by A. M. Gilbert

Created on: July 06, 2010   Last Updated: July 24, 2010

In the 1960s, a qualified candidate for a job could very easily be denied the position based solely on his or her ethnic identity. Intervention was needed to combat this flagrant discrimination.

Affirmative action made sense.

However, in today's society, this policy has no clear purpose. While racism will likely never be eradicated, anti-discrimination laws have rendered affirmative action largely obsolete. This case will prove that the current institution of affirmative action is unfair and, indeed, unjust.

I offer the following definitions from the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary:

Affirmative action- an active effort to improve opportunities for  minority groups and women.

Just- conformity with what is morally upright or good; being what is merited.

      The first contention in this debate is that affirmative action fails to aid those whom it is meant to aid. We can look at this through two more focused perspectives.

Affirmative action does not fairly aid all racial and ethnic minorities. The factions that fall under affirmative action policies are women and minorities that include primarily blacks and Hispanics, as well as other smaller ethnicities. Let us consider another of these groups: the Asian minorities. They constitute  4.4% of the total United States population (while blacks and Hispanics make up 12.4 and 15.4 percent respectively). Again, a key part of the definition of affirmative action is that it is used to help “members of minority groups.” So why is it that these policies do not help a minority that is smaller than both blacks and Hispanics? Affirmative action is failing in that it is not helping this division that needs help.

The basis upon which affirmative action is founded upon is unjust in whom it aids. The current basis for affirmative action is race and gender. If a person already has a good lifestyle, because they fall into a certain minority they are still given an advantage at the get-go due to affirmative action. This is not fair as this person has already achieved solid socioeconomic status. In a way, affirmative action is assuming that these minorities and women cannot obtain these positions on their own, and are “assuming” that they need aid to do so. But in the end, doesn’t a lower class person who has no means of paying for a certain school need help? We can look to policies enacted in certain states including Florida, where similar systems to affirmative

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