Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action Initiatives were created in order to correct the wrongs of discrimination and to make equal opportunity a reality.

Affirmative Action Initiatives were created by law to ensure equal rights for minorities and women as it pertains to college admissions and promotions within the workforce. The affirmative action initiatives have been scrutinized since its inception. The creation of the initiatives was the first step in a long battle to end discrimination. The original intent was to be aggressive with non-discrimination and to racially integrate the workforces. Affirmative action, originally (Consortium Journal Hospitality & Tourism, 2010) implemented as a means of righting past wrongs and leveling the playing field for minorities and women, has in some circles become a bad word synonymous with quotas, privilege, and reverse discrimination. Although the Initiatives were coined and created in 1961, it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act in 1964, that racial discrimination was actually prohibited in the workforce. Those for the affirmative action initiatives view them as a positive. Opponents of the Initiatives believe the harm of racial discrimination has dissipated therefore affirmative action is not necessary. Those against believe that race based policies make minority achievement a white allowance and the failure of minorities a group stigma. Those against also believe the Initiatives were created as a means of compensating for all racially based injustices. Opponents argue that it is wrong to allow or give social benefits based on race or gender. Those in favor of affirmative action continually point out the disparities between blacks and whites as it pertains to education and employment.

There are those that believe Affirmative Action has substituted one type of discrimination for another. Opponents also have the belief that the initiatives will not help those who have in fact been harmed by the past but will go to the extreme and provide benefits for those who do not deserve them. This seems a bit contradictory of their initial belief that the harm to be remediated never occurred or if it ever occurred it has dissipated by now. Nature has created tension within equal opportunity laws. Equal opportunity laws do not look at the characteristics of an individual however, affirmative action does consider them. Affirmative action has been used by some as a means of obtaining a position in employment as well as admissions in higher learning universities. This is misuse of the original intent of the Initiatives. Employers have used affirmative action to maintain quotas within their companies. When the executive order was created in 1961 by President Kennedy, he declared that federal contractors take affirmative action to ensure applicants are employed and should be treated without regard to race, creed or, national origin. While this