Time to Put an End to Affirmative Action Essay - 1974 Words

Time to Put an End to Affirmative Action Affirmative action is the set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This set of public policies has had quite a history beginning with the Thirteenth Amendment, which made slavery illegal. The Thirteenth Amendment was followed by the Fourteenth, that guarantees equal protection under the law. The Fifteenth Amendment brought up the rear, which forbids racial discrimination in access to voting. When affirmative action was set into place during the 1960s it was needed and very necessary. Although in history the need for affirmative action is obvious, it has reached the point where†¦show more content†¦Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 which outlawed segregationist hiring policies by defense-related industries which held federal contacts (Sykes, 1995). This order was brought about because of the actions of a Black trade union leader, A. Philip Randolph. During Har ry Trumans second term, in 1953, his Committee on Government Contract Compliance urged the Bureau of Employment Security to act positively and affirmatively to implement the policy of nondiscrimination (ibid). Finally, after 58 years, the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, and therefore the separate, but equal doctrine with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. The term affirmative action was first used in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson in Executive Order 11246, which mandated federal employees 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 (ibid). This Executive Order was expanded 2 years later, in 1967, to include affirmative action requirements to cover women. There were two more laws passed in the 1960s to make discrimination illegal. The first of which was the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Within this act, Titles II and VII forbid racial discr imination in public accommodations and race and sex discrimination in employment. The next act to make discrimination illegal was the 1965 Voting Rights Act, adopted after a probe by Congress foundShow MoreRelated Its Time to Put and End to Affirmative Action Essay1586 Words   |  7 Pages Affirmative action should be changed or ended altogether In the late Sixties, Martin Luther King Jr. fought hard for equal rights. Before he was assassinated in 1968, he made a speech about his vision of human equality. â€Å"I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.† (King) The Sixties were a turning point for racial equality. Because of leaders like King, many blacks and minorityRead MoreAffermative Action1316 Words   |  6 PagesBy: Elissa Thomas E-mail: elissa@usais.net Affirmative Action Affirmative Action efforts were started in 1964 to end the long history of overlooking qualified people of color and women from higher education. Affirmative Action sets standards for a business or office of admissions, so that a white man does not have the upper-hand over an equally or greater educated minority. The initial way the government tried to justify Affirmative Action was to develop a human resource approach: first identifyingRead More Affirmative Action Is the Wrong Action Essays1708 Words   |  7 PagesAffirmative Action Is the Wrong Action The United States of America has long been a country divided by race. Hate has pervaded her existence since her conception, and now today’s society is forced to deal with those issues. Minorities have suffered at the hands of the white male majority for centuries as the social activities of the old war were brought to the new colonies, only to ferment and continue to affect the lives of all who lived within her borders. There is no doubting that thisRead MoreAffirmative Action Essay857 Words   |  4 PagesUnder the Affirmative Action policy, or preferential hiring, the firm must hire someone who is underrepresented. As strange as it seems, this type of situation occurs everyday, and many wonder why the policy is legal. I never really understood why affirmative action is legal. In affirmative actions beginning, the government needed laws to help aid the blending of minorities and women in American workforce and culture. During the Civil Rights movement of 1960s, affirmative action was implementedRead MoreRacial Discrimination : The Worst Form Of Inequality1388 Words   |  6 Pagesdifferent people. In America,the individuals who are usually discriminated against are the minorities like African Americans and Hispanics. Affirmative action is a policy that was created and has been claimed to be positive discrimination. The policy was created to give equal opportunity to groups of people who are usually discriminated against. Although Affirmative action has been named to be positive and support minorities, it is still unjust. There should be no positive aspects of racial discriminationRead MoreAffirmative Action: Social Policy1348 Words   |  6 PagesAffirmative Action Affirmative action is a social policy created to promote the welfare of minorities by supporting the idea that individuals are all created equal and should not be judged by race or gender. Therefore, in situations like job and university applications, we should consider minorities to be as feasible a choice for hire as a white male candidate, taking into consideration their background. In short, it tries to give minorities that have been at a disadvantage their whole life, anRead MoreEssay on Affirmative Action855 Words   |  4 PagesAffirmative Action Is It Really A-Firm-Action? What is affirmative action? This has been a very interesting question throughout the past thirty years. Many people would like to answer it with simply the name given to programs that try to correct past and ongoing discriminations against women, racial minorities, and others in the work force and in education. Affirmative action was created out of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It actually went into effect because of an executiveRead More Affirmative Action Is Not the Solution Essay1340 Words   |  6 Pagesnbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Affirmative action is a social policy created to promote the welfare of minorities by supporting the idea that individuals are all created equal and should not be judged by race or gender. Therefore, in situations like job and university applications, we should consider minorities to be as feasible a choice for hire as a white male candidate, taking into consideration their background. In short, it tries to give minorities that have been at a disadvantage their wholeRead MoreAffirmative Action Is The Current Method For Combating Systematic Racism1602 Words   |  7 PagesAffirmative action is the current method for combatting the systematic racism and general bigotry that has long plagued American society. It is a source of much debate, both from the legal and moral perspectives. When it comes to higher education, it has been the subject of serval Supreme court decisions and many philosophical papers. Affirmative action’s stance makes a statement about how American society intends to handle its problems of bigotry; if it wants to ignore them, or if it wants to choose

Being Written Reading Free Essays

I walked into the local bookstore and it smelled of coffee. The delta blues was playing softly. I set up my workstation on a side table, preparing to take notes. We will write a custom essay sample on Being Written Reading or any similar topic only for you Order Now There were eight marigolds, a half-eaten muffin, and a nearly empty mug of some unknown beverage in my midst. The gothic fellow manning the coffee stand ate some sort of biscuit behind the counter. He spoke to a co-worker of an art studio that he used to have. Meanwhile, a man with glasses and slightly shaggy brown hair was setting things up for the reading: the podium, the microphone, and the chairs. At first, I thought he was the author, but he wasn’t. William Conescu, the author, had short, curly black hair and no glasses. His eyelids were red. He seemed simultaneously nervous and illimitably delighted to be here. Support was present in the form of a close friend. This friend snapped a photo of William when the reading began. Before William Conescu approached the podium, a gray-haired lady placed flyers of the bookstore’s current events on the eighteen chairs arranged in the open room. Then she made an introduction, speaking largely to the seven people in the cafe area. No one had yet sat in any of the chairs lined up in neat rows facing the podium. There were only four minutes left before the reading commenced. The sky darkened. Finally, two men draped their coats and scarves over the backs of chairs. I stood up to go to the restroom where there was graffiti on the walls, which, as usual, I could not decipher. When I returned there were eight people in attendance to the reading of Being Written, a novel by William Conescu. The gray-haired lady made a second introduction and turned the microphone over to the author. Being Written is William Conescu’s first novel and was released last month. William explained that up to this point he has written short fiction. Actually, for quite some time after undergraduate study, William put off writing, waiting for some stability – for this job to start, for that move to be over. A theme in his novel, he said that many of the actors, writers, and musicians that he knew were not acting, writing, or playing. The protagonist of the novel is Daniel Fischer, and he is the sole character in the book that can hear the scratching of the author’s pencil. Unfortunately, this also grants him the painful insight that he is a minor character, and has been for some time. So when the author seems to take interest in a young woman at the bar, Daniel throws himself into the scene and her life. He is not entirely prepared for this though, and the fact that he is minor kills his self-esteem. The second person point-of-view only intensifies this neurosis. William read the bar scene dramatically, like a play. He injected the prose with energy; it came alive. He finished the scene, gave us some more summary, and began another scene much later in the novel. Daniel has evolved into a pawn used by Dehlia, the woman at the bar, in her relationship with pianist, Graham. Daniel is excited to have been elevated to pawn status; he has never been a pawn before. Then, suddenly, William Conescu opened the floor for questions. Someone asked about the publishing process. He said he had a good experience with them; actually, they were the reason that this story developed into the full-length novel that it is, rather than becoming a novella contained in a collection. Another person asked about point-of-view. We learned that parts of the book are told in third person, parts are told in second; this allowed Daniel to be shown as an ordinary character in the story as well as close-up and neurotic. William writes with an outline, but does not strictly adhere to it; he likes to know that his writing is â€Å"going somewhere†. â€Å"Thank you’s† were exchanged, handshakes, and even phone numbers, which I found to be shocking. The author was sitting down, signing people’s books, looking up at them, rather than across the crowd from the mic. He said, â€Å"This has been really fun. † I believed it. How to cite Being Written Reading, Papers

Dave Matthews Band - Stand Up free essay sample

Dave Matthews Bands Stand Up is a complete album. In other terms, its not an album that a listener will by just to hear one or two songs. From the first track to the last track, each song has its own distinct virtues that will hook the listener and make him or her want to hear more. A listener could get lost in this smooth rock album for hours. Dave Matthews Band, referred to as DMB by fans, has a reoccurring theme throughout Stand Up that all listeners are able to relate to; the longing for the ideal women. With this theme in mind, DMB starts off the album with the perfect song, Dreamgirl. Right from the start, the listener will immediately become infatuated with Dave Matthews voice and the melody of the song flow together. If you loved the first song, the best is still yet to come as Old Dirt Hill and American Baby are next. We will write a custom essay sample on Dave Matthews Band Stand Up or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The first half of the album is wrapped up with a more upbeat song, Everybody Wake Up. The second half of the album is mixed with some more of the smooth rock (Out of My Hands and Stolen Away on 55th and 3rd) and also the more upbeat type of rock (Hello Again and You Might Die Trying). This album is definitely my favorite because it always puts me in a good mood while I listen. It never grows old and never ceases to put a smile on my face. Whether or not youve already heard Dave Matthews Band before, you will grow to love the lyrics and melodies.