Affirmative Action - Essay 13

Affirmative Action


Robert K. Miller, author of The Informed Argument, describes affirmative action as, “an active effort to help members of historically oppressed groups gain admission to American universities and entrance into a diverse range of jobs previously reserved for white males” (145).   Miller also states that this was the thinking of the 1970s civil rights movements (144).   Things have changed throughout these past 30 years.   Society’s way of thinking has changed so much that logical protest has risen against affirmative action by both protesters and supporters of the action alike.   Constance Horner, a quest scholar in the Brookings Governmental Scholars program and publisher of   “Reclaiming the Vision,” which can be found in The Informed Argument, is an opponent of supporting affirmative action.   Michael Tomasky, author of the excerpt, “Reaffirming the Vision,” which can be found in The Informed Argument, from his book, Left for Dead: The Life, Death, and Possible Resurrection of Progressive Politics in America, is a supporter of affirmative action.   Proving that affirmative action needs to be abolished or improved is something to debate, which Horner and Tomasky do in their written opinions.


Constantine Horner explains that affirmative action is causing the opposite result today from its intentions 30 years ago.   The loss of jobs for white Americans has opened the floodgates of protest.   The mere suggestion of a reformation of the civil rights result has caused a rising distrust in the black American community towards the politics involved.   What black Americans don’t see, Horner believes, is the misplacement of under qualified participants in overwhelming situations.   The need to fill race quotas has put under qualified applicants in positions at places of employment; therefore, making it harder, if not impossible, for the employee to receive promotions.   The placement of a person in a university based solely on the color of their...