Stop Affirmative Action As We Know It!
Affirmative Action has been construed way beyond JFK’s original intent in 1961, and it now divides America more than it unites. Candidates for jobs should be based on Merit not race. Affirmative Action as we now have in America supports racial differences when selecting employees. Martin Luther King Jr. did not want to get a job solely because he was a black American. He wanted to get a job and have a chance at the American Dream based on his merits and personal character. Colin Powell talked about Affirmative Action in his book My American Journey, and stated “if affirmative action means programs that provide equal opportunity, then I am all for it. If it leads to preferential treatment or helps those who no longer need help, I am opposed. I benefited from equal opportunity and affirmative action in the Army, but I was not shown preference. The Army, as a matter of fairness, made sure that performance would be the only measure of advancement. Affirmative action in the best sense promotes equal consideration, not reverse discrimination. Discrimination ‘for’ one group means, inevitably, discrimination ‘against’ another; and all discrimination is offensive.” (1995, p. 608). The current Affirmative Action laws are reverse discrimination and they need to be changed. We need to make laws punishing segregationist, not laws inhibiting another form of discrimination.
Ryan M. Cahill
