by Kiya Rain

Created on: October 17, 2008

Affirmative action may be necessary for 200 years. Think about it. White people have had that long of a head start. I'm all about balance and I think this should balance things out. White people, you don't like being discriminated against really? I'm not surprised, neither did my great grandfather. You're getting passed over for a job because of your skin color? So did my grandfather. It doesn't feel so good when it happens to you. Maybe this will teach you to abide by the golden rule. Treat others as you like to be treated.

Sure things are different now, civil rights movement, progress and all that. But really the civil rights movement just made it politically incorrect to be racist. It didn't take the racism out of the people who thought this way. All it did was push these people out of mainstream America and underground. It didn't change the way some people perceive African Americans. It just told them to keep their comments to themselves. These feelings may then manifest themselves in other ways. The Rodney King incident, and more recently The Jena 6 and the Sean Bell killing are tragic examples that we are not passed our racial divide. I will admit we are closer to Martin Luther King's dream, but we have not achieved it yet.

Affirmative action is not of course, the only answer but it does help. Whites get into college because they're a legacy, or the parents donated money to the university. They get jobs at the companies their families started with the old money they're ancestors made in large part from the slave trade. Whites are still reaping the benefits of the blood, sweat and tears of Africans. And now you don't even want to give their great, great, great grandsons and granddaughters a job at the company? Please!

I'm not saying all whites gets these benefits, just like I'm saying not every black person should get a job just because they're black. But I am saying that whites get an unfair advantage based on their skin. CNN reported that being black in America is the equivalent of being a white convict when it comes to finding a job, proof positive that there is still discrimination out there. I hear a lot of talk about passing up qualified white people to hire minorities. Let's get real. Not every white person got there job because they were qualified, and despite being on the job for sometime they may still not be qualified. Case in point: President Bush. I whole heartedly agree that companies should employ the most qualified people for the job regardless of skin color, but I don't think that's happened in the past and may not be happening now. How is the DOW plummeting if the "most qualified" are at the helm of the banking industry? I think that if a white person and a minority are equally qualified, the job should go to the minority, because for years it's been going to the white person. So yes Affirmative action along with teaching our children to be respectful of other people's cultures, is the right step towards equality.

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