no way in hell your family could EVER afford to send you to college. Suppose you get accepted into Georgetown. You certainly can't pay for it working at McDonald's. That's where affirmative action scholarships come in. One or two kids get in. Vs thousands of white kids who get accepted.

My question is, why does this bother you? Because more than likely it's never going to affect you in your life. Your probably just a racist s.o.b. or have been talking/listening to a racist s.o.b.

have a nice day

Answer 5

I wouldn't really call it revenge, but more like redemption. Even if you take "affirmative action" into account it still doesn't make a big dent in any situation. To me all it is used for is a pacifier to shut people up. Diverisity is a good thing but I don't think that there should be a quota that should met no matter who you are or where you're from!

Answer 6

It's not about revenge. It's about helping those people that were oppressed and prevented from participating in the economic system for 200 years, to get t help they need to catch up somewhat with the rest of America. Equal opportunity is not taking a guy who was starved for 3 weeks, never allowed to exercise, never had a trainer, giving him a pair of boxing gloves and putting him in the ring with Oscar De La Hoya.

You might say "Ok, now we allow everyone to apply for jobs with NASA or attend top flight universities like Stanford or Yale, so that's it- let everyone compete on a level playing field"

But the playing field isn't level. Groups of people that were forcibly kept locked up and dependent for generations, not allowed to learn (people were killed for attempting to teach slaves how to read & write) don't suddely wake up the next day and start accounting firms.

There's a lifetime lifetime of preparation that goes into someone becoming an astronaut. Advanced classes, math camps and other extracurricular activites from a very young age. Wealthy families whose children attended top universities have their own social networks of alumni as a result- this often helped those kids obtain positions with law firms, businesses etc. So by even having a few bright black kids from poor neighborhoods in these institutions, they meet people and make contacts within the business world which would have occurred otherwise. In many cases, those kid go back to their communities and mentor others.

In many cases it's just a matter of money- those who can afford to send their kids to nice schools do. But where did they get that money? Plantation owners made their profits due to the labor of slaves. Everyday Americans might simply have a little money inherited from a family home. But slaves weren't allowed to own property, so no wealth was passed down to their children when they died. Poverty is a vicious cycle, and not everyone can escape it on their own when the resources of entire communities have been systematically laid to waste.

So it's attempting to redress this situation where groups of people have been locked out of participating entirely- establishing college prep programs that didn't exist in their communities when they were growing up. Improving schools in those communities that will allow students to be competitive by the time they're ready to enter the workforce or pursue higher education.

The government places moratoriums on shooting endangered species- to allow those populations time to regrow because it was our actions that left them on the brink of extinction. The government places limits on logging when deforestation has gone too far, and we face dangers of mudslides due to our actions. Affirmative action was just a similar measure, except for human beings.

Does it need to go on indefinitely? No- it may have already outlived its usefulness in some cases, and there it should discontinued. But it certainly was needed to help balance the scales a bit, and give minorities a fighting chance to learn, work and compete like the historically privileged whites.

Answer 7

Most white males I have encountered who seem to have this belief seem to be searching for a place to put the blame for their own unhappiness. I really take exception to the notion that any white males are "suffering" due to affirmative action. I think this question and the responses show that it will be needed for some time.

Answer 8

No, it's not simply revenge. There are other reasons. I don't think revenge plays a large part. It could be called Affirmative Racism, except, I guess, that might be considerered unnecessarily inflammatory - even if amusingly accurate.

Answer 9

No, I don't think so. All Affirmative Action does is ensure equality for people of all complexions and genders in the working world. Nobody is taking revenge on you.

Answer 10

It was a simple political ploy to buy minority and female voters. Its racism/sexism and even that Liberal, BJ Clinton admitted to it, when asked, saying, in effect, "Sometimes its OK to be racist or sexist", Its institutionalized racism that would be called "Jim Crowe" if the shoe was on the other foot.