Race Based Affirmative Action Analysis

I wholeheartedly agree with Richard Rodriguez that the approach of affirmative action based on race was misguided and that a race-blind approach to affirmative action would yield the desired objectives of equality among the American population. Race-based affirmative action results in biased favoritism which brings up a new form of discrimination in the name of alleviating it. It is because of this rising discrimination in university admissions that made me feel the full effect of the existing policies on affirmative action in the U.S.

Not long ago, I witnessed a friend of mine denied a chance of admission to a certain public university even though he had similar qualifications with another student I know who was accepted in the same institution.

Both of the students were my friends, and although they made their applications at the same time, only one of them, who was from a racial minority group. Despite the fact that both of the students were from poor families, the university made assumptions that the one from the majority group was from a working class and that from the minority group was from a poor background. These assumptions are what causes affirmative action not to achieve its intended goals. Intentional decisions based on race and not merits, especially in a higher institution, increases inequality in the society. I am personally not in support for race-based affirmative action because both the minority and majority races, in some cases, have equal opportunities. For example, high school students are offered the same opportunities, and therefore, it is not fair for the majority students that when it comes to admission into the university, their minority counterparts are given an added advantage just because of their race. Isn’t this demoralizing even for the majority high school students, or doesn’t this create some enmity between the two groups? Affirmative action policies should target all the disadvantaged without regard to race. Efforts toward equality should cut across all the races for true equality to be achieved, otherwise the inequality gap will continue to increase.
Part 2
Richard Rodriguez is mistaken about affirmative action creating more tolerance because he overlooks how affirmative action may result in reverse discrimination. Affirmative action gives the disadvantage some of form favoritism. In some application areas such as the work environment, affirmative action reduces tolerance among some employees who may feel that they are being treated unfairly, despite their qualifications. Also, the stigmatization that comes with affirmative action in the work place causes the minority groups and the women to question their employment. In my experience, I witnessed an employee resign from his employment when a job promotion was given to a woman who had less experience than him in terms of the times they had been working for the company. He could not understand why such gender-based discrimination was used as a basis for deciding a job promotion. It is obvious that affirmative action does not always create more tolerance.