Every person in this room has more than likely taken the SAT whether it was a year ago or many, many years ago. This test is basically used to determine who will succeed in college and who won't. Sounds simple right? Because each person takes a variation of the same test, the scores can help separate students with almost equal credentials. So you would figure that if you were competing with someone for acceptance to a college and you received a 1300 and the other person, with equal qualifications, received a 1200, you would be chosen, right? Well, maybe not. If you were a white male and the other person was a black female, it is quite possible and even likely that she would take the spot. This is what is known as affirmative action.
             Today I will share with you the principles of affirmative action, its origin in our country, and the criticisms and praises that it has received. The idea of affirmative action is to fix the results of centuries of discrimination against minorities in the United States. For years, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, women and all other non-white male groups had been persecuted in this country. They had been denied education, denied full rights as citizens, denied jobs, denied the life that the Constitution promised. This is an undisputed part of our history. Affirmative action sets out to right these injustices. By encouraging the hiring of minorities in the work place and acceptance into college, the playing field, which has for so long been tilted in the favor of the white male, has leveled off. The remote opportunities for minorities are increased, and our society, as a whole, progresses to a much more inclusive nation. President Lyndon Johnson created the term affirmative ac!
             tion in 1965, when he ordered federal contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and the employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color, or national orig...