Running head: Abolish Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action Should Be Abolished
The term affirmative action encompasses a range of measures aimed at
compensating for past discrimination by increasing the chances that minorities or
women will be chosen for jobs, promotions, admissions, or contracts. The 1964
Civil Rights Act prohibits workplace discrimination on the bases of race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin. That law also states it should not be interpreted to
require any employer to grant preferential treatment to any individual or to any
group. Mishkind (1996, p108) States that "the only form of discrimination left is
the kind that operates against white males. There, in the name of redressing
ancient wrongs, white males are routinely shoved aside to make room for less
qualified women and minorities." All forms of discrimination must stop. By
abolishing affirmative action the majority of discrimination will be gone.
The original affirmative action document was developed in 1963 by a young
black lawyer named Hobart Taylor Jr., and two future Supreme Court Justices,
Arthur Goldberg and Abe Fortas. The document was titled Executive Order 10925.
Since 1963 many changes have developed what is currently known as, but not
loved, affirmative action. People realized in 1963 that this document was unjust
and protested to no avail. Now, 34 years later, the protesting continues but the
problem still grows. Affirmative action successfully limits a companies size,
negatively affects the groups of people it was created to help, and discriminates
Large companies struggle to maintain affirmative action laws. Many
companies opt to stay small to avoid the cost and headaches affirmative action can
cause, in return decreasing the potential job market. Starr (1996, p37) found
The affirmative action requirements delineate the...