There are thousands of examples of situations where people of color, white women, and working class women and men of all races who were previously excluded from jobs or educational opportunities, or were denied opportunities once admitted, have gained access through affirmative action. When these policies received executive branch and judicial support, vast numbers of people of color, white women and men have gained access they would not otherwise have had. These gains have led to very real changes.
Affirmative action programs have not eliminated racism, nor have they always been implemented without problems. However, there would be no struggle to roll back the gains achieved if affirmative action policies were ineffective. Affirmative action is not about opening opportunities for unqualified individuals, but instead is designed to increase the number of qualified applicants for employment, no matter what gender or race they may happen to be. ” Affirmative action is not about quotas.
It’s an attempt to open more opportunities for women and people of color through aggressive recruitment and outreach greater access to academic institutions and the work place and not exclude people on the asis of race or gender (Holhut3). Affirmative action in the employment status consist of publicizing job notices in places where everyone can see: recruitment: eliminating discriminatory hiring and setting goals towards increasing opportunities for those that were previously discriminated against.
However, Affirmative action programs not only take steps for women and minorities, but also disabled veterans, and emotionally and economically disabled. Affirmative action measures were established to fight racial discrimination. The ederal government mandated affirmative action programs to redress racial inequality and injustice in a series of steps beginning with an executive order issued by president Kennedy in 1961 (Thomas4). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made discrimination illegal and established equal employment opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, cultural differences, colo or religion.
Subsequent executive orders in particular executive order11246 issued by President Johnson in September 1965, mandated affirmative action goals for all federally funded programs and moved monitoring and enforcement of ffirmative action programs out of the White House and into the labor department (Holhut3). These policies and the government action that followed were a response to the tremendous mobilization of African Americans and white supporters during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s pushing for integration and racial justice (Kivel2). An area that affirmative action address is selective hiring programs.
Many times people of color have been excluded from hiring pools, overly discriminated against, unfairly eliminated because of inappropriate qualification standards, or have been endered unqualified because of the discrimination in education and housing. Court decisions such as Adarand versus Pena dealing with affirmative action issues have been rendered illegal these qualifications that are not relevant to ones ability on the job. They have mandated hiring goals so that those employed begin to reflect the racial mix of the general population which workers are drawn (Thomas3).
There is a mandate that is choosing between qualified candidates; the hiring preference should be for a person of color when past discrimination has resulted in whit people receiving selective treatment. Sometimes people argue that affirmative action means that the most qualified person will not be hired. However, it has been demonstrated many times in hiring and academic recruitment that test and educational qualifications are not necessarily the best predictors of the future success. This does not mean unqualified people should be hired.
It means qualified people who may not have the highest test scores or grades, but who are ready to do the job may be hired(Lopez5). Employers have traditionally hired people not only on test scores, but personal appearance, personal connections, school ties and on ace and gender preferences, demonstrating that talent or desirability can be defined in many ways. These practices have all contributed to a segregated work force where whites hold the best jobs, and people of color work in the least desirable and most poorly paid jobs.
Affirmative action policies serve as a corrective to such patterns of discrimination. They show progress toward equal representation and place the burdens of proof on organizations to show why it is not possible to achieve it. It has been argued that affirmative action benefits people of color who are already ell off or have middle class advantages, not the poor and working class people of color who most need it. A more careful observation reveals that affirmative action programs have benefited substantial numbers of poor and working class people of color.
Access to job training programs, vocational schools, and semi-skilled and skilled blue-collar, craft, pink-collar, police and firefighter jobs has increased substantially through affirmative action programs. Even in the professions, many people of color who have benefited from affirmative action have been from families of low income and job status. Another argument raised against affirmative action is that individual white people, especially white males, have to pay for past discrimination and may not get the jobs they deserve.
It is true that specific white people may not get specific job opportunities because of affirmative action policies and may not suffer as a result. This lack of opportunity is unfortunate; the structural factors which produce a lack of decent jobs needs to be addressed. It must not be forgotten that millions of specific people of color have also specific job opportunities as a result of racial discrimination. To be concerned only with the white applicants who don’t get the job, and not with the people who don’t, is showing racial preference (Greenberg1).
But how true is it that white males are being discriminated against or are losing out because of affirmative action programs? If one looks at the compositions of various professions such as law, medicine, architecture, academics, and journalism, or at corporate management, or at higher-level government positions. If one looks overall at the average income levels of white men immediately notices that people of color are still ignificantly underrepresented and underpaid in every category.
People of color don’t make up the proportions of these jobs even remotely equal to their percentage of the population. They don’t earn wages comparable to white men. White men are tremendously over represented in almost any category of work that is highly rewarded except for professional athletics. According to a 1995 government report, white males make up only 29 percent of the workforce, but they hold 95 percent of senior management positions (“Affirmative action4″).
Until there is both equak opportunity and air distribution of education, training and advancement to all Americans, affirmative action for people of color will be necessary to counter the hundreds of years of affirmative action that has been directed at white males. It cannot reasonably be argued that white males are discriminated against as a group if they are over represented in most high status categories (Scoggins6). Affirmative action programs have been effective in many areas of public life because they opened up opportunities for people who would not otherwise have them, ncluding white women and men.
Attacks on affirmative action are part of a systematic attempt to roll back progress in ending discrimination and to curtail a broad social commitment to justice and equality. Attacking affirmative action is self-destructive for all of us except the rich (” Affirmative Action”). Affirmative action is not a cure-all. It will not eliminate racial discrimination, nor will it eliminate competition for scarce resources. Affirmative action programs can only ensure that every one has a fair chance at what is available.