how do you feel about affirmative action?

Question

I'm black but I want to know how black people and other races feel? do you think it's fair? is it still needed?

also have you heard of reverse discrimination? do you think people who claim to victims of this have legit reason for lawsuits?

Answer 1

Honestly...as a white woman, yes, I believe it is still needed....I think the moment they take it away we will begin regressing to where we were prior to the 60s. Being here has shown me that hate and bigotry and oppression and prejudice are still major societal concerns in this country (USA). I sometimes wonder if we have learned a thing from the past. Very sad.

The Skeptical Christian
Grace and Peace
Peg

Answer 2

Biz Iz is right...it depends on how you define it. True "Affirmative Action" (as I learned in an Employment Discrimination class) is when a court or some other body forces an employer with a proven history of discriminating to start recruiting the people against whom it discriminated. Specifically, if you had a police dept. that with a proven history of not hiring qualified blacks, and the dept. was in a place where the labor market is 10% black, then the dept. needs to at least an effort to become 10% black. Everything else isn't really "AA", it's "diversity", which can be cool. There actual is no such thing as "reverse discrimination"...discrimination against whites is plain old "discrimination". In the education context, I think that race should get at least as much weight as geographic diversity (i.e., a white person from Montana with a 3.90 GPA is probably going to have an easier time getting into Yale than a white New Yorker with a 3.95, everything else being equal).

Answer 3

It all depends on what "affirmative action" means. If it means casting a wide net to attract an ethnically diverse workforce, I'm all for it. If it means imposing ethnic quotas or lowering standards for ethnic minorities, I'm against it. The latter formula has many more negative effects than positive ones, especially in college admissions (where minorities are granted entrance to colleges for which they are academically unprepared to succeed and drop out at drastically higher rates - how does that help anybody?). Read some of Thomas Sowell's work (Hoover Institution).

The current formulation of AA is there primarily so that white leftists can feel good about themselves while not actually doing anything of substance to help the situation. Also Read Shelby Steele's "White Guilt."

Answer 4

Affirmative action isn't perfect but it is used to level the playing field in America. If society was based on NO prejudices then it would not be needed. It's unfortunate that such a law must be created to force people to do the right thing and be fair as possible.

Answer 5

In it's purest form it was needed back in the day. In 2007 we should be beyond needing it. Frankly I don't understand why we have to acknowledge race or sex for any job, school, loans, taxes, welfare....ANYTHING.

I can't stand all the forms that ask your race or ethnic back ground. Blacks aren't black and white isn't a race! Are we all not Americans? (sorry folks from other countries here...just making a point) Do we not all bleed RED? When we all start to look people in the eye and deal with one another like humans and teach our children to be "color blind" we will all be better off.

That being said I have to admit that I get really mad when I see someone willfully playing the "race card" to get away with or do something that is just wrong. I see it at work, I see it at my children's school & I see it at community events. We should be able to address problems without getting into the color, sex or ethnic background of any of the partisapants. Don't you think?

Answer 6

It is an abhorance to equality, I will stand behind affirmative action when everyone who got a job becuase of it stands up and says they just can't compete with whites and someone lost a job just because they were black. Discrimination is discrimination and thats all there is to it and anytime you give someone preferential treatment due to skin color, that is exactly what it is. There was a time and a place for it but that is a long time past.

Answer 7

Affirmative action was necessary in the past without a doubt.
I really do not know what is still needed today.
Not being black myself I have no personal knowledge of what is needed now.Where I live and the people I know probably would probably think it is no longer needed.
We have good friend that are black and they have college educations and have good jobs but that is not always the case.If the need is still there then yes it is fair to continue.

Answer 8

There should be no need for affirmative action. A man or woman should be hired for his or her skills and paid accordingly - not based on sex or ethnic group.

To my way of thinking.., its an insult to hire an unqualified person because of skin color or sex. If I were a business owner, hiring unqualified people because if sex or race, I'd be out of business in a hurry.

It should simply be - hire the woman if she is qualified and has the skills to do the job.., hire the man if he is qualified and has the skills to do the job.., Not because she is a she or he is black or she is black.... thats (in my book) racism of the highest order.

Answer 9

As a black, I would not want to give up the gains that affirmative action has provided. HOWEVER, in principle, the idea of favoritism based on race is not helpful and is abhorrant. Booker T. Washington had the right idea.Study, assimilate, perform better than expected and your gains will be respected and permanent.

Answer 10

Martin Luther King Jr. himself said that special preference to one group is the same as discrimination against another. I understand the reason behind it, but we will never be a color blind society until all discriminatory practices are eliminated, and that includes those that that give special preference based on the color of your skin. In God's eyes we are all the same. Should we not look at everyone the same way?