Following the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, several efforts were made to combat the effects of systemic racism in society, one of which is known as Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action, as defined by social justice advocate Tim Wise, is “any race—or gender—conscious effort to hire, recruit, promote, train, or admit qualified women and people of color for educational, employment, or contracting opportunities.” Often, people assume that such programs give unqualified people of color jobs or admittance, simply due to race and therefore steal spaces from qualified white people. However, this is not the case. These programs seek out applicants that meet the criteria of the spots they are applying for and also work to benefit white women, people with disabilities, and even veterans. Ultimately, these misconceptions stem from a lack of knowledge about Affirmative Action and are a byproduct of white privilege. …show more content…
It was carried out by President Johnson in 1965. It sought to guarantee that all who applied for jobs would not face discrimination, both during the hiring process and when working. Essentially, the goal was to make up for the disparities that people of color had to face, due to how society viewed them. This is seen as “leveling the playing field.” These disparities prevented people of color from being hired into jobs or being accepted to schools. Though they supposedly had equal opportunity to apply as white people did, they were denied positions as a result of prejudices in the minds of those evaluating them or because they did not have access to the same resources to prepare as whites. This meant that society was lacking