Affirmative Action




Affirmative Action
Affirmative action has its roots beginning in 1961 and has been controversial ever since. It began with an executive order from President John F. Kennedy, He passed this law in an attempt to make employers hire employees without regard to a person’s race. It has evolved throughout the years to its current state now. Currently Affirmative action is used by college universities and by many employers to determine in some cases who will be admitted into college or who will be hired by an employer. There is major controversy over this law. The side for Affirmative Action argues that race should be a factor when hiring people or admitting students into college to make up for the past wrongs, such as slavery, that were done against minorities. The side that is against Affirmative Action argues that this is just reverse discrimination and that it creates even more racism. The bottom line is that the color of one’s skin should not be even a factor in determining college admittance or being hired for a job.
Minority groups, such as African Americans, have been taken advantage of for decades and even centuries. Slavery was one of the worst things to ever happen to a group of people in history. As stated by an article in USA Today “This country is not over its racist past and needs this program to help right those wrongs from the past” (James 1). I agree that slavery was bad and that our country is still racist, but that still does not make it okay just to do the opposite to white people.
People that are in support of Affirmative Action say that our society must make up for past wrongs done against certain groups of people by giving them special treatment now. They argue that since they have been almost forced into the lower class for decades, they deserve extra opportunities to better themselves. The pro Affirmative Action groups argue that there are many benefits that go with affirmative action. In schools, they say that a more diverse...