FREE ESSAY ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Few social policy issues have served as a better gauge of racial and ethnic divisions
among the American people than affirmative action. Affirmative action is a term referring
to laws and social policies intended to alleviate discrimination that limits
opportunities for a variety of groups in various social institutions. Supporters and
opponents of affirmative action are passionate about their beliefs, and attack the
opposing viewpoints relentlessly. Advocates believe it overcomes discrimination, gives
qualified minorities a chance to compete on equal footing with whites, and provides them
with the same opportunities. Opponents charge that affirmative action places unskilled
minorities in positions they are not qualified for and violates the Fourteenth Amendment.
Since its inception, the definition of affirmative action has been ever-changing.
Prohibiting discrimination in hiring, expanding the applicant pool to include more
minorities, compensating for past grievances, and setting quotas have all been part of
the definition. In theory affirmative action helps integrate minorities better into
society and puts them on equal footing with whites; however, in reality affirmative
action is widening the racial gap in America and therefore should be discontinued.
When the Civil Rights Law passed, minorities, especially African-Americans, believed that
they should receive retribution for the years of discrimination that they endured. The
government responded by passing laws to aide them in attaining better employment as
reprieve for the previous two hundred years of suffering. To many, these laws made sense.
After all, the white race was partly responsible for their enslavement. However, the
individual white male is not. It is just as unfair and suppressive to hold many white
males responsible for past persecution now as it was to discriminate against many
African-Americans in the generations before. Roger Wilkins, a member of the editorial
board at The Nation, concedes, "Affirmative action, as I understand it, was not designed
to punish anyone" (Wilkins 330). It is also unrealistic to believe that giving
preferential job treatment to African Americans compensates them for the years of
oppression their race has had to endure. In a article about affirmative action, Shelby
Steele, a English professor at San Jose State University, stated, "The concept of
historic reparation grows out of man's need to impose on the world a degree of justice
that simply does not exist. Suffering can be endured and overcome, it cannot be repaid"
(Steele 326). 
One of the main goals of affirmative action was to help minorities improve their social
standing. To some extent, affirmative action has succeeded in this endeavor. Today
African- Americans and other minorities hold more high paying jobs and positions of power
than when affirmative action went into affect. However, a number of recent studies and
numerous experts on the subject point out that affirmative action is more detrimental to
blacks than helpful. Shelby Steele, a expert on the friction between whites and blacks,
states in a essay, "After 20 years of implementation I think that affirmative action has
shown itself to be more bad than good" (Steele 223). The original intent of affirmative
action was to put minorities on equal footing with whites; however, today there is a
larger gap between whites and blacks than ever before. Despite the best efforts of
affirmative action to shrink the economical gap, recent studies conclude, "...only 26 to
28 percent of blacks graduate from college. The fact is that after 20 years of racial
preferences the gap between median incomes of black and white families is greater than it
was in the 1970's" (Steele 325). Affirmative action has been successful in giving the
minority population of America the idea that they will receive better treatment because
of the color of their skin. This conception, which by the way was one of the stigmas that
affirmative action set out to eradicate, has lowered minority self esteem. According to
Steele, "Affirmative action nurtures a victim-focused identity in blacks and sends us the
message that there is more power in our past suffering than in our present achievements"
(Steele 326). To many minorities, affirmative action has become another hurdle for them
to overcome.
Affirmative action supporters make one large assumption when defending the policy. They
assume that minority groups want help. This assumption, however, may not always be true.
According to Migdia Chinea-Varela, a minority screen writer, "There's something almost
insulting about these well-meaning affirmative action searches" (341). To many minority
men and women like Migdia, the acceptance of special treatment is an admittance of
inferiority. The preferential treatment that all blacks receive, not just those who need
it, causes some blacks to actually perform worse and acts as a hindrance to them getting
promotions. According to Steele, "The effect of preferential treatment puts blacks at war
with an expanded realm of debilitating doubt. ... that undermines their ability to
perform, especially in integrated situations" (Steele 326). Because of affirmative action
many qualified blacks who do receive high ranking jobs question if they would have earned
them without government assistance. Migdia latter states, "But the truth is that I've
never felt good about it. I've asked myself the obvious questions. Am I being picked for
my writing ability, or to fulfill a quota" (Chinea-Varela 342). Minorities like Migdia
want to be treated as equals, not incompetents. 
Affirmative Action was an essential part of the desegregation that occurred thirty years
ago, but it has become outdated and is no longer part of the solution. It was a temporary
plan to improve the conditions for minorities, but it is now more of a hindrance than a
help to them. Affirmative action lowers standards, causes unqualified workers to be
hired, places a stigma on minorities, lowers their confidence, and gives them the
opportunity and encouragement to idle. Affirmative action has not fulfilled its goal of
assisting lower income minorities with a history of discrimination, but instead has been
exploited by middle-class minorities, the lower income groups still remaining uneducated
and unsuccessful.