Level Playing Field

Level Playing Field

Amanda DiAngelo

Grantham University

Level Playing Field

Affirmative Action was introduced first by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, and first enforced and developed by President Lindon Johnson. Affirmative action has been good, however it has also been ridiculed. Affirmative action was actually something that was temporary until there was a level playing field among all Americans, since America is the melting pot of all colors, races and nationalities.

Affirmative Action policies address many issues, beneficiaries of this program include white women, people with disabilities, poor and working class people and most importantly the primary emphases of racial discrimination. Women and African-Americans in the United States seem to have the unfair advantage in the workforce. “They are not meant to guarantee equal results, but instead proceed on the common-sense notion that if equality of opportunity were a reality, African Americans, women, people with disabilities and other groups facing discrimination would be fairly represented in the nation's work force and educational institutions("Affirmative Action", 2014).” This will give these groups of people the opportunity to compete equally for scholarships, school admission, financial aid, salary increases and job advancement.

In the 70’s reverse discrimination started to become a big problem. This caused a large backlash against Affirmative Action. There were problems arising where companies were holding certain amounts of spots for African-American’s as opposed to whites, or accepting so many college applications of African American’s over Whites. The Supreme Court had put an outlaw on inflexible quota systems in the affirmative action system, which has unfairly discriminated against the white applicant. Conservatives kind of felt like unqualified minorities were getting a free ride that they did not deserve. The Liberals on the other hand actually countered that the Land of...