Affimative Action

这篇文章主要通过马尔科姆斯’的观察提出了美国历史上的黑人种族遭受歧视事实，并且指出即使法律不断提高黑人地位，但黑人的权利和遭受歧视并没有什么改变。现在越来越多宪法禁止基于性别或种族和禁止国家及其政治分支机构利用宗教，性别，肤色，种族歧视，违背法律平等保护的基本原则。

We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us!” Malcolm Xs observation is brought out by the facts of American History. Snatched from their native land, transported thousands of miles in a nightmare of disease and death and sold into slavery, blacks were reduced to the legal status of farm animals. Even after emancipation, blacks were segregated from whites  in some states by law, and by social practice almost everywhere. American apartheid continued for another century.

 In 1954 the Supreme Court declared state-compelled segregation in schools unconstitutional, and it followed up that decision with others that struck down many forms of official segregation. Still, discrimination survived, and in most southern states blacks were either discouraged or prohibited from exercising their right to vote. Not until the 1960s was compulsory segregation finally and effectively challenged. Between 1964 and 1968 Congress passed the most sweeping civil rights legislation since the end of the Civil War. It banned discrimination in employment, public accommodations (hotels, motels, restaurants, etc.), and housing; it also guaranteed voting rights for blacks in areas suspected of disenfranchising blacks.

Today, several agencies in the federal government exercise sweeping powers to enforce these civil rights measures. But is that enough' Equality of condition between blacks and whites seems as elusive as ever. The black unemployment rate is double that of whites and the percentage of black families living in poverty is nearly four times that of whites. Only a small percentage of blacks ever make it into medical school or law schools. Advocates of affirmative action have focused upon these differences to support their argument that it is no longer enough just to stop discrimination. Liberal Democrats feel that the damage done by three centuries of racism now has to be remedied, they argue, and effective remediation requires a policy of “affirmative action. At the heart of affirmative action is the use of “numerical goals.” Opponents call them racial quotas.”

Whatever the name, what they simply is the setting aside of a certain number of jobs or positions for blacks or other historically oppressed groups. Conservative Republicans charge that affirmative action really amounts to reverse discrimination, that it penalizes innocent people simply because they are white, that it often results in unqualified appointments, and that it ends up harming instead of helping blacks. The issue of preferences to address historical patterns of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination has received a great deal of attention nationally.

Whether in government contracts, private sector hiring, college admissions, or state hiring practices, opponents in the issue have engaged in often-heated debates. In Michigan, legislation to limit or eliminate affirmative action has been introduced this session. A good example of this legislation was proposed on March 18,1998 and it is called SJR N (S-2). This resolution proposed an amendment to the Michigan Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sex or ethnicity and to prohibit the state and its political subdivisions from using religion, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as a basis for discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to any individual or group in employment, public education, or public contracting. The present system violates the fundamental principle of equal protection of the law against discrimination on the basis of immutable characteristics of race, sex, color, ethnicity, and national origin. This was intended to end this practice and return Michigan to the goal of a colorblind society. There really is no moderate way to look at affirmative action; you can either be for it or against it.

51Due网站原创范文除特殊说明外一切图文著作权归51Due所有；未经51Due官方授权谢绝任何用途转载或刊发于媒体。如发生侵犯著作权现象，51Due保留一切法律追诉权。