Affirmative Action v. Reverse Discrimination :: essays research papers fc

Affirmative action in the U.S. started to come about in the early nineteen sixties. It was enacted along with legion(predicate) other anti-segregation laws, as part of the "Civil Rights act of 1964 and an executive disposition in 1965 (Affirmative, Encyclopedia Britannica par. 2)." Today affirmative action is still personnel casualty strong. It has many positive aspects, but it also has several negative affects, genius of which is " quash discrimination. Websters Collegiate Dictionary defines affirmative action as "an active effort to improve the interlocking or education opportunities of members of nonage groups and women." Some of the other areas of emphasis are age, religion, and ethnic origin. I find out the same as the authors of the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, when they said these laws were brought about because, In the judgment of a good many Americans, equality qua equality, even when conscientiously enforced with an even hand, would neither suffice to enable those previously divest on racial grounds to realize the promises of equality of opportunity, nor would it atone, and post redress, for the ravages wrought by two centuries of past discrimination. Consequently programs were established to go hale beyond "mere" equality of opportunity and provide non solely remedial but preferential compensatory action, especially in the worlds of EDUCATION and employment (Affirmative, Encyclopedia American 34). However, even as early as 1978 the compulsive Court has made it a point to not support laws that provide for "reverse discrimination," which Websters Collegiate Dictionary defines as "discrimination against whites or males as in employment or education." The Supreme Court stated that this isnt welcome when it decided "reverse discrimination" is not acceptable legally or constitutionally (Affirmative, Encyclopedia American 35). I imply what they mean by this is that, even thou gh affirmative action is necessary, it should not be so harsh as to make it so the " absolute majority" is then discriminated against in return, because then it is just reversing the discrimination, hence the term "reverse discrimination." There have been many court cases that support each locating of this issue.There were some major Supreme Court cases that led up to affirmative action. One of which was Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 in which it was deemed that the constitution meant politically equal not socially equal, which was held up until chocolate-brown v. Board of Education Topeka Kansas 1954. Brown v. The Board was a huge stepping stone towards affirmative action, because it started the processes of desegregation.