Affirmative Action :: essays research papers

AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONI. We didnt land on Plymouth Rock, my brothers and sisters Plymouth Rock get on us Malcolm Xs observation is brought out by the facts of American History. Snatched from their native land, transported thousands of miles in a nightmare of disease and death and sell into slavery, blacks were reduced to the legal status of farm animals. Even after emancipation, blacks were segregated from whites in some states by law, and by social practice almost everywhere. American apartheid continued for another century. In 1954 the Supreme Court declared state-compelled segregation in schools unconstitutional, and it followed up that decision with others that struck down many forms of official segregation. Still, favouritism survived, and in most southern states blacks were either discouraged or prohibited from exercising their right to vote. Not until the 1960s was compulsory segregation finally and utilely challenged. Between 1964 and 1968 Congress passed the most sweepin g civil rights legislation since the end of the Civil War. It banned discrimination in employment, public accommodations (hotels, motels, restaurants, etc.), and housing it also guaranteed select rights for blacks in areas suspected of disenfranchising blacks. Today, several agencies in the federal government exercise sweeping powers to enforce these civil rights measures.But is that enough? Equality of condition among blacks and whites seems as elusive as ever. The black unemployment rate is double that of whites, and the percentage of black families living in poverty is nearly four times that of whites. besides a small percentage of blacks ever make it into medical school or law schools.Advocates of affirmative action have focused upon these differences to support their descent that it is no longer enough just to stop discrimination. Liberal Democrats feel that the damage done by three centuries of racism now has to be remedied, they argue, and effective remediation requires a policy of affirmative action. At the heart of affirmative action is the use of numerical goals. Opponents call them racial quotas. Whatever the name, what they imply is the background signal aside of a certain number of jobs or positions for blacks or other historically oppressed groups. Conservative Republicans charge that affirmative action really amounts to set aside discrimination, that it penalizes innocent people simply because they are white, that it often results in unqualified appointments, and that it ends up harming instead of helping blacks.The issue of preferences to address historical patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination has received a great deal of attention nationally.