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Argument Against Affirmative Action

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In 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925 which created the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and mandated that federally funded projects implement “Affirmative Action” (RACE). This bill planned on combating long term racial failures by ensuring that hiring was free of racial bias, however it ended up doing the exact opposite. Americans have been arguing both for and against the effectiveness of the bill in past years and whether it is necessary at all. The practice of hiring and recruiting based on race because of Executive Order 10925 is antithetical to its original purpose, even though some argue that it is necessary in order to bridge the inequality gap that exists in America. The inequality gap in America …show more content…

This survey was remarkably consistent among all racial groups: 79% of whites opposed using race as a factor, along with 78% of blacks and 68% of Hispanics (Washington Post). One possibility why so many blacks and Hispanics are against a system meant to benefit them is that they don’t want to be held to lower standards. Alan Keyes, a black political activist and doctoral graduate of Harvard University, once said, “Preferential affirmative action patronizes American blacks, women, and others by presuming that they cannot succeed on their own. Preferential affirmative action does not advance civil rights in this country” (On the Issues). The prime fundamental error of affirmative action that Keyes highlights is the “presumption” that a certain race is inherently inferior. Just because someone is black, doesn’t mean they can’t earn more than a person who is Asian. On the other hand, supreme court justice, and longtime advocate of affirmative action, Sonia Sotomayor, believes that the purpose of affirmative action is to “create the conditions whereby students from disadvantaged backgrounds could be brought to the starting line of a race many were unaware was even being run” (Lilley). Ill-advisedly, Sotomayor overlooks underprivileged Asian and white families in favor of a policy that demeans the people it’s supposed to

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