Affirmative Action Question Here?

Question

Would affirmative action be better off if it was based on class or disadvantage instead of race? In the past, black or other minority people use to be synonymous with being poor and disadvantage, but today there are affluent people of all races that exist in our society. There are also plenty of white people, who are poor and fall into a permanent underclass, who would like a chance to move up. Orphans come in all colors. I don't think there is nothing wrong with helping disadvantage people who want to help themselves, but maybe we should change the criteria from race based affirmative action to a class base one.

Answer 1

I agree 100% It's all about classism, not racism anymore.

Answer 2

You're really saying income based, and much of what "affirmative action" was all about IS income-based. It just looks like it's race-based because, to be blunt, the economic disparity is still there when you look at statistics and not people.

But affirmative action, as a concept, is pretty well a dead issue. It is not about race anymore, and one wonders if it ever really was: it is about opportunities. If you grow up in a household -- black, white or mixed -- where the adults are basically illiterate, where the TV is always on but nobody ever actually talks about what they see there, and there are no books other than your school textbooks, you are at a disadvantage relative to kids who grew up with something far better for them. It's not really the parents' fault; they are who they were shaped by their circumstances. But if there is no intervention, the next generation and the next are all disadvantaged as a result.

The Head Start program was such a success, in spite of being government sponsored, precisely because it addressed this need, and raised a generation or two (by this time) of people who appreciate that literacy and education really are what make the difference between the haves and have-nots. The only other thing they see is the haves who get it illegally, and who are always at risk for being locked up or bumped off as a result.

Face it, the Internet has changed things precisely because now the haves and the have-nots know each other. Things will never be the same, I promise you.

Answer 3

Yes! They need to look at all of the factors and then say, OK, this guy needs a boost. I am all for helping someone that needs help based on economics, but not race.

For the record, I've been a woman of color for the past 26 years and I can honestly tell you that AA has done nothing for me. I think some white people think that there's an AA truck touring black neighborhoods handing out freebies, but that isn't how it works, and actually if you do your homework, WHITE WOMEN are the main benefactors of AA. White women collect about 69% of grants and freebies, for start up companies and such. Sure, they're white, but they are also women, and women are a minority. A lot of foreigners also collect a lot of AA grants to open up stores and donut shops and the like.

I recommend all angry white men check the facts on AA and not go by what Rush Limbaugh or Bildo Reilly may be spewing...The truth is out there, if you seek it.

Answer 4

America has a long history of institutional White supremacism, going back 400 years, that pervades every aspect of our country - the government, education, business, housing ect.

And ALL White people benefit from it - even the poorest Whites.

Poor Whites are far less likely to be arrested than poor Blacks or Latinos, even though the White poor commit just as much crime as the minority poor (or more if you include crank/crystal meth/methamphetamine related crimes - the White poor have a monopoly on that!)

Poor Whites also have job opportunities that poor Blacks and Latinos don't, due to family connections and the fact that most businesses are White owned and White bosses prefer to hire White workers whenever and wherever possible.

Class based affirmative action is nonsense, since it ignores the realilty of the White economic privilige that even the poorest of Whites enjoy.

Answer 5

nicely, i ought to imagine that socioeconomic is extra ideal than race because being undesirable is the genuine handicap. regrettably, racial discrimination nonetheless exists and we ought to wish the present affirmative action. the different difficulty with affirmative action is that, in my view, does not create equality in any respect. And is arbitrary too. i ought to ideally want something that advantages actual skill and by no skill race or how a lot money you had. we do not stay in an proper international regardless of the reality that.

Answer 6

I think so, to be honest, im not just gonna stick up for it cuz im black..............blacks are in a better state than they have ever been, and although we still have such a long way to prevail now there whites that need help............But the minorities of the world still have the constant sterotypes flying around keeping them down......mexicans are this, blacks are that so until the racist things POOF i think we should keep affrimative action around based on race

Answer 7

YES. Scolarships and better condtions in poor areas

The children of Colin Powel dont need afirmative action. There are enough companies who realize its in their interst to hire such people.

affirmative action should be viewed as a means of seeding the system.

Answer 8

You have a strong point, I agree with you. It will do better for eveyone and other races in America wi ll finally quit bitchin' about it.

Answer 9

i think that anybody who had less of a chance then someone else should be given a free chance.

Answer 10

How true, someone has seen the light!