Affirmative Action In America

Affirmative action is defined as; the policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who suffer from discrimination within a culture. History in America has always had the reoccurring theme of racism. Throughout history there has traditionally been a universal feel of oppression to minorities. Blacks and Latinos specifically have been stereotyped as underprivileged and not able to have equal opportunity in America. Statistics back these claims up as well; America boasts 64% of the American workforce is considered Non-Hispanic White, 16% Hispanic, and a mere 12% for African Americans. (American progress.org). Though this is a glaring problem, in 1964 Lyndon Johnson passed a law that tried to provide an equal opportunity for all minorities

Affirmative Action is designed to help out the people who do not have the same opportunity others. In this case people who have less of an opportunity financially. People who it is benefitting are people who are minorities that are already thriving and dont need the extra help to get hired or admitted. For example Richard Rodriguez is a man who talks about this in his book “Hunger of Memory”. Rodriguez epitomizes this specific laws flaw in that it benefits the people who do not need it. Rodriguez was a man who pursued education for himself and earned scholarships to go to several prestigious schools and still reaped the benefits of affirmative action earning un-needed privileges. He goes on to say in his book, “After the pool of ‘desirable’ minority students was depleted, more ‘provisional’ students were admitted.”(Rodrigues 165). Minorities who had the tools to go to school didn’t need the boost and the people who needed the boost didn’t have the academic skills to pass in college. He Goes on to say, “ I knew nonwhite graduate students who were bewildered by the requirement to compose a term paper and who each day were humiliated when they couldn’t compete with other students in seminars”(166) proving that they were accepting minorities when clearly not skilled enough to endure college and finally, “…Schooling could not be corrected with a crowded hour or two of instruction each week” (166). Finally proving that even the students being aided in Affirmative Action don’t have the tools to endure college and are just being admitted because of skin