|
 |
|
|
affirmative action essay
English Composition 2
Research Essay
June 7, 2004 THE 40th BIRTHDAY OF ' AFFIRMATIVE ACTION' Policies are used in the United States to increase opportunities for minorities by favoring them in hiring and promotion, college admissions, and the awarding of government contracts. Today, affirmative action is a very contoversial subject. As I grew up I heard racial slurs and echoes of racial comments. Many whites, like myself, view special treatment of minorities for past discrimination as discrimination against themselves. Even though we still have a long way to go to acheive equality of opportunity for all social groups, present efforts to repeal affirmative action are warranted and justified. In 1955, forty-three year old Rosa Park was arrested and taken to jail for sitting in the 'white-only' section on a city bus. In 1957 after a mob of protesting whites prevented nine black students from entering Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas,President Eisenhower ordered one-thousand paratroopers and ten-thousand members of the National Guard to escort them into the school. In 1960, African-Americans enjoyed neither the economic or social standing of the rest of America. They had no access to high-level employment and received less pay than whites for doing the same work. Additionally, the small number of blacks attending colleges or universities lent little optimism for their future. Socially they fared no better. "Black-only" restrooms, drinking fountains, and schools reflected the harsh reality that, in America, all men are not equal. Since the time of the founding fathers, this has hounded the American conciousness. The old American policy of avoiding the race issue would come to an end with the arrival of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's. For the first time, meaningful changes would be made towards the fulfilment of of the truly democratic nation envisioned over two-hundred years ago. However, such a change would not come easily. The term 'affirmative action' was first used by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. In 1962 the President was forced to send federal troops to Oxford, Mississippi when James Meredith became the first African-American to attend Ole Miss, and still, angry rioter left two dead. These examples depict a general feeling of racism so overwhelming that it is impossible to imagine for anyone who did not experience it. It is commonly known that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the first modern legislation to address barriers for minorities. It was an effort to provide qualified blacks with economic opportunities that legalized discrimination denied them. However, despite the simplicty of of this definition, interpretations of the act's implications and the methods to be used in order to achieve its purpose have often conflicted. Title 7 is a section of the act which specifically banned discrimination in employment and laid the groundwork for subsequent affirmative action. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson stated "You do not take a person who,for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of the
race and say 'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you are
being completely fair." This communicates the same idea as 'you have to have money to make money'. President Nixon was the first to implement federal policies designed to quarantee minority hiring. In 1969 the Nixon administration developed the Philadelpia Plan requiring that contractors on federally assisted projects set specific goals for hiring minorities. Federal courts upheld this plan in 1970 and 1971, the year I was born. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commision (EEOC) has its 40th birthday this year.The EEOC ensures the promise of opportunity. From 1965 to 1971 a "toothless tiger" helped to shape the law and educated people. In the 1970's the toothless tiger got its teeth during an era
of enforcement. In 1972 Congress gave the EEOC litigation enforcement authority. The 1980's was a period of change and reassessment. In the 1990's new laws and strategies arose. The 2000's will chart the course for the 21st century. The EEOC has encouraged the pursuit of large
and complex investigations and lawsuits that involve large employers and a significant number of affected class members. Also, the EEOC has emphasized an individual victim approach. These cases have claimed the status of being 'landmark cases' and have become facts of law. The reasons that the original 'affirmative action' policies use are too narrow in their focus and only hurt those it tries to help. Society needs to rid the problem not increase its effects. For example, affirmative action makes up for past losses. The diversity of problems and necessary reimbursements are too much for an American society to try to take on at a time when the deficit is at an all time high. American society is concerned with discrimination. The problems some Americans are ignoring is the fact that every issue in favor of affirmative action.is based on past experience generally not experienced by the person crying for help. While growing up, I had many white
friends who bragged of 'white pride'. However, none of my friends ever grouped to form organized hate groups. These friends were my group of peers. These peers never pressured or induced me to behave badly against blacks. My peers often displayed confederate flags as curtains. The confederate flags were just 'cool' to display. Even though the flags may symbolize racism, there are other meanings. I feel that the flags symbolize a cultural bonding that many Americans have missed. In my opinion, American white people lack common traditions and
cultural heritage. White Americans came on boats too. White pilgrims left their homelands in difiance of the Kings laws and the royal families' religion, or because of overwhelming poverty. Nearly all the pilgrims came to the new America to escape their heritage, or because they
refused to embrace the Catholic religion. Our country still faces issues of racism but these issues are embedded in our social mores and not our legal system. Affirmative action programs directs that when there are two qualified candidates for a given position, preference should be given to the candidate that will make our work force more reflective of the labor pool and the broader community. The debate over 'should affirmative action
come to an end?' is an ethical dilemma spread across many diverse cultures. The answers are much longer than the questions. To be respected in any business, business owners and employees need to choose to adopt standards for making ethical decisions. If I am to consider myself a patriot, it is my job to understand the history and the present issues about affirmative action. The Laura Bush Foundation grants schools throughout the United States money to update, extend, and diversify the book collections in libraries. Any school may apply, but
priority for grants will be given to those schools in which seventy-five to one-hundred percent of the school population receives free or reduced lunches. The total number of people in the United States in 2002 was 285,317,000, according the the United States census.
The poverty rate was 19.1 percent after federal income taxes. So the average percent of the population living in poverty in the United States is nearly twenty percent. Twenty percent of the population should be a significant enough number for those education grants to reach the broader communities. Minority cultural groups' ideals are now able to reach the minds of almost all of our elementary schools. Jesse Jackson accused our President Bush of defending the privledges of wealth, while trying to role back the small advances that have come because of affirmative action. Carl Levin,one of Michigans senators, said "I am glad the Supreme Court has reaffirmed that institutions
of higher education, including our military academies, can continue to promote racial diversity as important to our nation so that students and graduates will know each other, work with each other and live with each other better as neighbors and friends." Another Michigan senator,Debbie Stabenow, said "There are a lot of voices in Washington trying to move us backwards."and "Affirmative action really means all kinds of diversity." All kinds of diversity? Does that
imply all different religions? Isn't Jesse Jackson known as a religious leader? My opinion defends President Bush. I will stand behind our elected President. In closing, have you ever heard the expression 'enough is enough'? Discrimination in the
United States still exists but prior legislation has already had fourty years to be embedded in our
history. Case laws and authoritative government agencies will prevent the clock from moving backwards. In my opinion, legalized discrimination has been abolished. Systematic discrimination is not tolerated in our courts. Racism is still a concern in our country but further
attempts to 'level the playing field' should be stopped. I believe that forty years of civil rights legislation, thirty-two of which I have lived, is enough. Enough is enough!
|
|
 |
|
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
The copyright for this content entitled "affirmative action essay" has been specified by the contributor as:
All Rights Reserved
This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
|
|
|
This intel was contributed by earn5
|
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
