Affirmative Action-A Detriment to Minorities

Affirmative Action-A Detriment to Minorities

Affirmative Action is defined as “A reverse discrimination law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of individuals who are socially or economically disadvantaged.” During slavery, whites obviously had control over the black slaves and forced them to do whatever labor intensive jobs they needed done. This system of slavery lasted for almost two and a half centuries before it was brought to a halt in the 1860’s. Although slavery as an institution was ended, forms of slavery disguised as otherwise such as sharecropping, continued to flourish in the south up into the early 20th century.

Because of the White slave owner’s ignorant mentality, it was thought for centuries that blacks and people of any race other than white, held less of a mental capacity than that of their white peers. Because of this, Jim Crow laws were enacted through out the south that relegated minorities to holding menial jobs for low pay that generally either relied on a heavy amount of labor or were simply looked upon as unbecoming for a white person to carry out. As for the South’s northern counterpart, the industrial revolution was under way and cheap, low paying factory jobs were abundant for blacks looking for jobs. Unfortunately blacks, no matter where they lived, were always paid less and treated differently than their white counterparts and the ability to be promoted or hold higher level positions within a company was unheard of for minorities. This system of workplace double standards for blacks continued unabated until the first part of the 1960’s when President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925 in 1961, which mandated "affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin."

Executive Order 10925 was the American government’s first whole hearted attempt at leveling the playing field for minorities in the workforce and was soon followed by executive orders from subsequent presidential administrations that bolstered this initial attempt at eradicating racism in the workforce. Following in Kennedy’s footsteps, President Johnson, in 1965 issued Executive Order 11375, which prohibited federal contractors and employees from discriminating against employees based on race, gender, religion, and national origin. This secondary order was furthermore reinforced in 1971 by President Nixon, who issued Executive Order 11625, which granted the Secretary of Commerce the authority to implement federal policies geared towards making it easier for minorities to start business enterprises. All in all, nearly every president from Kennedy onward has in some way issued proclamations that prohibit the discrimination of minorities in the workplace. Now, I personally feel as if Affirmative Action is an unfortunately justified necessary evil in America for one simple reason-if its conception had not of occurred, minorities would have continued to have faced discrimination in the workplace and if its current existence were eradicated, the current somewhat integrated workplace environment would revert back to its initial state due to lack of government regulation and its impending penalties pursuant to compliance with the policy itself. I wish we lived in a perfect society where discrimination didn’t exist because although the policy of Affirmative Action was implemented to help minorities succeed in life, it has served a dual purpose of detriment to minorities as well.

Because racial quotas have to be met at businesses, some corporations will hire minorities not based on their levels of experience or qualifications for the job but simply because of the fact that they are minorities. Although this does allow a lot of minorities, myself included, who wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work where they do because of their race, in the long run it will have a negative impact on the minority community because they will realize that they don’t have to try their hardest to succeed in life because they will be given jobs regardless. I’m not saying that minorities are lazy, just that no matter what race you put into this situation, that race as a whole will become complacent and lazy over time because of their knowledge of quotas and the fact that even if they aren’t as qualified as the other applicants, they will still get the job because of their race.



Through out life I came to realize that race plays a big factor in everything we do, whether we are aware of it or not. Although we may not consciously factor race into things that we do on a daily basis, subconsciously our minds add that seemingly innocuous trait into most everything we are involved in. Whether it be out in public, at home, or at the workplace, race plays a pivotal role in everything we are involved in day in and day out. The workplace is and always has been one of the areas in life in which race becomes a big factor. Before I delve into my personal experiences with “affirmative Action” and racism in the workplace, I would like to offer some background information on Affirmative Action as a definition, concept, and applied policy in America.