Affirmative Action Essay

Civil Rights activities are believed to have led to the Affirmative Action being pioneered in the United States. The sixties era was full of Civil Rights movements and the search for minority equality. In 1961 President John Kennedy issued an executive order for the government to employ more minorities. This was the Committee on Equal Opportunity’ task to administer. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Trying to create equality President Johnson then unintentionally created reverse discrimination. In 1969 President Nixon passed the Philadelphia Order. This order was to ensure equal opportunity hiring in the federal projects that required construction workers. In 1978 the Supreme Court placed boundaries on affirmative action to ensure while providing opportunity for minorities it was not at the expense of the majority in the landmark case of Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke. In 1980 the Supreme Court again ruled that 15 percent of government contracts be held for minority contracts and that this was perfectly constitutional.

The black minorities held the white man responsible for 200 years of repression. Women blamed the males population for holding them to low paying jobs and lack of equal opportunity. Although minorities did not want preferential treatment they received it. The late sixties brought about the dismissal of white males to make room in corporations for black minorities. White males began to resent minorities in the work place due to fear of losing their lively hoods. To obtain employment the white male then needed more skills and higher education then a black minority. This started reverse discrimination between the races. Schools started requiring the white citizen to have better grades alon...

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...e the laws posted in the work place and various county and state offices making them readily available for view. Signage informs people where to file disagreements with their treatments. To ensure that al nationalities are able to understand the messages there is much of the literature written in multiple languages. Our governments go to great expense to ensure we are well informed.

In conclusion, it is my opinion that affirmative action was needed, however at times taken to the extremes. At no time should one person be put out of work or school for the benefits of another. Blacks should not be subservient to whites nor females to males. Gays citizens should be treated equal what they do in the bedroom is not for the public to speculate about. Abraham Lincoln stated all men are created equal. I am sure he was including women and persons of color in that statement.