The Search for Racial Parity

In 1961 President John F. Kennedy implored employers to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin”[1]. This statement was made in the heart of the civil rights turmoil of the 1960’s, and rightly so. The United States of America, despite being known as the “melting pot” of the West, has also a history ridden with tales of prejudices and racial and gender related hardships. In the 20^th century, as the socio-economic dynamic of the United States began to change, traditionally underprivileged groups began to integrate into a society that they had not been able to previously. African Americans were fed up with having to fight tooth and nail to get what was gratuitously offered to other ‘white’ Americans. The United States, however, had a lot to overcome. Still reeling from centuries of enslavement, the African American people were not offered the same educational opportunities, job opportunities, leisure opportunities, or even expressive freedoms. In a similar position were women- of many different races. Many people blame these conditions on religious and governmental influences. The United States of America, still a new country, developed many of its social standards through the imitation and transmutation of other societies’ rules and governances. As a result, many of the prejudices that existed in European countries became appropriated into American culture. To make this even worse, most Americans are of different nationalities. Take this pride of heritage (which comes with its own set of social prejudices towards other natives of other countries), and combine it with what was already a Caucasian male dominated society, and you have a whole new set of conflicting views. This sets the stage for American in the mid 1900’s… Racially diverse, but equally as divergent.

Modern Affirmative Action laws (which may be referred to as AA from here on in) apply to African, Latino, and Asian Americans, as well as women. For the sake of brevity and concentration, this argument will specifically address Affirmative Action and racial minorities, but it should be noted the equal opportunities for women are no less valid and deserve the same recognition as all other aspects of the argument. After centuries of oppression, the US government decided to take steps to ensure that African Americans were integrated into society. Initially these steps manifested themselves in the form of quotas- employers and universities set a required number of blacks that they had to meet. They considered this an appropriate measure to ensure diversity. In 1978, when Allan Bakke protested his rejected from the University of California at Davis medical school as a result of racial discrimination, the Supreme Court proved to be divided in determining how to actually apply Affirmative Action laws. Was Bakke rejected because the school needed to fill a quota of blacks, or was this a just application of race-conscious affirmative action?[2] Eventually the Supreme Court abolished fixed quotas, at least legally, but this didn’t stop the debate over AA. Many people felt, and continue to feel that white Americans had a moral obligation to repay blacks for previous discriminations. However, there also continues to be a sizable contingent that feels that any moral obligation that is owed cannot be fulfilled by (what they term as) “engendering reverse discrimination”.

Both arguments, when brought to light in appropriate moral discourse, have valid points. Equally, both arguments have been given certain connotations and associations that must be removed in order to effectively exercise the moral imagination. In the following sections I hope to elucidate the arguments of both sides and eventually arrive at my own position through a careful examination of the issue.

Pro

 Often times the general population does not, and cannot, comprehend the extent to which blacks have historically suffered injustices at the hand of governments and employers. The United States was not the only nation or even the first to enslave blacks. Even after slavery was abolished in the United States there was a stigma coupled with hiring and associating with blacks. This persisted for decades upon decades, and in the eyes of many, still persists today. The Affirmative Action laws are not meant to discriminate against certain people. They are in fact attempts to promote, or affirm, the rights of minority peoples who have traditionally suffered. America boasts its own dream… The dream that anyone can come to America and make a new, better life. This dream has become a nightmare of lynchings, starvation, and rising poverty in a nation that supposedly has the most advanced resources and technology in the world. Consequentially, AA is a means of reparation- reparation for these centuries of racial crimes and injustices. This is often misconceived as an attempt to improve social welfare. While this often ties in with AA, it is not the primary goal of the system. Without Affirmative Action, how were African Americans supposed to integrate into what was previously considered “white society”? A government declaration against racism and slavery doesn’t change racists’ ideas any more than a government ban on jaywalking stops potential offenders. The only way to get results in such a field is to enforce change. Edward Tivnan draws a striking comparison between modern AA laws and what has traditionally happened post wartime.

“Few Americans complained when after World War II and Korea veterans went immediately to the top of civil service lists. After all, they deserved; they were being paid back for their courage and service in the war. (It is important to recall that not all “veterans” saw combat”, but all who served got job preference.) Preferential treatment for blacks in just recompensation for the long and vivid past of undeniable oppression and discrimination.”[3]

And in fact, many people are fighting for the same rights for veterans of the “War on Terror”. Just as these programs work to bring veterans into the mainstream of the American workforce, Affirmative Action is an attempt to assimilate minorities, who still face discrimination daily, into the American dream that many take for granted.  We are lucky to live in a society where education is often valued highly, particularly college level educations. If a minority citizen is unable to get a job, how can he or she make enough money to afford a higher education, or afford an education for their children? Many people may argue that this is just as easily the case for any lower class American citizen, but sadly, racism does still exist today. In many parts of the US, minorities are reluctantly hired, but easily fired.  Even in today’s “progressive society”, some employers only hire blacks to fulfill their AA requirements. How can we say that our moral obligation has been repaid when we are constantly being indebted further?  Affirmative Action works. Most people are willing to acknowledge that more and more jobs are going to minorities, and there is an increasing minority driven middle class. To say that AA works is not to say that there are no negative repercussions. Admittedly there are some feelings of resentment among white middle class workers, but if we only ever adopted policies that had unanimous support, we would still be in the initially stages of writing our Constitution.  This is without a doubt a moral dilemma- determining when such measures stop being socially useful and start becoming detrimental to society as a whole is surely a daunting task.[4] Proponents of continued Affirmative Action clearly feel that we have not reached that point yet.

Against

It is easy to dismiss the argument against Affirmative Action as racist and the product of bigotry in the political arena. No one is going to deny that people like that exist, but for the majority of anti-AA advocates this is rash and untrue.  In fact, most oppose it on the basis that it hurts more people than it helps. The original goal of the Kennedy administration and then the Johnson administration was to ensure equal opportunities for all; regardless of any discriminating factors. Affirmative Action is just the opposite! Instead of evaluating people based on their status as individuals, AA promotes qualifying people into pre-determined groups and judging them based on that.[5] This seems hardly different than the racism that we are fighting against. Many proponents of Affirmative Action will argue that the benefits to minorities outweigh the costs. A closer look at those benefits causes one to think differently. Prior to AA, there was already a middle class minority population, but there was also a sizeable population below the poverty line. Thanks to Affirmative Action, high paying employers have now begun to employ minorities. But where do these newly hired employees come from? The middle class. It is highly unusually for a poor member of society to be chosen to work in an upper class environment. As a result, the middle class becomes the upper class and the gap between paupers and princes gets larger.

     Employers and educators still have to fulfill their Affirmative Action requirements, though, and with government pressure to show results, the easiest way to do this is to bring in more and more minorities. This sounds suspiciously like the quota system that Congress ruled against in the 70’s, but as long as the government keeps pushing for ‘results’, employers will keep taking the easiest route. With most institutions today, public and private, it seems as if diversity is the key to approval. Affirmative Action seems to be the easiest path to diversity, but is it the best? Well, when 70% of American citizens are entitled to AA benefits, it would seem that it is not the best.[6] No one is going to deny that the US needs to become a more racially equal community (equal opportunity again), but Affirmative Action is not the answer. While it is easy to take the past 30 years at face value and accept the current state of affairs as “proof that Affirmative Action works”, a closer examination reveals the truth. Numbers and statistics can be twisted to support any view- a more accurate indicator, albeit it is slightly more difficult to interpret, is the current moral state of race relations. When a prospective employee or student cannot be considered outside of their race, something is wrong. When a white middle class worker feels animosity towards a black middle class worker the first day on the job, something is wrong. When teenager is admitted to a top institution of higher education, but all of his peers attribute it to race, something is wrong. This is not racial equality, and it is not what civil rights leaders spent their lives fighting for.

     Something is breaking down in the system. Affirmative Action seemed to work for a period of time, but as the first generation of Affirmative Action babies are having their own children and noticing just as many divisions between youths of different races (they may be in different places than they were previously, but they can still be found), it is becoming clear that something needs to change. Merely shifting the social discrimination from one group to another does not solve the problem- it instead builds up animosity between races and causes a whole new set of racial problems. If a white construction worker is fired one week, and a black one hired is his place to ensure an equal number of black and white workers, it is natural to assume that the white worker will harbor discontent towards the black worker. It will now be difficult for the white worker to gain equal employment elsewhere, and there is the chance that he will eventually settle below the poverty line. In the meantime, the black worker has been fired once another white worker leaves, and his cycle begins again. Bouncing around from job to job, it would seem difficult for this man to break out of poverty when his jobs are dictated by his race. Granted this is a hypothetical situation, but one that is easily verified once people leave their intellectual bubble behind and assess the reality facing America today. Taking a stance against the current Affirmative Action system is not a step towards racism. It is just the opposite- it is a promise to make a conscious effort to increase racial equality through reformation of the current system and better education efforts.

My Opinion

Everyday millions of people go to work and come face to face with hatred. Whether it is on their behalf, or that of others, it remains true that racial prejudice is still a major barrier in American society. As a result of this, I choose to identify with the argument against Affirmative Action, as it is today. A program seeking to improve conditions for minorities through discrimination is not my idea of an effective step forward. I’m not often an optimist; in fact you might say that I’m quite the opposite, but if I’m a cynic it’s because the current state of affairs. This is one situation where I am going to play the optimist and insist that we can come up with a better solution. Actually, it is a result of cynicism that I am going to take the optimist’s position here.  From my perspective, as a graduate of a private, religious high school in the South, it seems that “forced diversity” doesn’t work. Most administrative officials are content to hire, or admit, minorities based on racial qualifications, and then deem the situation to be diverse. In fact, I would like to draw a comparison to what could be considered a microcosm of the greater racial situation in America.

Public schools in America are in dire need of reform. No one is going to question that the education system is inconsistent and poor on average. That is not the focus of this argument, so I’ll leave it at that for now. Public schools do, however, have a greater percentage of racial diversity than private schools. In public schools it is quite common to find racially mixed groups of friends, and despite some racism among groups, most fights are by and large not racial brawls. While it is still not an ideal social situation, most problems are resolved by the students (although their methods might not be ideal either) and everyone is afforded an equal opportunity at education (how useful is that education is another matter).

On the other hand, private schools offer fantastic educational opportunities, small class sizes, and a chance at advancement. They are also predominately white. Certainly there are some minority students, but these students are typically in one of two situations. They are already from at least a middle class background, or are on some sort of scholarship (typically athletic). As a result they are in the minority in this environment as well, and tend to associate with those similar to themselves- however few there may be. I am going to venture an ad-hoc argument here and say that anyone who thinks this is not the case is a hopeless optimist who probably disagreed with me long before this section. As a result, many arguments tend to be inter-racial. In my experience, the suburban rebels of the situation who would frequently write things such as “F*ck the N*ggs” on the bathroom stalls and draw swastikas and confederate flags are not interested in racial equality. Now while this might happen at a public school as well, because of the natural diversity of the situation it was not handled like it was at private school X. At the private school, professional ‘diversity counselors’ were called in, and the whole student body was made to attend workshops on becoming diverse, facilitated by the newly instated ‘diversity coordinator’.

In short, bureaucratic processes took over, alienating the student body and causing the racial divide to become all the more evident. This is the sort of environments that Affirmative Action manifests- forced diversity that eventually backfires and sets the community back even further than it was previously. Middle class minority citizens are afforded the opportunity to go to a good school, get a good job, and likely enter the upper class. A few lower class citizens are allowed the same, but as a result of the forced diversity they face even tougher odds and are belittled as inferior and riding on the coattails of entitlement. While some people might not actually feel this way, after years of being indoctrinated into this situation, it will eventually begin to have some effects of consequence. 

Let me clarify my position: I am not advocating racism in either situation, nor am I saying that either is right. Both have significant issues and both are in need of reform. Which is my exact point. There has to be a better situation than this, better than two different classes separated by a widening gap with very little crossover. Ignorant members of both school systems resent members of the other, but neither solving the issue of racism. It has just caused it to separate into different factions and manifest itself in different, less visible ways. On the surface, it appears as if the private school system is doing a service by allowing minorities in. But that is just it- they feel they are doing a service to a lesser group by doing so, and the minorities feel like that they are just getting what they are entitled to. On the surface, it looks like by the public school allowing everyone in a racially diverse group will grow and succeed. But it doesn’t.  The group often faces too many difficulties because of the disparity of the system and very few of the minority members of the community will actually proceed socially into a higher class.

So with a situation like this, is there any hope? Well, in the rarity of my optimism I’m going to say yes. But it will require a slightly less intuitive approach. It is my belief that the racial divides in America will decrease as the socio-economic divide decreases. Affirmative Action has succeeded in making people feel complacent with their own racial situations, when in reality there is still such a large problem. It is time for a new approach. The first step begins with educational reform. If the public school system is focused on and actually improved, the students in the system (typically lower or middle class minorities) will naturally have an increased chance at better higher education, and hence better jobs. Not to mention the added self-benefits of being bettered educated. Rich whites who attended private schools will feel less superior, and won’t be able to discount minority hirings as due to entitlement and moral obligations. This will effectively integrate minorities into an upper class, and within a few generations, possibly decompose the economic differences between the classes.  Many people justify their racism due to what they feel is the stereotypical socio-economic and educational status of minorities. With this eradicated, it will become apparent just how absurd racial divides are- a fact that most Americans sadly remain ignorant to today. Some might denounce this as a simple redistribution of wealth, but if that’s all it is, then I’m honored to suggest it. In my opinion, it has the ability to actually bring about an economic equalization of peoples in America, and with it an elimination of racial barriers.

Like I stated earlier, this view may be critiqued as sadly optimistic. And it always will be, until the people who are suffering the worse become discontent with the current injustice that is race-based Affirmative Action. The tragedy of the situation is that most people are complacent with Affirmative Action as a solution, and don’t acknowledge the possibility of an even more revolutionary remedy. Edward Tivnan has stated “it is time for another War on Poverty- without a doubt, a just war.”[7] This time the people whom it affects the most, not the upper class Washington politicians who grew up beneficiaries of the very system that is causing the problem, must lead it. Perhaps the time is approaching- one good consequence of Affirmative Action is that whites are finally starting to get a small taste of what it is like to be discriminated against. Now instead of turning their rage towards the only people who can understand what they’re feeling, they need to work together to bring the fire to Capital Hill, to make the complacent ignorami realize that something needs to change. And that change is possible only with a united American populous with a united desire for general and educational equality.