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Affirmative Action in America and How Others can Apply it

by Anonymous Student,

31/03/2006

From the start of this society, people have questioned personal rights for equality because many did not receive the same equal opportunity as others did. Roughly two-hundred years of oppression shadowed over minorities in America and as time rendered on our society found affirmative action as a remedy to insure equality for minorities. Instead today, many have found affirmative action to be unconstitutional and no longer exists in many states, including the State of California. Nevertheless, enabling affirmative action would greatly affect our society in many positive aspects, which include adding to the progression of our society's acceptance of other cultures, define the rights of our peoples' nation, bring people away from discrimination and advance people towards equality.

The history and progression of affirmative action began in the liberal sixties to redress racism and sexism in the work and educational force despite constitutional guarantees and civil rights laws. President John. F. Kennedy fueled the movement towards equal opportunity and thereafter his assassination, President Lyndon Johnson took further steps towards affirmative action by signing Executive Order 11246 in 1965 to guarantee equality throughout work and educational forces that were federally financed by the government (Cahn xii). Past affirmative action has helped a small integration of these aspects into our society, but it depends on the future existence of affirmative action to deal with society's struggle with equality and discrimination.

The controversy of affirmative action creates a great division between people and their differences on the issue, but the basis of affirmative action was to aim for equal opportunity for minorities and to not discriminate against. With many different viewpoints on affirmative action, a common argument people make is the unfairness of affirmative action. In contrast, research on affirmative action has made me strongly agree that thirty years of affirmative action does not compensate nor remedy over two-hundred years of oppression, racism, and sexism against minorities in work and educational forces. No one can return two-hundred years of oppression upon minorities, yet people refuse to see its unfair reality. The government thought fixing the discrimination problem was simple as meeting a quota of minorities and women in work and educational forces because meeting a quota would balance both color and gender at the same time, elude the reality of discrimination in society. Over the years, people have held onto a negative image of affirmative action although they have not fully sought the basis of affirmative action, which includes its growth and importance in this society. Studies from the National Organization For Women show that white men hold 95% to 970f the high-level corporate jobs. Affirmative action promotes equality for every man and woman, and strives to compensate for past discrimination against minorities, but society has lacked that equality for men and women who seek it. Not many look at the reality of past discrimination and the process of overcoming it is slow. Enabling affirmative action repairs negative aspects of society in terms of discrimination by adding to the progression of our society's acceptance of other cultures, defining the rights of our people's nation, and bringing people away from discrimination and towards equality.
One significant way affirmative action is able to help our society is by gaining the acceptance of different cultures. Our Forefathers initial plan for this nation was to govern for the people, but to define "the people" is very unclear because of our nation's history of oppression towards minorities for over two-hundred years. People have interpreted the word "diversity" as something that only pertains to skin color. Looking back at my own personal experience, I came from a rural town on the outskirts of Sacramento. I experienced discrimination first hand because my family was the only ethnic percentage in the community. Difficulties in growing up included my struggle to make friends easily, and to distinguish myself as a young woman rather than entertainment for peers to use me as a dictionary for my [Vietnamese] language. Based solely on the color of my skin, the shape and size o my eyes and nose, I was discriminated against and in brief, I grasped onto the word `discrimination' as a powerful, and intolerable concept at a very young age. Culturally, affirmative action has fueled diversity throughout society by accepting different cultures. The beauty of this society is the melting pot that it has become. In practicing affirmative action, people will be able to see more and more cultures in the workplace or in the classrooms, establish relationships, and be comfortable around one another. In addition, more people will see that the capabilities of a person can be based on their expertise and not their ethnicity or gender.

Another way affirmative action is able to better society is by helping define the rights of every U.S. citizen. Affirmative action was established again, during the civil rights movement and long after the constitutional guarantees of every man. It was important that affirmative action would guarantee equal opportunity for people of color and women. One can argue that a minority has the same rights as any other non-minority because they are guaranteed constitutional rights, but one can argue that non-minorities do not have the full understanding of what minorities go through in their lifetime and though they are given the same rights, they are not given the same respect and equal opportunity. "Affirmative action is simply a tool in the pursuit of that enduring nation interest, equal opportunity," states President Clinton (Tomasson 15). There should not be a need to define the rights of our people if we are given equal opportunity and that is why Tomasson refers affirmative action as an absolute key tool in finding equality.

Lastly, affirmative action brings people away from discrimination and advances them towards equality. When defining an equal society, we must ask if our society is representing every man and woman, including minorities. Affirmative action is able to give people this equal opportunity while compensating for past discrimination for minorities. Because affirmative action no longer exists in many states, our educational systems provide minorities with programs that help deal with the deficiency that they might go through such as financial support. One example of these types of programs is the Equal Opportunity Program that helps people of all color that do not have sufficient amount of funds for college. With this program, there is a generous amount of award money that is granted to EOP students to help pay for books and miscellaneous. Guidance counselors in each major department help students with any problems they may have in or outside of school. The problem today is, funds are being cut for many equal opportunity programs and this causes a decrease in equality for minorities striving for a good career. Affirmative action allows us to bring attention to the reality of discrimination in our society and actually try to remedy our illness of discrimination.

Rather than resting affirmative action, this movement should move forward in reshaping our society's views on equalizing one person to the next, regardless of color, religion or gender. It was established in the 1960s to redress the movement against discrimination at the same time as the civil rights movement and constitutional rights were said to guarantee equality for all citizens, but has been denied of any constitutional amenities. Affirmative action strongly affects our society progress to accept all different cultures, help define the rights of our people's nation, and bring people away from discrimination and towards equality. Discrimination is a word people of color have gone through for too many years and the problem becomes heavier everyday. Affirmative action in our America will help establish a greater equality for minorities.