Should Affirmative Action go?

Question

Yes. so-called minorities can't expect white people (particularly white males) to look after them forever.

Sweet T- why does affirmative Action have a place in America?

Answer 1

YES, let it go.
if you can't do the job then you should not get the job!

Answer 2

I wish people would just get over the idealism already.

I also wish people would stop implying that affirmative action only help black people at the expense of white people.

First, we all do not have equal protection under the law (as naively postulated) because law is a social construct grounded in notions about gender, class, and race.

Secondly, affirmative action may not the best policy for trying to represent groups that have been underrepresented in the past, but until this country seriously makes a sincere effort to provide a BETTER alternative, then I'm for keeping it.

Third, the group that has benefitted the most from affirmative action have not been black people, it has been white women who were able to attend more post-secondary institutions as well as graduate and professional schools and hold more mid and senior level positions in corporate America than any other minority (except secular Jews).

But affirmative action has ALWAYS benefitted the white male throughout history. I recommend some of you read When Affirmative Action was White by Ira Katznelson. I personally have not read it, but I know that from U.S. History, laws and provisions like the Homestead Act and the GI Bill were created with the white male in mind.

Sorry for the long post, but I am so sick of the same cliches being thrown out over this issue. We don't need affirmative action? Okay, then explain how Asian-Americans (who have the highest median income, due partly to the industries they work in) don't hold more senior positions in the Fortune 500 companies? Or why white males, when you control for the level of education and work experience still earn an higher average wage (not income, there is a difference) over other minority males? I can somewhat understand the wage/salary disparity among the genders, but the races? Hmmm.

Answer 3

I believe that affirmative action should go, however it is not on the basis that white males look after blacks or other minorities. I personally believe that affirmative action only allows the various groups of people within the US and around the world to believe that "minorities" require additional help regardless of ability.

Answer 4

Part of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream was that some day in America, black men would be judged by the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin.

As long as affirmative action is in place that dream will never come to fruition. Affirmative action forces employers to have to hire based on race because affirmative action says your work force should reflect the population around where you work. Which means hiring by percentage for each race.

As a member of the human race, I am offended that I am rarely judged by my performance and the results I produce. Instead, I am judged by the pigment of my skin, of which I had no control or decision making power over in the first place.

I am absolutely convinced, that if a person who is willing to work and produce is placed in a situation where only their efforts, conduct and character are judged and are being treated fairly, they WILL succeed. I do not know of anyone who wakes up in the morning with a desire to fail, and then sets out to fail. I think our society has grown and matured to the point that affirmative action has become obsolete.

In closing, I don't think affirmative action will be repealed. This is one of those things, that everyone (including minorities) down deep in their heart of hearts knows needs to go, but will not do away with it out of fear. I have complete faith in ALL Americans and their ability to succeed.

Answer 5

HUH? White Males looking after 'minorities'? What are you thinking? I don't know about looking after them, as much as it is looking out for themselves. Affirmative action didn’t benefit anyone. It gave plausible deniability to companies that used the exact same racist hiring practices by pointing out the fact that they met their quotas. It gave whites a chance to continue complaining about how black people 'always complain'. And it gave them brand new scenarios to invent to "prove" it, that were just as bogus and prejudice as all the others. Brothas were hired because they were black enough to hit quota, and it gave the impression that blacks were incompetent because it is easy for corporate America to be prejudiced against a group of people they never wanted to be involved anyway, and had no intention of associating with. Affirmative action gave corporate America the excuse it needed to feign equality in the workplace while giving itself leverage over the people who would see through the false front. Yes it should stop, but the concept is dead. It's just the practice still enforced. Employers know that the same benefits can apply in a much more powerful and productive way if they continue the same practices now that America knows that affirmative action is essentially dead and 'unheard of'.

Answer 6

Here, here. I believe that such an institution as that of "affirmative action" serves as a detriment rather than an aid to minorities. One should progress through society by virtue of his/her hard work and diligence. A corporation if run effectively does not look at two employees and say; "Look here, this fellow works hard and does what is necessary to progressive further. This fellow here however does not seem quite so capable, but he is a minority so let us promote him rather than the other." If this is done then the individual who has been promoted shall find his/herself in a situation they have not been prepared for; while at the same time, punishing the more capable individual for not being the right skin color. Minorities are just as capable, so treat them as such and play no favoritism.

Answer 7

look after them? Minorities are not animals who need tending to jerk. I am not going to debate about affirmative action, which i do believe has a place in this country, with someone who doesn't even have an intelligent argument.

Answer 8

I am part of a "minority" and I feel that yes, it should go.
If we are equal, we are equal, and no group (including whites) should have preferred treatment over another. (And I only mention whites because you do.)
But for the record, no white male has EVER had to look after me. I can do that on my own.

Answer 9

I do not understand why color is such a big issue with people of European origin. Abolish all such practices, in any case in the year 3000 the entire population of earth will be off brown color.

Answer 10

No.

I have worked in both Big Five environments and Fortune 500 companies. Racism is ALIVE and WELL in corporate America.

Answer 11

it's out dated and it's time for it to change. what is going to happen when whites become the minority in a couple of years ?