Affirmative Action Essay -- essays research papers

Since the beginning of time there has been prejudice and hate. Adam and Eve hated snakes. Jews hated Jesus. Sugar Ray Leonard hated Tommy Hearns. Prejudice is caused by two things: ignorance and hate. Prejudice and mistreatment has existed in this country, first with American-Indians and then later with African-Americans and many other minorities. The selling and trading of slaves is a shadow that has been hanging over the heads of white Americans for two centuries. Some people feel that it is the white-American's duty to pay the black population back. According to Spencer Perkins, co-author of More than Equals: Racial Healing for the Sake of Gospel, in reference to the long-standing racial divisions in America, "It took us 300 years to separate ourselves like this, it's going to take a while to undo that." (Perkins 26) Affirmative action is designed to give minorities, such as blacks, the opportunity to maintain jobs in our prejudicial society. For those who support Affirmative Action they define it as a way to give the disadvantaged a chance at the "American dream." Those who do not support Affirmative Action define it as giving minorities positions that they are not qualified to have. As Mr. Khalenberg, head editor of The New Republic says, "we will still reward those who play the victim" (Khalenberg 27). Just imagine that you have gone through six years of college and have gotten your degree. You go looking for a job and even though they are tough to come by you manage to get an interview with a well-known company. The interviewer tells you that you and one other person are equally qualified and in the running for the job. You get a call later telling you that you didn't get the job because the company had to hire a minority. You would most likely be angry, right? The purpose of this paper is to show the differences in how people feel about the issues involved with affirmative action. This paper was written to give different views on affirmative action. First I will give a little background and general information on the subject. Secondly, I will show how those that are in support of affirmative action feel. I will then balance the arguement out by showing how those who oppose affirmative action feel. I will also explore the minorities that are also against affirmative action. Finally, I will tell what causes the consequences that affirmative... ...America today. Because of the horrid history of this nation, the disgust directed at "White America" is not surprising, however, it does seem surprising to many Americans that there are minorities who are against affirmative action. This country, whether we will admit it or not, was built on the blood and sweat of minorities. Therefore it should not be unexpected that minorities would like a fair share of what this country has the to offer. If this happens, maybe minorities will someday have the opportunity to walk our "streets of gold." Works Cited Fredrickson, George M. Racism : A Short History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002 Kahlenberg, Richard. "Class, Not Race." The New Republic April 3, 1995: 21-27. O’Gara, Juliane. Making Workplaces Work. Washington, DC: Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. 1995 Perkins, Spencer and Chris Rice. More than Equals: Racial Healing for the Sake of the Gospel, Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993. Rosen, Jeffery. â€Å"Is Affirmative Action Doomed?† New Republic 17 Oct. 1994: 25+ Waller, James. Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America, New York: Plenum Publishing Corp., 1998.