Affirmative Action

Definition

: the practice of improving the educational and job opportunities of members of groups that have not been treated fairly in the past because of their race, sex, etc.

(Merriam-Webster)

Title Text

Support

AA compensates people for past injustices

Provides access to opportunities that weren't available before

Creates minority role models that influence young people

About inclusion, not exclusion

Promotes diversity & racial harmony

Addresses major problems

Oppose

Compensation should only be for those directly affected

Provides unequal opportunities to people who haven't earned them

Young people learn to depend on government handouts

Reverse discrimination

Stigmatizes minorities & increases racial tension

Does not solve real problems

General Sherman's
Special Field Order No.15 (1865)

Plan to redistribute confiscated Confederate land to newly free Black families in 40-acre plots.

Kennedy's Executive Order 10925 (1961)

Required government contractors 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."

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Outlawed discrimination based on
religion, color, race, sex, or national origin. 

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

Determined that race could be one of many factors considered in college admissions,
but quota systems were unconstitutional. 

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

Determined that universities with a "compelling interest"
in promoting diversity may consider race
in their admission practices. 

The Supreme Court determined
the University of Texas -Austin's admissions policy
did not violate the 14th Amendment.
UT automatically accepts students
in the top 10% of each Texas high school.
Students who don't meet that criteria may still apply
and race is one factor that UT considers in those admissions. 

What does the American government owe to the descendants of enslaved people?