Preview

Proxy War

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
528 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Proxy War
In his article Proxy War, Author Michael Brus claims that affirmative action and racial discrimination are one in the same. He says that the main difference between the two is that affirmative action singles out minorities for desirable things while racial discrimination singles them out for something undesirable. to a certain degree, I can agree with him, but this debate is a lot more complex and is not as simple as white or black. Racial profiling is a very real problem, and many people have claimed to have experienced it, especially in the black and hispanic communities. Nobody should ever be judged or face discrimination by the color of their skin. But, opponents to the practice of affirmative action claim reverse racism towards white people. Affirmative action is a practice that is intended to promote fairness to minorities in this country by stating that individuals are created equally and they should not be judged by their race or gender. Using for an example jobs and university applications, minorities applicants should be considered as an acceptable choice as a white applicant. This is of course taking into consideration their background and experience. In other words,affirmative action is intended to give minorities that have experienced disadvantages an opportunity to succeed. Although this practice has good intentions, this is not what happens.
While this practice is meant to support individuals, it is resulting in it being solely based on race. Imagine this hypothetical scenario, a white person,applying for a job, lived in poverty his whole life, worked multiple jobs to support their mom’s drug addiction and the care of four siblings. Then here comes a latino man applying for the same job, who grew up wealthy his entire life, and has had an easy life and lands the position strictly because he is Latino. By means of affirmative action, you assume that minorities are the disadvantage ones, aren't you racially profiling them? When the black guy has

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Affirmative action was a policy set into place to even the playing field for all races, religion, gender or national origin. In his article “Whites Swim in Racial Preference” Tim Wise gives an in depth view of racial preference of Whites versus any other race. Even though affirmative action has been set into place, Whites still have the advantage to excel since they are given more opportunities and advantages simply because of their race. One of the examples that is used by Tim Wise is the point systems that is used by the University of Michigan has set up an even though 20 additional points for minority groups even after it is all totaled…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Answer: Affirmative action is when minorities and women HAVE NOT been represented in the workforce as having an equal employment opportunity.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Affirmative action applies to actual steps that are designed to not only lessen discrimination- whether in education, employment, or contracting- but also to try compensate the effects of past discrimination. The main motive for affirmative action is the Constitutional principle of equal opportunity, which believes that people with equal abilities should have the same opportunities. Affirmative action is a term of prevalent application relating to government policies that directly or indirectly compensate professional schools and admission to universities, jobs, and other social goods and resources to persons on the basis of membership to particular protected groups in order to pay back those groups for past discrimination caused by the society as whole. Affirmative actions are steps taken to amend conditions effecting from past discrimination or violating a law, especially with connection to employment. Gerapetritis (2011,25) writes that it is a program , in which is a management tool is intended to assure equal opportunity in hiring, recruiting, promoting, training, and compensating individuals. Affirmative action programs distinguish broadly in the extent to which they strive to stop discrimination. Some programs might solely associate reviews of the hiring process for minorities, women, and other affected groups. While other affirmative programs even completely prefer members of affected groups. In such programs, they use minimum job requirements to make a pool of qualified applicants so that members of the affected group are given a chance.…

    • 1463 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines Affirmative Action as “positive steps taken to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business from which they have been historically excluded. When those steps involve preferential selection—selection on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity—affirmative action generates intense controversy.” (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2001)…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In this essay I will expose what I see as the shortcomings of the current…

    • 1733 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative action is a policy with a set of criteria’s designed to ensure equality for all groups within a society to provide everyone with an equal opportunity to obtain success. Affirmative action in American society is renowned for allowing minorities and women a chance for equal access to education and a chance to access equal employment. Affirmative action can lead to the adoption of quotas for jobs and colleges in which a certain amount of potential employees or appointments must come from formerly underrepresented groups of people.…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rowan's Argument Analysis

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Affirmative action amounts to positive discrimination designed to correct historical injustices against the disadvantaged in the society. Affirmative action main focus is to work on correcting the social injustices by adjusting the characteristics that were used to advance the discrimination.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rocket boys

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why do we need affirmative action? It is common sense to say that people should naturally be judged on their merits, without consideration of other factors such as race, gender, or ethnicity, or even any other factor that does not relate directly to professional or academic performance. However, throughout the history of the United States, and even today, people are judged on these criteria, even at an unconscious level. At the founding of the United States, white men had the social and economic advantage, and enjoyed numerous rights and opportunities that women or other minority groups did not possess. Fast forward to today, the balance of social and economic advantage still tips in the favor of Caucasian males. At the end of the 20th century, 31% of white males held professional jobs compared to the meager 16% of African Americans according to aclu.org. Another thing to consider is based on statistics done by Cornell University, women own 39% of contracting firms, however only less than 3% of federal contracts go to firms owned by women, and then less than 10% of state contracting dollars end up to their…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Affirmative action is an instituted list of policies to make up for past discrimination against groups based on race, religion, national origin, and gender. From its beginning, affirmative action has given minority groups opportunities for employment, promotion at work, new business ownership, school admission, scholarships and financial aid. President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced affirmative action during the civil rights era in 1965. It was used "as a method of redressing discrimination that had persisted in spite of civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees." (Brunner) The purpose of affirmative action was to end racial inequality and set a level playing field for all races. Affirmative action allowed minorities a fair chance to pursue education and career advancement. It originally was intended for temporary assistance and was supposed to crush existing racially biased ideas in society. What was once a noble and valiant idea in 1965…

    • 1618 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Affirmative action is clearly favoring minority groups, and giving them an undeserved advantage. An example of this discrimination is clear, a statistic from the New York Times shows that after affirmative action was banned in California, the number of Hispanics and blacks accepted at UC Berkeley, and UC LA dropped sharply. Every time a college bases its decision on who to accept based on race or color, the racial tensions between minorities and majorities will rise in American…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Affirmative Action

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As stated by www.balencedpolitics.org, It demeans true minority achievement; example – Success is labeled as a result of affirmative action rather than hard work and ability. To me this deems so true. When it comes to getting a job, companies should not have to worry about pleasing the laws of this government when it comes to equal rights but instead should give jobs out to the more qualified people. I am not stating at all that all Caucasians are more qualified then African Americans, Hispanics, etc. I just think that the person who's most qualified, regardless of ethnic background or skin color should get the job, end of story. The first time I learned about Affirmative…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    essays

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In my opinion, affirmative action just gets in the way of actual change in the realm of discrimination. Policies that segregate the minority from the majority only widen the gap between the two groups and that is what affirmative action most effectively does. It should be eliminated.…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In a country the size of the United States, different races and different views on the equality of each race exist. Affirmative Action was a put in place by the Federal Government to help conserve the protection of rights towards minorities, whether it be determined by race or sex, during the time after the civil war when they people were still being discriminated upon based on these two aspects. Affirmative Action created a situation that allowed minorities a guaranteed spot within a workplace or a school, eliminating racism and allowing the minority to be recognized for its accomplishments. This may not have been the best solution for the problem but at the time it was put in place it was a necessary mean to try and correct an evil. Affirmative Action is still in place today even though it shouldn’t be. It creates discrimination by trying to get rid of it. Administration officers and CEO’s of companies feel the need to fill the percentage that they were given so they turn their backs on more qualified persons. With Affirmative Action, a white man may lose a chance to get a job or go to college, simply because the position must be filled with a black man, to meet the designated quota assigned. Also majorities look down on the minorities who get into colleges and get jobs over them by saying that they only got the job because someone just needed to get the spot filled so that they wouldn’t get shut down. This makes the minority feel worse about themselves because really don’t know if they got into the school or got the job based on their own merits or not. People in todays society want to make the most money possible so they will hire who they believe will do the best job whether it be an African American woman or a middle aged white man. Affirmative Action was a necessary step to correct the wrong doings of our ancestors, but is not the correct solution,…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Affirmative Action - 10

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Affirmative action has been used throughout history to decide whether or not "minority" status American citizens should have a voice. Affirmative action refers to an action or policy favoring those who tend to suffer from discrimination in relation to employment, education etc. This topic has been very controversial in both the past and present. It has been commonly used in the college acceptance process in order to include different cultures and ethnicity's into schools. This process should be used, to a degree, to help minorities make better future for themselves. Affirmative action should be used because it gives people or students a better chance to reach their full potential in career, a higher chance of moving out of poverty, it helps liberate them from oppression and gives them a chance to win the race commonly won by the majority.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Affirmative action works. It gives minorities the opportunity to work in an environment that they may not have been considered for previously. However, it is slowly bringing racism back into the foray again, certainly it is far different from the slave days or the civil rights days but it is there none-the-less. Job and school placement are no longer based strictly on merit. Now within…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays