Affirmative Action: Seeking Positive Action

by Tanisha Coleman (BPRW)

Affirmative action is all about seeking positive action in an effort to yield satisfaction. According to www.ethnicmajority.com, affirmative action is probably one of the most misunderstood civil rights issues of our time. Opponents believe that it uses quotas and preferences to replace qualified Caucasian males with unqualified Ethnic minorities and women. In reality, however, www.ethnicmajority.com concludes that affirmative action is a tool to promote diversity and resolve inequities in the workplace, higher education, and government contracting, clearly helping African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans.

How did affirmative action all begin? It started in 1965 when Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which gave the U.S. Department of Justice the power to take "affirmative" steps to eliminate discrimination. During that same year, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, which gave the U.S. Department of Labor responsibility to enforce affirmative action. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, a department under the Department of Labor, began requiring government contractors to analyze the demographics of their workforce and take proactive measures to resolve any inequality. Over the years, affirmative action has been used as a tool to fight discrimination in several venues, including government employment, corporate America, and admissions to public universities.

Many organizations have stepped out to support affirmative action, including the NAACP. In fact, the NAACP has played an active role in gaining equal rights for African Americans in higher education. The NAACP lobbies for affirmative action and protests against those who advocate the ending of the program.

Affirmative action is all about seeking positive action. Hopefully, efforts will continue to be made to achieve greater diversity and yield more satisfaction.