Do you think that minorities are pandered to too much due to the politics of affirmative action?
99393
i think they are pandered to - just because and that affirmative action has little or nothing to do with it- I think that Amaricanisim needs to be put forth as a culture- without regards to race , color or religion.  We need to realize that whatever our country of origin- we all live in this one now and we need to work to make it better-
745935
it's a paradox in its nature... \nThey are asking for equality while placing emphasis on our differences.\nbut two things we should get rid of.... Affirmative Action and Indefinite welfare \n\nThe initial reasons for the organizations were valid but have grown wild sense.\n\n\n\nanother thing that annoyes me is that I  blacks for example feed the idea of discrimination so much that you start to believe that they are different.\n\nDo they think it's good that they constantly point out our differences.\n\nIf were equal then should they just shut up already....\nthey've been nagging for decades.\n\n\nback to you question.... the singling out of races for special programs does discriminate again whites and again does point out to the point that they are different ( if we were equal then we would have no special affiliations and programs)\n\nWhites don't get to be represented in this way\n\nand what about BET television \nWhat about WET\na common argument is that "oh tv is already for whites"\nwell we didn't come out like racist and flat out create our own station, what hypocrits.... ...it's reasons like this that we never will be thought of as equals.... and again, it's in part their fault for fueling the fire.\n\n\njust makes no sense.\n\n\nit's discriminatory and a bunch of BS
281337
I would believe it was much harder for all minorities, period, in decades past then it is today. We have so much more opportunities offered to us because of past struggles that were won by REAL civil rights leaders in this country (Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcom X) as opposed to the substitute teachers we have today telling us that things are still bad and will continue to tell us things are still bad as long as they are getting rich (Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson). Racism still exists, but the law isn't protecting that anymore. We have been allowed to rise up, go to school, be productive and compete side-by-side. As my father has taught me, you are only respected if you respect yourself. Once you have that, respect will be given and well-earned.
1101314
Affirmative Action is a ridiculous idea.  How does it make any sense to say "we are righting the wrongs, removing race from being a factor, and ensuring that a man is judged on merit rather than skin color" and then say, "here's the program-- if you're black, you definately need that boost to even attempt to be on an even plane with whites."\n\nIt's racist against blacks and whites-- it eliminates the idea that blacks can be intelligent without a booster seat, and it discriminates against whites who are better qualified.
1078205
Yes, I believe it is, but not in the way you might think.  Today white people face the institutionalized discrimination of affirmative action.  The country used to be 90% white (in the 50s) but now we're being overrun by millions of third world immigrants -- within 50 years and maybe less white people will be a minority in a country we founded (and yes we did found this country, all of the Founding Fathers were white)  And with the stigma of "racism" we're not allowed to say anything about it because that would be hopelessly racist.  White people are being asked to accept our own dispossession, the balkanization of our country and our future minority status.
1091454
Well initially, affirmative action was proposed to provide equality in the workplace. However, today, many believe it is over-emphasized and now the majorities are almost minorities in a sense because the Affirmative Action clause in the respective employer will choose the minority over the majority. \nThe pros are that it helped level out the diversity in the workplace based on racial population rates in each respective geographic area. It was a huge part of the Civil rights movement that still exists today. It plays a huge role in the employment processes of todays society. Good luck in your debate.
806544
It's an interesting subject you bring up. But first, let's organize our thoughts.\n\nLet's separate the topics of existing LEGAL rights/special benefits for minorities and  Civil Associations/Groups/Unions that fight for the rights of minorities.\n\nAs for the associations, I don't think anyone has the right to stop them from fighting for equality (or shut them up) I don't see why it should concern anybody else.\n\nAs to the legislation that favors minorities/racial groups, perhaps it IS time to re-evaluate if they are still a necessity. But this is something that needs to be done WITH FACTS IN HAND. Not with "hunches" or "feelings".\n\n\nIn any case, you can't expect an overnight change on the effects of DECADES of discrimination against minorities.
363518
Being a "white" man I hear what you are saying.\n\nAnd yes Affirmative Action is very controversial these days.  "White" men also miss many other government funded opportunities, like minority grants for starting businesses, etc. \n\nBut as a "white" man I must admit that I have many advantages others in our society don't have.  People throw jobs at me.  I have never been fired.  Police treat me with respect, and don't stop me when I walk down the street at night.  I can catch a cab in a bad neighborhood at night.  I have never been to jail.  Have never been suspected of a crime.  Basically I have had the ideal life, and the list goes on and on.\n\nI have never taken this for granted.  I have always worked hard, paid my taxes, voted, gone to jury duty, treated minorities with equal respect, etc.  I know that I have it better than most, and don't flaunt it by driving an expensive car or portraying myself as "better off".\n\nBut have I had these "extra" opportunities because I am "white", or because I have been give opportunities from my family and friends since childhood; I went to private schools, live in a rich city, have rich friends, have been taught manors, and know how to walk and talk, and earn others respect.  I was taught that communication is the most important aspect of any relationship.\n\nThe reality is that I have opportunities today because my family had given me opportunities growing up.  They were able to do this because they had money and love for me, and they learned from their parents how to be good parents.\n\nBut many people out there have nothing to give to their families.  They come from poverty.  Their kids go to crapy public schools in the inner cities.  Their parents beat them or are never home because they work three minimum wage jobs just to pay the rent.\n\nMany of these people are poor because their families were either exploited, enslaved, warred upon…………by families like mine.\n\nMy family enslaved "blacks" in the old days.  The companies my family invests in hold factories in third world country where workers are poorly paid.  My country has a history of exploiting, conducting wars, and economic takeover in foreign countries.  Most of the minorities in America come from these backgrounds.\n\nIf these people are not given a hand up they will stay down. And desperate people are expensive to control.  Desperate people commit crimes, they use drugs, and they don't care about others.\n\nThe problem is that there are poor "white" Americans too.  Should we not reduce Affirmative Action to skin color, but to financial status?  There are rich "blacks" that are given more opportunities than poor "whites".\n\nBut if we stop setting quotas for race, will poor "whites" get more jobs than poor "blacks"?  We can't afford not to make compromises, but I see that the system needs revisions.\n\nToo many right wing "whites" say that we are all given an equal chance in this country, and if you don't make it, it is because you are lazy or just stupid.  I say it is easy for the rich and whites to say such things.  Whites come from privileged backgrounds (not all, but many more than other ethnicities).  Racism still exists, and not just in Affirmative Action. \n\nBut a problem exist that must be fixed; poor whites are given less opportunities because they are white.
161183
It is hard to tell.  While to the most point I agree that race shouldn't be an issue at all, and that Affirmative Action makes it an issue, there are other things to consider...\n\nI agree with one of the things that Affirmative Action tried to accomplish, however.  AA tried to create more opportunities to those who had more obsticals to overcome.  The problem with this is that race does not necessarily equal obsticals.  The other problem is that the job market is not the place to create these opportunities.  Underprivaledged people need the opportunity for education and for a safe place to come home to.  Then they will make their own opportunities in the work place.\n\nOf course, there is another problem with this that no one wants to talk about.  Some races are physically and genetically more inclined certain areas and less so than others.  Whites and Asians are better at math, science, etc.  Blacks are physically bigger and stronger, generally.  \n\nSlavery was absolutely wrong.  It should not suprise us, however, that in history blacks were enslaved by whites and not the other way around.  Blacks are very hard workers, and they can physically withstand much more.  Whites are thinkers, dreamers, strategizers.  \n\nThis is not to say that just because someone is white that they will be good at math and science, and bad at sports, but it is saying that the world's top scientists will probably always be dominated by whites and asians, and the most physically demanding sports will always be dominated by blacks.\n\nWhat does this mean in the social political world?  Well, blacks, in general, will probably never dominate world politics.  Not because they should be excluded, but because politics is probably going to interest less blacks than whites.  \n\nI hope we will see more of a push for better education for the underprivaledged of ALL races.  I hope we will see less toleration for ALL crime, and be able to diminish gangs, etc.\n\nAfter that, I wouldn't worry about if there are more whites in CEO positions or in politics.  It might be that this is not based on suppression, but simply on what people are more likely to persue.  I know many people who do a physical job that are happy, and that wouldn't WANT to be a CEO.  If there is something genetically that makes more people of a certain race desire that than others, I say why fight it?\n\nBottom line:  We should not look at race, but we should look at giving everyone the tools they need to make the life for them they desire.
470888
I think it's similar to "race discrimination" it's only the whites that do it.\n\nhttp://thebaldchemist.blogspot.com/
894603
I consider Affirmative Action a necessary evil that should be done away with in the next ten years, but that Equal Opportunity should remain a law.\n\nAt one time, it was necessary to give away jobs to less qualified candidates who were either black or women, because there was no way there would ever be a best-qualified black (for instance) applicant until somebody gave black people good jobs, and a chance to do them well.  Today, there are a lot fewer racists/sexists and a lot more educated African Americans and women with advanced careers.  The barriers holding these groups back have been taken away (and should be taken away), and there are finally people of color and women who can qualify for these jobs on their own merits.  \n\nBasically, as racism and sexism die out, and the effects of these old policies and thoughts are fading, the need for affirmative action is reduced.  Affirmative action is inherently racist (it gives preference to applicants based on nothing more than skin color or gender), but was necessary to remove the barriers set up against these minorities by other racist practices.  As racism is reduced, so is the need to counter it with racism.  In this case, two wrongs could make a right, if we are careful not to go overboard with affirmative action and keep it in place for too long.\n\nAn unintended effect of Affirmative Action is that people assume that a minority applicant who gets a job got it because of their minority status, and this is usually not the case.  One of the best bosses I ever had was a wheelchair-bound manager who's mainframe department went the way of the dodo, but the company kept her on to manage herself, and people talked.  When they moved her to another real management position a couple years later, everyone could see why she really was kept when her department died--she was a superb manager.
849516
I completely agree with you. I think people focus too much on being for or against certain political parties and less about being for or against a particular candidate based on that candidate's stance on certain issues.
690420
I think racism LIMITS a country's potential.  I wonder how many Bill Gates' types there have been who were held back because of prejudice.  Businesses that never got started.  Jobs that never were available.  \n\nI feel there are two reasons prejudice will always be with us in one form or another.\n\nFeeling superior.\nThis was said to me (by someone who never could hold down a job or make ends meet) when I asked if he could afford the rent where he was moving.\n"What do you think? I'm not like those muchachos from the other side of the tracks who doesn't even TRY to pay their bills!"\ntranslation; I may be a loser but I'm not as a big of a loser as THOSE people!\n\nShortcut\nI takes a while to know who is honest & who isn't, who is a hard worker & who isn't, etc.\nPrejudice allows people to think they can look at someone & have a short cut to knowing those important things. \n\nI suspect a lot of the prejudice blacks face today isn't racism in the strict sense. It's not prejudice against the race, as much as the culture. In other words, "it's OK to be black as long as you walk, talk & act white." It's still prejudice. \n\nExample: A black with a strong black dilect will be treated very differently from one who talks "white."\n(I'm not talking about bad grammer, just different phonetics.)\n\nI think of Jeff Foxworthy's joke "People hear this accent & automatically want to deduct 20 IQ points." How many IQ points do you think get deducted from someone with a black dialect?
444498
Hmm, that's a slightly controversial one, but not nearly as much as say, er, other stuff, so I'll jump in.  Why not?  ^_^\n\nIt may depend slightly on the type of affirmative action you're talking about, but in general I don't feel that it's right.  Especially relating to job acquisition, this is a bad idea.  If a white guy applies for a job and a black (forgive the terms, but "white" and "black" DO take less time to type...although this sentence kinda already made that a useless excuse...but meh) guy applies for the same job, and the white guy is more qualified but they take the black guy because they have to "meet quota" or they "don't want to appear rascist," then that both hurts the economy as well as being a bad moral practice.  Also, if the place those two were applying at WAS just trying to "meet a quota," and later the same white guy tries to apply and another black guy of slightly lesser qualifications also applies (please don't infer that I'm saying that non-white people are less skilled; this is merely an example), they are going to hire the white guy, or at least they should, as he meets the criteria better (not because he's white; I stated that his qualifications are better for the purposes of this example).  Anyway, if the second black guy is technically more skilled than the first black guy, then the end result in this situation is that a white guy and a black guy were hired, but the company could have had a better black guy, and the black guy that had mre qualifications did not get the job he could have had if the company had hired on what I think is a moral basis: ability.  And yes, this is a very far fetched example.  However, hiring on the basis of race is completely unjustified.  I also think hiring on the basis of need is unjustified, which of course immediately leads me to the aforementined race conclusion.  If a person really needs a job, then they need to convince their employer that they can do a darn good job of it.  Thing is, if they really need it, they will try harder to get it AND will work harder at it, which will make them at least in part better cantidates for employment.  I hope that this made sense; I tend to ramble a lot.  Anyway, I'm gonna move on to education.\n\nAs for education, there are a lot of grants out there, and I have seen stats about how African Americans and Hispanics (hmmmm, I chose to type it out NOW, but not in the earlier...oh well) are oftentimes at a disadvantage in paying for school compared to white people.  However, I really feel that we should not be labeling people like that.  there are white people I'm sure that are in just as dire straights as some of the people who apply for "race-only" scholarships.  I think scholarships should be based on merit and need.  If the people of certain races really are more needy, and they are willing to get the grades or reccomendations (and/or write good scholarship application essays), then they should get those scholarships anyway.  As it is, white people who need scholarship money are having to compete with everybody for them, but other races can enter both into "everyone" scholarships as well as scholarships that are only for their race.  Also, having quotas for letting other races into colleges can be hurtful to the people who actually try to get good grades.  I'm not saying that white people always get better grades or anything like that, but if say for one year the applicants at a university are a little more slim on the "non-white" side, and the "white" side is better qualified to get in, the unbiversity may still have to "meet quota," which is not necessarily PUNISHING ability, but is certainly not rewarding it.  If people are not rewarded for their ability and work, then something is wrong.  If minorities want to get into college, then they should (and many do of course) work h
780933
Only time well tell if this was good for america ! My view on affirmative action is it was racist , racist against both blacks and whites . I think it was a slap in the face to blacks , like saying you cant get jobs so well make to where you have too . Pretty messed up
434512
These Democrats: ABSOLUTELY nothing!\n\nBlacks in this country are disinfranchised, however that is a societal problem.\n\nAffirmative Action apparently isn't working. And, need I remind my friends that is was a Republican Congress that approved Affirmative Action and minority-based higher learning scholarships.\n\nWe shouldn't rely on one party to help one race within our country. That is ignorant. Parties help people. No party helps the blacks. (It's not the job a any particular party to help them). We are Americans.\n\nI'm half african-american and half arabic. I was a democrat orginally, because I thought they fought for the quality of lives of miniorities, however the older I got - the more I read.\n\nThe current (and for the past 30-35 years) Democractic party wants votes. They offer no real advantage. And, when they have a suggestion - it's bad policy and it's bad for the healing of our nation.\n\nAli A. Akbar\naliunt @ yahoo.com
502626
I don't think racial discrimination is as extreme in the UK as it is in other countires, but it is still present. The recent victories of the BNP in local elections is very worrying. People must realise that minorities have just as much a right to be here as the "indigenous" population (as the BNP call them), as most people don't realise that our current population comes from millions of immigrants over history (the Celts, Anglo-saxons, Vikings, Jutes, Normans, the Dutch, Irish, Huguenots to name but a few).\n\nAlot of people who are racist don't even realise they are doing it.