I always feel that white people are against affimative action while minorities (such as hispanics and blacks) are for it. I get the vibe that asian americans (in particularly east asians) have mixed feelings about this case. For those unfamiliar with affirmative action look below. From wikipedia (I got lazy): Affirmative Action is a policy or a program of giving certain preferences to certain (usually "under-represented") groups. This typically focuses on education, employment, government contracts, health care, or social welfare. It favors minorities and women in hiring and in admissions to colleges and universities in an attempt to compensate for past discrimination. Positive discrimination is illegal under U.K. law. First off I am indeed Asian American. Affirmative Action was a big deal while I applied for college. It was a big deal cause they voted to oist it in California in the late 90s. The problem has been constantly debated since then. I am against affirmative action because I feel like the policy punishes those who work harder. Why discriminate those who work harder? Why hire a black guy over a white guy (even though the white guy is more qualified) just to diversify the company? I brought this subject up because I live in San Diego and Spanish is the first language and everyday I hear someone chanting open the borders and on with affirmative action. I was just wondering how you guys feel about this topic.
Affirmative Action - 1 Affirmative action in the United States are programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. The policy was implemented by federal agencies enforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and two executive orders, which provided that government contractors and educational institutions receiving federal funds develop such programs. The Equal Employment Opportunities Act (1972) set up a commission to enforce such plans.
Affirmative Action - 2 The establishment of racial quotas in the name of affirmative action brought charges of so-called reverse discrimination in the late 1970s. Although the U.S. Supreme Court accepted such an argument in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), it let existing programs stand and approved the use of quotas in 1979 in a case involving voluntary affirmative-action programs in unions and private businesses.
Affirmative Action - 3 In the 1980s, the federal government’s role in affirmative action was considerably diluted. In three cases in 1989, the Supreme Court undercut court-approved affirmative action plans by giving greater standing to claims of reverse discrimination, voiding the use of minority set-asides where past discrimination against minority contractors was unproven, and restricting the use of statistics to prove discrimination, since statistics did not prove intent.
Affirmative Action - 4 The Civil Rights Act of 1991 reaffirmed a federal government’s commitment to affirmative action, but a 1995 Supreme Court decision placed limits on the use of race in awarding government contracts; the affected government programs were revamped in the late 1990s to encompass any person who was “socially disadvantaged.”
Affirmative Action - 5 In the late 1990s, in a public backlash against perceived reverse discrimination, California and other states banned the use of race- and sex-based preferences in state and local programs. A 2003 Supreme Court decision concerning affirmative action in universities allowed educational institutions to consider race as a factor in admitting students as long as it was not used in a mechanical, formulaic manner.
Affirmative Action - 6 In Europe, the European Court of Justice has upheld (1997) the use in the public sector of affirmative-action programs for women, establishing a legal precedent for the nations of the European Union.
Affirmative Action - 8 Affirmative Action usually start with nobel aims - address social discrimination, help the disadvantaged etc... But abuses soon set in. You cannot perform surgery with a butcher knife. The result is unhappiness all round. The people that affirmative actions are supposed to help, are not happy because the benefits are not evenly distributed, and some continued to be disadvantaged. The people that were deprived under affirmative actions are understandably upset, more so if they are not very well off in the first place. Good intentions - but .... sigh !!!!
I wonder if there are any stats about this. Did it help people at all? There must have been problems in the first place if they even passed it as a law...
