Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action


     After the United States Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, it

became apparent that certain business traditions, such as seniority status and

aptitude tests, prevented total equality in employment.  Then President, Lyndon

B. Johnson, decided something needed to be done to remedy these flaws.  On

September 24, 1965, he issued Executive Order #11246 at Howard University that

required federal contractors “to take Affirmative Action to ensure that

applicants are employed . . . without regard to their race, creed, color, or

national origin (Civil Rights).”  With the signing of that order, and without

knowing it,  President Johnson created reverse discrimination.


     Affirmative Action was created in an effort to help minorities leap the

discriminative barriers that were ever so present when the bill was first

enacted, in 1965. At this time, the country was in the wake of nationwide civil-

rights demonstrations, and racial tension was at an all time high.  Most of the

corporate executive and managerial positions were occupied by White Males, who

controlled the hiring and firing of employees.  The U.S. government, in 1965,

believed that these employers were discriminating against Minorities and

believed that there was no better time than the present to bring about change.

This action, that started with good intentions, would later lead to a different

and more complex form of discrimination.


     When the Civil Rights Law passed, Minorities, especially African-

Americans, believed that they should receive retribution for the earlier years

of discrimination 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 their race endured at the hands of the White Man.  To

many people the passing of these laws was an effort in the right direction.

Supporters of Affirmative Action asked, ”why not let the government help them

get better jobs?”  After all, the White Man was responsible for their suffering.

While this may all be true, there is another question to be asked.  Are we truly

responsible for the years of persecution that the African Americans and other

Minorities were submitted to?  I am not so sure.


       It is true that past generations of White Men are partly responsible

for the suppression of the African-American race.  However, the modern White

Male is not responsible for the past.  It is just as unfair and suppressive to

hold White Males responsible for past persecution now, as it was to discriminate

against many African-Americans in the generations before.  Why should an honest,

hard-working, open minded, White Male be suppressed, today, for past injustice?

Affirmative Action, in it's current function seems to accept and condone the

idea of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Do two wrongs really make a

right?  Definitely not, in my opinion.  If  Affirmative Action accomplished

strictly what it was set out to do, that would be fine, but all it seems to be

doing is turning around the tables,  instead of alleviating the problem at hand.


     Affirmative Action supporters make one large assumption when defending

the policy.  They assume that Minority groups want help.  This, however, may not

always be the case.  My experience with Minorities has led me to believe that

they fought to attain equality, not special treatment.  To them, the acceptance

of special treatment might be an admittance of inferiority.  They ask, “Why

can't I become successful on my own? Why do I need laws to help me get a job?”

These African Americans want to be treated as equals, not as incompetents.  In

my Idealistic world neither Black, White, Mexican, Asian, Woman or Man should

need nothing, except their skills.


      In a statement released in 1981 by the United States Commission on

Civil Rights, Jack P. Hartog, who directed the Affirmative Action Project, said:

"Only if discrimination were nothing more than the misguided acts of a few

prejudiced individuals, would Affirmati
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