Is It Time to End Affirmative Action?

[jwoodie]

It seems to me that we have reached a crossroads in determining the future of race relations in this country. We have now experimented with race based social policies for 50 years without an appreciable reduction of the economic gap between white and black Americans. Despite the election of our first black President, these groups are more divided than ever. Is this a path we want to permanently follow?

Affirmative Action (i.e., racial preferences/protections) has never had a sound constitutional basis, being upheld primarily as a "temporary" aberration from the principle of equal protection under the law. Rather than providing a remedy for past injustices, these policies have helped create a dysfunctional subculture within the black community whose pathologies now exceed any external obstacles that may remain.

Perhaps it is time to inject a little reality into our social policies. Drugs, crime, dropping out of school and teenage pregnancies are recipes for failure, regardless of race. The fact that these are relatively much more prevalent in the black community suggests that the "special treatment" afforded black Americans during the past 50 years has been anything but helpful.

Learning the lessons of life may be easier for some than for others, but they must be learned if one is to fully participate in our society.

 

[Desperado]

Long past time to end affirmative action. Hire and Promote on the skill set of the person, and not on the color of their skin.

 

[Correll]

Hell yes and the sooner the better.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Yep, it is time to end it. Everyone should have to compete on a equal merit based system.

Period

Fuck giving woman more rights then men to get into college or the work place.
Fuck giving blacks more rights then whites

Merit all the way.

 

[The Great Goose]

They aren't a small enough minority to recieve so much help.

Beleaguered minorities are, homeless, drug addicts, transsexuals, unemployed, working poor, disabled people etc..


trouble is, theres no racial agenda in helping the underprivileged and downtrodden.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Keep in mind white women are the single greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Keep in mind white women are the single greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action.

Its time for them to earn it based on skill and hard work.

 

[aaronleland]

Keep in mind white women are the single greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action.

Why would women need AA? There's plenty of room in the kitchen for all of them.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Keep in mind white women are the single greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action.

Why would women need AA? There's plenty of room in the kitchen for all of them.

If that is all they can do without AA. Well,

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

"Is It Time to End Affirmative Action?"

This incorrectly assumes that 'affirmative action' exists as some sort of monolithic public policy entity that can be turned 'on' or 'off' like a light switch, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Affirmative action can be an appropriate, effective, and Constitutional policy tool used by both the private and public sector to voluntarily increase diversity with regard to race, gender, and sexual orientation.

There's no need to deny this policy to employers, schools, and government agencies through 'force of law; rather, allow employers, schools, and government agencies to implement affirmative action policies as they see fit consistent with affirmative action jurisprudence.

Remember that affirmative action was started by private companies reaching out to minority communities in an effort to have a more diverse workforce.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

It seems to me that we have reached a crossroads in determining the future of race relations in this country. We have now experimented with race based social policies for 50 years without an appreciable reduction of the economic gap between white and black Americans. Despite the election of our first black President, these groups are more divided than ever. Is this a path we want to permanently follow?

Affirmative Action (i.e., racial preferences/protections) has never had a sound constitutional basis, being upheld primarily as a "temporary" aberration from the principle of equal protection under the law. Rather than providing a remedy for past injustices, these policies have helped create a dysfunctional subculture within the black community whose pathologies now exceed any external obstacles that may remain.

Perhaps it is time to inject a little reality into our social policies. Drugs, crime, dropping out of school and teenage pregnancies are recipes for failure, regardless of race. The fact that these are relatively much more prevalent in the black community suggests that the "special treatment" afforded black Americans during the past 50 years has been anything but helpful.

Learning the lessons of life may be easier for some than for others, but they must be learned if one is to fully participate in our society.

Yeah. How about 20 years ago?

 

[Kosh]

It seems to me that we have reached a crossroads in determining the future of race relations in this country. We have now experimented with race based social policies for 50 years without an appreciable reduction of the economic gap between white and black Americans. Despite the election of our first black President, these groups are more divided than ever. Is this a path we want to permanently follow?

Affirmative Action (i.e., racial preferences/protections) has never had a sound constitutional basis, being upheld primarily as a "temporary" aberration from the principle of equal protection under the law. Rather than providing a remedy for past injustices, these policies have helped create a dysfunctional subculture within the black community whose pathologies now exceed any external obstacles that may remain.

Perhaps it is time to inject a little reality into our social policies. Drugs, crime, dropping out of school and teenage pregnancies are recipes for failure, regardless of race. The fact that these are relatively much more prevalent in the black community suggests that the "special treatment" afforded black Americans during the past 50 years has been anything but helpful.

Learning the lessons of life may be easier for some than for others, but they must be learned if one is to fully participate in our society.

Yes anyone touting "equality" on this board should want to abolish this...

I bet no far left drone will want to abandon this..

 

[Kosh]

"Is It Time to End Affirmative Action?"

This incorrectly assumes that 'affirmative action' exists as some sort of monolithic public policy entity that can be turned 'on' or 'off' like a light switch, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Affirmative action can be an appropriate, effective, and Constitutional policy tool used by both the private and public sector to voluntarily increase diversity with regard to race, gender, and sexual orientation.

There's no need to deny this policy to employers, schools, and government agencies through 'force of law; rather, allow employers, schools, and government agencies to implement affirmative action policies as they see fit consistent with affirmative action jurisprudence.

Remember that affirmative action was started by private companies reaching out to minority communities in an effort to have a more diverse workforce.

Here is a far left drone that proves my comments!

They want to keep the racism in the system. It is the needed fuel for their religious narratives..

Just like asking for an applicant to have a High school diploma is racist..

 

[Correll]

"Is It Time to End Affirmative Action?"

This incorrectly assumes that 'affirmative action' exists as some sort of monolithic public policy entity that can be turned 'on' or 'off' like a light switch, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Affirmative action can be an appropriate, effective, and Constitutional policy tool used by both the private and public sector to voluntarily increase diversity with regard to race, gender, and sexual orientation.

There's no need to deny this policy to employers, schools, and government agencies through 'force of law; rather, allow employers, schools, and government agencies to implement affirmative action policies as they see fit consistent with affirmative action jurisprudence.

Remember that affirmative action was started by private companies reaching out to minority communities in an effort to have a more diverse workforce.

Really? I always thought it originated with government action.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

It seems to me that we have reached a crossroads in determining the future of race relations in this country. We have now experimented with race based social policies for 50 years without an appreciable reduction of the economic gap between white and black Americans. Despite the election of our first black President, these groups are more divided than ever. Is this a path we want to permanently follow?

Affirmative Action (i.e., racial preferences/protections) has never had a sound constitutional basis, being upheld primarily as a "temporary" aberration from the principle of equal protection under the law. Rather than providing a remedy for past injustices, these policies have helped create a dysfunctional subculture within the black community whose pathologies now exceed any external obstacles that may remain.

Perhaps it is time to inject a little reality into our social policies. Drugs, crime, dropping out of school and teenage pregnancies are recipes for failure, regardless of race. The fact that these are relatively much more prevalent in the black community suggests that the "special treatment" afforded black Americans during the past 50 years has been anything but helpful.

Learning the lessons of life may be easier for some than for others, but they must be learned if one is to fully participate in our society.

Yes anyone touting "equality" on this board should want to abolish this...

I bet no far left drone will want to abandon this..

The Democrats are so wracked with guilt over their history of slavery that they're trying to enslave everyone so they won't have to feel guilty anymore.

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

"Is It Time to End Affirmative Action?"

This incorrectly assumes that 'affirmative action' exists as some sort of monolithic public policy entity that can be turned 'on' or 'off' like a light switch, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Affirmative action can be an appropriate, effective, and Constitutional policy tool used by both the private and public sector to voluntarily increase diversity with regard to race, gender, and sexual orientation.

There's no need to deny this policy to employers, schools, and government agencies through 'force of law; rather, allow employers, schools, and government agencies to implement affirmative action policies as they see fit consistent with affirmative action jurisprudence.

Remember that affirmative action was started by private companies reaching out to minority communities in an effort to have a more diverse workforce.

Nonsense.

"The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States in "Executive Order No.10925", signed by President John F. Kennedy on 6 March 1961, which included a provision that government contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." In 1967, gender was added to the anti-discrimination list. In 1989, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination stipulated (in Article 2.2) that affirmative action programs may be required of countries that ratified the convention, in order to rectify systematic discrimination. It also states that such programs "shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved."
- Wikipedia

 

[Correll]

"Is It Time to End Affirmative Action?"

This incorrectly assumes that 'affirmative action' exists as some sort of monolithic public policy entity that can be turned 'on' or 'off' like a light switch, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Affirmative action can be an appropriate, effective, and Constitutional policy tool used by both the private and public sector to voluntarily increase diversity with regard to race, gender, and sexual orientation.

There's no need to deny this policy to employers, schools, and government agencies through 'force of law; rather, allow employers, schools, and government agencies to implement affirmative action policies as they see fit consistent with affirmative action jurisprudence.

Remember that affirmative action was started by private companies reaching out to minority communities in an effort to have a more diverse workforce.

Nonsense.

"The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States in "Executive Order No.10925", signed by President John F. Kennedy on 6 March 1961, which included a provision that government contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." In 1967, gender was added to the anti-discrimination list. In 1989, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination stipulated (in Article 2.2) that affirmative action programs may be required of countries that ratified the convention, in order to rectify systematic discrimination. It also states that such programs "shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved."
- Wikipedia

And more.

"In 1969 the Nixon administration initiated the "Philadelphia Order". It was regarded as the most forceful plan thus far to guarantee fair hiring practices in construction jobs. Philadelphia was selected as the test case because, as Assistant Secretary of Labor Arthur Fletcher explained, "The craft unions and the construction industry are among the most egregious offenders against equal opportunity laws . . . openly hostile toward letting blacks into their closed circle." The order included definite "goals and timetables." As President Nixon asserted, "We would not impose quotas, but would require federal contractors to show 'affirmative action' to meet the goals of increasing minority employment."[26]

It was through the Philadelphia Plan that the Nixon administration formed their adapted definition of affirmative action and became the official policy of the US government. The plan was defined as "racial goals and timetables, not quotas"

 

[jwoodie]

 

[idb]

"Is It Time to End Affirmative Action?"

This incorrectly assumes that 'affirmative action' exists as some sort of monolithic public policy entity that can be turned 'on' or 'off' like a light switch, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

Affirmative action can be an appropriate, effective, and Constitutional policy tool used by both the private and public sector to voluntarily increase diversity with regard to race, gender, and sexual orientation.

There's no need to deny this policy to employers, schools, and government agencies through 'force of law; rather, allow employers, schools, and government agencies to implement affirmative action policies as they see fit consistent with affirmative action jurisprudence.

Remember that affirmative action was started by private companies reaching out to minority communities in an effort to have a more diverse workforce.

On the other hand...it was Affirmative Action that invented Ben Carson...

 

[jwoodie]

Affirmative Action was originally sold as a remedy for those who had been held back by previously "legal" discrimination. As well intentioned as it may have been, it quickly morphed into a system of racial quotas and preferences that bore little relation to its original goal. Here is a real-world example:

In the early 1970's I was a supervisor in a State agency that had recently expanded its operations. Mindful that our unit was predominantly white, we set out to invite applications at colleges with greater numbers of non-white students. As a result of this effort, we interviewed and ranked 12 qualified applicants for six available positions. The top four were Black, followed by two White applicants. The remaining four White and two Black applicants were not suitable for these positions. Accordingly, we offered positions to these top six applicants. The Affirmative Action Coordinator for the agency then intervened and forced us to withdraw the offers to the two White applicants and give them to the remaining Black applicants. As our good faith efforts had determined, these last two applicants were unable to do the required work and constantly sowed dissension within the office by blaming racism for their poor evaluations. They were finally let go, but the damage had been done. No longer were we a group of mutually respecting professionals, but a segmented collection of quota fillers. Not only were all management decisions now viewed with suspicion, a grievance was later filed by one of the original Black applicants because he was not promoted to a supervisory position, even though he was not eligible due to a lack of required time in grade! (A Filipino man with the required experience was appointed to this position.) Thus was the road to hell paved with good intentions...

Anyone who believes that Affirmative Action, as practiced today, is anything other than a system of racial (and gender/lifestyle) preferences and quotas is blind to reality. How much longer can we carry its counterproductive burdens of suspicion between individuals and distrust between various segments of our society?