President John F. Kennedy's Arguments Against Affirmative Action

Paper 3 Affirmative action is the concept of giving favorable treatment to minorities in admission to universities and/or employment. It was developed to correct years of discrimination and give the disadvantaged minorities an extra boost to compete with the majority. The current state of diversity as compared that of 50 years ago indicates that the affirmative action policy has been a success. Some people think that since there is diversity in education and employment field, affirmative action is no longer needed and will lead to more problems than it has solved (Messerli). President John F. Kennedy, as a result of the 1964 Civil Rights Movement, introduced affirmative action with his Executive Order number 10925. The order commanded
the federal contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that the candidates are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (Wilcher). It was established to crate an equal and fair platform for minorities to compete with the majority. After more than 50 years in existence, affirmative action is still a controversial and important issue. Some believe that it has positively affected the education and employment system and still is while others believe that it is reverse discrimination and is unfair towards particular groups of people. In American society, there is a concept called white privilege.
Some people believe that it is easier for a white male to succeed in society compared to the minority. Supporters of affirmative action believe that since for the first several centuries of America’s existence white men discriminated against blacks, Native Americans and other minorities, used them for unpaid labor, took land from them, subjected them to brutal punishment, and denied most of the fundamental rights provided by the Constitution, affirmative action is an appropriate way to compensate the descendants for the wrongs done to their ancestors. In 1964 Civil Rights Movement, African Americans achieved equal rights politically but still suffered discrimination socially. To minimize the white privilege and racial discrimination, affirmative action was introduced. It helped in reducing the social and economic gap between minorities and white men (Messerli). Affirmative actin tries to bring up the representation of certain minority groups in certain fields of employment and education where they are usually underrepresented (U.S Department of Labor). Due to years of discrimination and racial problems, passing an equal rights law will no end racism. Affirmative action gives a chance and an early boost to the minorities to compete in the society where white men have already gotten a head start (Messerli). Creating a diverse environment in colleges and work place, will help towards fixing the racial
issues in the country. According to Raina Kelley, journalist at Newsweek and ESPN, “Diversity challenges assumptions and forces people to rely on personal experience instead of stereotype. It's hard to think black people are inferior if they're sitting next to you in freshman English or in a conference room” (Kelley). Many believe that racism is a product of ignorance and interacting with diverse and different people will minimize racism. Affirmative action disables the employers and colleges to discriminately pick a certain race or gender. It forces they employers to employ at least a small percentage of minority members despite their personal views or feelings. After years of unfair treatment and unequal rights, the least we can do is to give the minorities a fair chance at education and employment. Some people believe that affirmative action is hypocritical and unfair. It is hypocritical because the very same issue it was established to solve became the product of this concept. Affirmative action is reverse discrimination as it gives unfair and unequal opportunities to a certain race opposed to the minority or ethnic races. An average white male has to work harder than the others just to achieve, the same results. Whites who work harder or are more qualified can be looked over just because of their skin color (Messerli). For example, studies show that minorities get from 150 to 300 points of boost on their SAT exams. This means that if you are a white student, you will be required to score 150 to 310 more points than minorities on SAT to get the same consideration or recognition from the colleges (Slater). In 1995, the University of Michigan because of the race quota rejected Jennifer Gratz, a top Michigan student. Later in 2003 decision of Gratz v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan’s policy of using racial quotas and affirmative action in admissions (Wilcher). Using affirmative action is like bombing for peace. It’s hypocritical to use reverse discrimination and give unfair and unequal opportunities to a certain group of people because of the color of their skin. Affirmative action also affects minorities in a negative way, as it lowers the standards of success for them.
A minority student will not go for a 4.0 GPA if he knows that he only needs to get 3.5 GPA to get the benefits of a 4.0 students (Messerli). It handicaps the minority and permanently keeps them behind the majority in reality, which shows the hypocrisy of this whole concept. “After affirmative action programs were outlawed in Texas in 1995, the University of Texas Law School Latino student enrollment has been cut in half.” (Affirmative Action Facts). This shows that after 30 years of affirmative action, people from Latino community were still dependent on the affirmative action to get enrolled. It is condescending to minorities to imply that they need affirmative action to succeed. A student will never know that whether he got enrolled because of his skills or skin. It demeans true minority achievement as it automatically labels all minority success on affirmative action rather than hard work, ability and dedication (Messerli). Affirmative action does not solve the problem but just temporary ignores it or worse, creating a even bigger problem because one thing that experts emphasize on affirmative action is that once it’s established, its near impossible to end or stop
it. In conclusion, even though affirmative action factually decreased discrimination by giving the minorities help in succeeding in employment and education field, it is itself considered discriminatory and unfair by some people as it is forcing unequal standards on one race.