Affirmative Action Is the Wrong Action

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Affirmative Action Is the Wrong Action

The United States of America has long been a country divided by race. Hate has pervaded her existence since her conception, and now today’s society is forced to deal with those issues. Minorities have suffered at the hands of the white male majority for centuries as the social activities of the old war were brought to the new colonies, only to ferment and continue to affect the lives of all who lived within her borders. There is no doubting that this continued discrimination is a problem; however, the question arises with how to deal with it. Legislation has been passed to remedy the situation, yet has been seemingly ineffective. Affirmative action has caused problems without fulfilling its purpose. The downfall of affirmative action is that it is the wrong action; the United States society has problems, including an underlying tension of hate, but they cannot be fixed by the government’s laws; they will be fixed when society changes how it views its members.

Affirmative action was put into affect with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Eastland 22). The purposes of affirmative action are noble at best-in theory they would serve to end the discriminatory practices so rampant in the American society. The goals were to repair or negate the effects of past discrimination, move towards diversity in both the private and public sector, to encourage representation in the work force, and to increase the economic levels of both women and minorities (Doverspike 3).

The outlined goals of affirmative action are what we need for this country. The United States society needs to change the way it sees and treats its citizens. The methods that affirmative action uses, however, are not conducive to ac...

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...l Perspective. Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1982.

Doverspike, Dennis, Mary Anne Taylor, and Winfried Arthur, Jr. Affirmative Action: A Psychological Perspective. Huntington: Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2000.

Eastland, Terry. Ending Affirmative Action: The Case for Colorblind Justice. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

Puddington, Arch. “Affirmative Actino Should Be Eliminated.” Affirmative Action. Ed. Bruno Leone. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1996. 70-83.

Rosenfeld, Michel. Affirmative Action and Justice: A Philosophical and Constitutional Inquiry. New Haven: Yale. 1991.

Skrentny, John David. The Ironies of Affirmative Action: Politics, Culture, and Justice in America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Urofsky, Melvin I. Affirmative Action on Trial: Sex Discrimination in Johnson v. Santa. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997.

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