As of 16 months ago, affirmative action is no longer practiced in the state of Michigan. Now, the same group that campaigned to end affirmative action in that state is campaigning to end it in five other states.
According to The Washington Post, they’ve already presented a petition with more than 125,000 signatures to the Colorado legislature to show that their movement has support. In the mean time, they’re still collecting signatures in Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The only problem I have with this movement is that it’s taken so long to gain any momentum. The practice of affirmative action was designed to help put an end to racial and gender inequalities in the workplace and the classroom.
The problem with it is it no longer makes hiring or college admission practices equal because it gives an unfair advantage to those who are anything but a white male.
There was a time when affirmative action was necessary. For most of the past century white men were the ones who were CEOs of major corporations, held the most prominent roles in the government and so on.
Thanks to the civil rights and women’s lib movements, laws were passed forcing businesses to hire women and minorities to help diversify the workplace.
I’m all for equal hiring practices, but I think it’s unfair to give an extra nod to someone just because they are black, Hispanic or of the feminine persuasion.
Doesn’t that go against everything affirmative action is trying to stop?
I think someone should be hired based only on their qualifications. If someone has an MBA from Harvard and graduated Magna Cum Laude, plus a reference from Donald Trump, what does it matter what his or her race or gender is?
Ward Connerly, the man spearheading the fight and the nations most prominent opponent of affirmative action (and also a black man), recently stated, “Without any doubt, we have to understand that race preferences are on the way out.” To back up his words, Connerly contends that the success of Obama and Clinton shows that preferences are no longer necessary “to compensate for, quote, institutional racism and institutional sexism.”
If we are going to make any progress as a nation, it’s time we just ignore race and gender altogether and make decisions based off of the characteristics a person possesses.
Tim Asher, a former college admissions officer and a leader in the Missouri ballot effort sums it up best: “We need to get beyond race in this country and make sure that everyone is treated equally under the law.”
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