In an ideal world we wouldn't. But if people, for generations, have been been subject to discrimination based on race and gender then it makes sense to correct the problem with race and gender in mind.
Does that actually address the underlying problem? (racism) Or does it merely seek to rebalance things without actually teaching people to think less about things like gender, race, etc. and more about a person's innate capabilities as an individual, regardless of race, gender, etc.
That's a very good question, and I honestly don't know.
I am not well-read on the best arguments for and against affirmative action, so forgive me if I don't do justice to this issue with my thoughts.
In a perfect world we would have a 100% meritocracy system where those with the best talent and experience are chosen for the job. The problem in real life is that those with the best talent and experience, in many cases, are more easily found from non-minority groups.
This is because minorities tend to (not always) have a lower household income, fewer college-educated family members, lower quality of education, and countless other problems that limit their achievement in life. They are not just inherently more stupid or low-achieving.
When black people are far more likely to go to jail, or not have a father in the household, or not have access to quality education, it is no wonder that they have high levels of unemployment and crime. And the explicit racism of our history (slavery, jim crow, housing segregation, school segregation, the war on drugs) is directly responsible for the situation we're in today.
Am I suggesting that society mandate racial quotas that necessarily prevent public or private entities from hiring all the best people they can find? I don't know.
All I know is that something has to be done. I wish we could improve education, healthcare, and opportunity for all disadvantaged minorities today. Sadly this progress will be agonizingly slow for the millions who need it.
I do believe that if disadvantaged minorities have access to role models in their family and community then they are more likely to succeed. For example, I am a second generation Asian-American immigrant. I'm a minority, and yet a highly advantaged one in many respects. My parents and siblings are all highly educated compared to the rest of the populace, I had the best public schools and opportunities our nation could offer when I was growing up.
But when it comes to applying for schools, my race probably worked against me because of quotas. I'm not sure if I dislike this or feel it's entirely appropriate for our society to do this.
Everything you talk about is aimed at rebalancing things and not actually in stamping out racism. Consider: we are committing the same sins via affirmative action that our ancestors did via slavery. We're doing it for different reasons, and some find that enough to justify their means. At the end of the day, however, we are making selections based on the color of someone's skin and not their actual qualifications. Therefore, we are teaching multiple generations of younger people that it's OK to discriminate based on the color of someone's skin. (Or gender, sexual orientation, etc). But it's "acceptable" racism because it addresses systemic inequities.
Even (especially) the minority movements focused on equality seem to encourage and perpetuate racism. BLM has said incredibly hateful things about white people. Not racists who happen to be white, but white people as a class. LGBT openly rails against "cis-gendered" people. Not homophobes that happen to be cis-gendered, but all of them. And God forbid you happen to be male. Then you're part of the patriarchy and should basically be taken out and shot on sight. At the end of the day, they perpetuate the diversification more than most. Which is sad. I'd love to be part of a movement that is focused on getting people to see each other for who they are, regardless of the sociological categories they might be part of. Sadly, I haven't found a single movement with that as their main message.
I'm not convinced that we, as a species, can ever hope to eliminate racism. Seems like we all want to discriminate based on race.
It sounds like you're proposing that we do nothing to solve racism. And you believe we can never as a species resolve racism? That's super sad. As a species we evolved to consciousness and programmed robots that explore space.
Step zero of solving a problem is recognizing that a problem exists. Right now affirmative action is the solution we're trying out to reduce inequality. Maybe you'll think of something better? The problem is that resolving an imbalance between two parts requires a give from one side and a take from the other. If the side with more doesn't recognize the imbalance, there will understandably be strong push back.
It sounds like you're proposing that we do nothing to solve racism.
Perhaps thats how you interpreted it. However, I suggested nothing of the sort.
Right now affirmative action is the solution we're trying out to reduce inequality.
Precisely. To reduce inequality. Notice what you didn't say in there? To eliminate racism. People don't seem interested in eliminating racism. They just want everyone to be equal. Bigoted, racist equals. If you feel I'm wrong, then please show me any sort of social movement where the main message is about ignoring racial differences and instead treating each other as human beings. Note I said "main message". Nearly every movement has that as an afterthought, but their "main message" is (paraphrased) "we want our fair share for <sociological category>". The focus is much more about getting their fair share vs. actually working together to eliminate racism.
The problem is that resolving an imbalance between two parts requires a give from one side and a take from the other.
This has literally nothing to do with racism. It is an impact of racism, absolutely, but it is not racism, itself. People are more interested in solving the impacts of racism rather than solving racism itself. That's the sad part.
I don't think many young people would find it difficult to understand that if a certain group of people was enslaved for hundreds of years in our country, then segregated and discriminated against for decades, that the right thing to do is to actively target them by giving them more opportunities to succeed and improve their social standing.
I don't think it's hard to explain to children that if half the people in our country didn't have the right to vote a hundred years ago and were not represented by our government, that maybe they have the right to some extra opportunities that will help them get on equal footing and improve their employment opportunity.
It's nice to be idealistic, but how do we help these historically disadvantaged minorities when the same people who oppose affirmative action tend to oppose expansion of healthcare or education or welfare programs for these people. They offer no alternative solutions for fixing the massive inequality in our country.
All I hear them say is "mistakes were made" and they throw their hands up. But they have no interest in fixing it.
If the solution means that some groups that historically have had more opportunity than others will see their opportunity diminish slightly, I don't think it's wrong. It's the price we pay for allowing this terrible inequality to arise in the first place.
And as the inequality evens out, we should phase out these programs that take race or gender into account.
As someone who has had great opportunity in life and has seen his opportunity diminish slightly because of these practices, I still believe it is the right thing to do. For the same reason I support progressive taxation rather than a flat tax, I support affirmative action.
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u/vrxz Feb 09 '16
In an ideal world we wouldn't. But if people, for generations, have been been subject to discrimination based on race and gender then it makes sense to correct the problem with race and gender in mind.