Affirmative action
AFFIRMING THE PRINCIPLE OF
EQUALITY
By Terry Eastland
DURING the second half of the 20th century, the United States has made a historic effort to overcome racial discrimination and secure equality for all its citizens. At the heart of the effort is a process known as "affirmative action." Under U.S. laws all employers in both the public and private sector are required to provide "equal employment opportunity," meaning that they cannot discriminate in their hiring practices on the basis of race or sex. Affirmative action takes employment one step further, requiring that employers take specific actions that work to the benefit of blacks and members of other racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as women.
Implemented in a variety of contexts with different results, affirmative action has stirred controversy when it has allo cated benefits solely on the basis of race or gender, and most particularly when it has done so on a strictly numerical basis, setting specific quotas and timetables. Few would deny that affirmative action has given blacks access to areas that previously were closed to them, and has ac celerated integration in the workplace. But it has done so at some social and psy chic cost.
Whites – especially those who have been shunted aside in the quest for em ployment or promotion because of the workings of affirmative action – are of ten stung by what they see as a form of reverse discrimination. Blacks and oth er minority beneficiaries of affirmative action chafe at the assumption that any job advancements are the result of spe cial treatment rather than hard work. Despite these drawbacks, most Ameri cans would agree that some steps should be taken to assure that minorities have access to jobs and other opportunities on the same basis as all other citizens. The broad societal direction in favor of equality which affirmative action was originally designed to further will un doubtedly continue.
Affirmative action is historically re lated to
EQUALITY
By Terry Eastland
DURING the second half of the 20th century, the United States has made a historic effort to overcome racial discrimination and secure equality for all its citizens. At the heart of the effort is a process known as "affirmative action." Under U.S. laws all employers in both the public and private sector are required to provide "equal employment opportunity," meaning that they cannot discriminate in their hiring practices on the basis of race or sex. Affirmative action takes employment one step further, requiring that employers take specific actions that work to the benefit of blacks and members of other racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as women.
Implemented in a variety of contexts with different results, affirmative action has stirred controversy when it has allo cated benefits solely on the basis of race or gender, and most particularly when it has done so on a strictly numerical basis, setting specific quotas and timetables. Few would deny that affirmative action has given blacks access to areas that previously were closed to them, and has ac celerated integration in the workplace. But it has done so at some social and psy chic cost.
Whites – especially those who have been shunted aside in the quest for em ployment or promotion because of the workings of affirmative action – are of ten stung by what they see as a form of reverse discrimination. Blacks and oth er minority beneficiaries of affirmative action chafe at the assumption that any job advancements are the result of spe cial treatment rather than hard work. Despite these drawbacks, most Ameri cans would agree that some steps should be taken to assure that minorities have access to jobs and other opportunities on the same basis as all other citizens. The broad societal direction in favor of equality which affirmative action was originally designed to further will un doubtedly continue.
Affirmative action is historically re lated to