Affirmative
Action corrects wrongs
The New York Jets’ head coach, Herman Edwards,
said that the worst thing you could do to
a human being is not provide the opportunity
to be successful. In other words, he feels
that people need to be given a chance to
succeed in life. I feel the same way. That
is why I think it is important to have programs
like Affirmative Action that help give people
a chance.
Affirmative Action, which is a sensitive
and controversial issue in our society,
has been around for three decades. Since
the 1970s, Affirmative Action programs have
been created by governments, colleges and
universities, and private employers to help
correct past discrimination.
These programs give special consideration
or preference to members of previously disadvantaged
groups, like people of color and women,
in areas such as university admissions,
employment and government contracting.
Many people support Affirmative Action while
others are against it. Proponents of Affirmative
Action say the program has worked, but more
still needs to be done to correct past discrimination
and create a more diverse, race sensitive
student body or work force.
Opponents argue that it has worked well
enough and we don’t need it anymore or that
it hasn’t worked at all and should be eliminated.
They say that race and minority preferences
amount to reverse discrimination. So, according
to them, it is okay to have regular discrimination,
just not reverse discrimination.
The most famous case involving Affirmative
Action in our history has been Regents of
the University of California vs. Bakke in
1978. Allan P. Bakke, a white applicant,
applied to the University of California
Davis School of Medicine on two separate
occasions and was denied admission both
times by the school. He claimed that the
school’s affirmative action program, which
set aside 16 seats out of 100 for minorities,
had kept him out.
Bakke sued the school and was admitted to
UC Davis when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that quotas were illegal and that the school
had violated Mr. Bakke’s 14th amendment,
which gives all U.S. citizens equal protection
of the law. The court ruled that the school
could use race as a factor in determining
admission.
Mr. Bakke complained that Affirmative Action
had kept him out, yet if he was so qualified
why didn’t he get one of the other 84 seats
that were available to him? What most people
do not know about the case is that Mr. Bakke
had been denied acceptance to 12 other medical
schools before applying to UC Davis.
Opponents continue to say that Affirmative
Action is “reverse discrimination” and therefore
is wrong? Maybe it is wrong, but how else
do you, as former U.S. president Lyndon
B. Johnson once said in a historic civil
rights speech at Howard University “…take
a person, who for years, has been hobbled
by chains and liberate him, bring him to
the starting line of a race, and then say,
‘you are free to compete with all others’
and still justly believe you have been completely
fair.”
Whites make up 43 percent of the working
population; yet make up 95 to 97 percent
of senior management jobs. Blacks and Latinos
hold less than one percent of senior management
positions. The same holds true for middle
management jobs.
Can you name any blacks or Latinos that
own or operate any major sports franchises
in the United States? I can’t, with the
exception of Arturo Moreno, a Latino Phoenix
businessman who is about to purchase the
Anaheim Angels baseball team.
How many head coaches in the NFL are Latino
or Asian? None. Why? Because they are not
given a chance. Maybe these people are not
qualified to hold those positions, but how
would we know if they are not even given
an opportunity?
Where would the Zen master-NBA Lakers head
coach Phil Jackson be if he didn’t get a
chance to coach in the NBA? He would be
where he was before ex-general manager of
the Chicago Bulls, Jerry Krause, hired him
in the CBA where nobody had ever heard of
him. Krause gave Jackson a chance to coach
the Bulls in the late ’80s and Jackson won
six NBA titles with them before winning
three more with the L.A. Lakers. Jackson
got to prove himself as a successful basketball
coach because he was given a chance.
All people need is a chance to succeed.
Affirmative Action gives the people who
otherwise would not get it, a chance.
Daniel Frias is a journalism major at
Cal State Long Beach.
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