Is affirmative action really reverse discrimination? Moral examination of this issue

Essay by babybrat07College, UndergraduateA+, July 2004

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Affirmative Action

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." (Declaration of Independence)

The policy of affirmative action was developed in the mid 1960's to offer equal opportunity employment and education to women and minorities.

In its tumultuous, nearly 40 years of existence, affirmative action has been both praised and pilloried as an answer to racial inequality. The policy was introduced in 1965 by President Johnson as a method of redressing discrimination that had persisted in spite of civil rights laws and constitutional guarantees. "This is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights," Johnson asserted. "We seek... not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result."

These policies required that active measures be taken so that minorities had the same opportunities in career advancements and education that were nearly exclusive to whites.

In 2004, affirmative action is still present in our society. Minorities as well as females are given jobs and admissions into colleges and universities that are not totally based on hard they have worked, but rather on their race and gender.

Affirmative action is an attempt by the United States to amend a long history of racial and sexual discrimination. But these days it seems to incite, not ease, the country's internal divisions. It cannot be denied that America's history is full of mistreatment of minority individuals. Women did not have a chance to vote for nearly a century and many minorities were denied access to schools and employment positions solely based on their race and ethnicity.

Affirmative action was really implemented with the intention of ensuring...