Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Affirmative Action :: Affirmative Action Racism History Essays
Affirmative Action Introduction      Though affirmative action may have been valuable in the beginning, it has long since outlived any usefulness it may have had. That it ever had any usefulness is questionable, based on comparisons between overall black populations socioeconomic standing today and that of the mid-1960’s. Today, it is little more than a scapegoat behind which inferior performance can hid very well, and that scapegoat’s upkeep has become far too extravagant in today’s society.               â€Å"We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock my brothers and sisters--Plymouth Rock landed on us,†Malcolm X’s observation is brought out by the facts of America history. Snatched from their native land transported thousands of miles--in a nightmare of disease and death and sold into slavery blacks were reduced into the legal status of farm animals. Even after emancipation, blacks were segregated from whites--in some states by law, in social practice almost everywhere. American apartheid continued for another century. In 1954 the Supreme Court declared state compelled segregation in schools unconstitutional, and it followed up that decisions with others that struck down many other forms of official segregation. Still discrimination survived, and in most southern states blacks were either discouraged or prohibited from excersizing their rights to vote. Not until the 1960’s was compulsory segregation finally and effectively challenged. Between 1 964 and 1968 congress passed the most sweeping legislation since the end of the Civil War. It banned discrimination in employment, public accommodation,( hotels, motels, restaurants, etc.), and housing; it also guaranteed voting rights for blacks in areas suspected of disenfranchising blacks. Today, several agencies in the federal government excursive sweeping powers to enforce these civil rights measures.      After the United States congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it became apparent that certain business traditions, such as seniority, status and aptitude tests, prevented total equality in employment. The president Lyndon B. Johnson decided something needed to be done to remedy these flaws. On September 24, 1965 he issued an Executive Order #11246 at Howard University that required federal contractors â€Å"to take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed... without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.†When President Johnson signed that order, he enacted one of the most discriminating pieces of legislation since the Jim Crow laws were passed.      Affirmative action was first created in effort to help minorities leap the discriminative barriers that were ever so present when the bill first took action in 1965.
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