We Must Keep Affirmative Action

Affirmative action represents a process that attempts to fight discrimination and promote equal opportunity in education and employment for all. Proponents of affirmative action maintain that due to pervasive racism in U.S. society, affirmative action measures, both voluntary and mandatory, are necessary to level the playing field. Opponents of affirmative action argue that such measures are tantamount to reverse discrimination, giving preferential treatment to women and minorities at the expense of white males. Only recently, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold affirmative abtion in a narrow 5-4 decision (Curry, p. 1). The actual phrase "affirmative action" was first used in 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson (Sykes, p. 1). Johnson's Executive Order 11246, requires federal contractors to "take 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" (Sykes, p. 1). Since then, various laws and policies have been created to undermine discrimination in U.S. social institutions. Since then, there have also been numerous efforts to repeal affirmative action by those claiming it represents reverse discrimination. Despite efforts to undermine it, affirmative action is still necessary in American society due to persistent and often institutionalized prejudice and racism.

Affirmative action policies are typically a

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Affirmative action policies resulted in increases in the representation of women and minorities across all levels of employment in the U.S. and within organizations that were once exclusively male. Affirmative action has led to higher employment participation rates, increased earnings, and gains in educational attainment for women and minorities. (Affirmative, p. 5) Those opposed to affirmative action often use such examples of success to maintain that America's social institutions now represent a level playing field for women and minorities. They maintain that racism, sexism and prejudice are no longer embedded in American social institutions. Despite these claims, there are forms of racism and sexism that are still persistent in American society. Few women or female minorities helm Fortune 500 companies and white male PhDs still outnumber females and minorities by a wide margin. Today's racism is less overt th`n in the past, but beliefs, attitudes and prejudices of the past still exist. According to the APA, there are two forms of racism that are prevalent in contemporary American society. These are known as: 1) aversive racism, and 2) symbolic racism (Affirmative, p. 5). Aversive racism "refers to negative feelings th

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