Affirmative Action
"I wish we lived in a world where Affirmative Action wasn't necessary, but we don't." These words are spoken by a professor to a room of students at a college debate. No one doubts his sincerity or intentions; he speaks with a passion that comes from belief. But is he right? What makes affirmative action necessary in the first place?
At the root of Affirmative Action, the speakers say, is the desire to "level the playing field" for minority ethnic groups - or, in layman's terms, to ensure that people are not judged by or discriminated on account of their race. This admittedly noble goal has been misinterpreted to mean that a level playing field entails equal amounts of each race in any given position. If those positions are not being divided evenly, the playing field is not fair. "If your group makes up 12% of the population, you should have a 12% representation in places of power. Do you have that?" The professor pauses. "No. So something's wrong."
Is it, though? To ensure that a minority group is represented by at least a certain percentage, employers are required to fill a "quota" - to make sure they have a certain amount of people with a particular skin color. How is it productive to include race beside the ability and desire to fill the job? Should race really be elevated to the point where employers must fill a quota of each minority group? Affirmative Action advocates say that skin color is not important, but their actions say that not only is it important, it is so important that laws must be passed to ensure that employment and positions of power are divided equally between people of each color.
This sort of thinking begins with the intention of emphasizing similarities between people, but ends up doing the exact opposite. Why must someone be denied a place in their college of choice just because that university already has enough whites? Why should every Hispanic who is denied a job become a discrimination case? If the people drawn into politics happen to be white, so be it. If every valedictorian in the country is Asian, so be it. In the end, what matters is not where their parents were born, what shape their eyes are, or what color their skin is. They are all people. They are all American.
The professor does not mention any of this, however; in a "false dilemma" of sorts, he has convinced the students that those who seek to fix race issues must also support Affirmative Action. They leave in a buzzing crowd, swelling with pride - happy to support Affirmative Action, determined to prove that they are not racist, and ready to rid the country of discrimination forever.