A634.4.4.RB_MaceRoyce
Use Chapters 5 and 6 (LaFollette, 2007) as the foundation for your reflections regarding if affirmative action is ethical. Be sure to include external sourced content. Present your opinion, support your opinion, and opposing viewpoints.
To be completely honest, my views of Affirmative Action have been altered since reading more about it in this week's module. My previous thoughts on Affirmative Action were that it was a form of reverse discrimination against non-blacks. To simply hire blacks because they were just that... black. LaFollette (2007) describes Affirmative Action as a way to help a race that has been socially and economically suppressed for generations.
While Affirmative Action is not perfect, it seeks to allow blacks more opportunity through the increased probability of acquiring a job. LaFollette (2007) did a nice job of explaining Affirmative Action more deeply and outlining the veiled racism that still lurks in our country. Through explains that racism still lurks elsewhere, i.e. the classroom, the boardroom, the courtroom, and our institutions. In identifying why my outlook on Affirmative Action has changed may have something to do with my background. Let me explain.
Growing up in a small rural town, I didn't immediately come in contact with blacks. It wasn't until I was a freshman in high school that I met my first black friends. Any struggles they had with racism or its undertones were unbeknownst to me. We were kids and talked about kid stuff. None of the ugliness of racism ever came into view.
Then I joined an institution where, in my opinion, racism of any kind is likely to be unwelcome. The military has a funny way of becoming the ultimate "melting pot" where individuals of all backgrounds and races come together for a common goal. Knowing the danger that comes with being in the military helps to increase an elevated sense of camaraderie where the skin color of an individual doesn't matter - they are your brother or sister-in-arms!
I am blessed to be apart of an organization that naturally curbs racism and has programs in place to eradicate it quickly and decisively. Having not dealt with Affirmative Action in any way, shape, or form, it was easy to go with the status quo that I had heard in my own community growing up. Affirmative Action was to simply ensure that more blacks were hired and more non-blacks were not. Unfortunately, I was at the age where I did not challenge these simplistic descriptions of Affirmative Action. How could I? I didn't even know any black people or understand their struggles,
In conclusion, I believe Affirmative Action to be an ethical way to help correct the inappropriate treatment of the black community. Past indiscretions of our society have made it very hard for the black community to rebound from poverty, prison, and low education rates. Affirmative Action seeks to reverse some of those trends, but has met some stiff resistance across that nation, e.g. Proposition 209 passed by the state of California (The Leadership Conference, 2017), Taking another look at Affirmative Action would be something that I would like to see happen. If those that both favor and oppose Affirmative Action would work together and come to understand each other, a better version of Affirmative Action with a different naming convention could be introduced and enacted to help the black community.
References
LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
The Leadership Conference. (2017). Affirmative Action. Retrieved
from http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/affirmaction.html?
referrer=https://www.google.com/
To be completely honest, my views of Affirmative Action have been altered since reading more about it in this week's module. My previous thoughts on Affirmative Action were that it was a form of reverse discrimination against non-blacks. To simply hire blacks because they were just that... black. LaFollette (2007) describes Affirmative Action as a way to help a race that has been socially and economically suppressed for generations.
While Affirmative Action is not perfect, it seeks to allow blacks more opportunity through the increased probability of acquiring a job. LaFollette (2007) did a nice job of explaining Affirmative Action more deeply and outlining the veiled racism that still lurks in our country. Through explains that racism still lurks elsewhere, i.e. the classroom, the boardroom, the courtroom, and our institutions. In identifying why my outlook on Affirmative Action has changed may have something to do with my background. Let me explain.
Growing up in a small rural town, I didn't immediately come in contact with blacks. It wasn't until I was a freshman in high school that I met my first black friends. Any struggles they had with racism or its undertones were unbeknownst to me. We were kids and talked about kid stuff. None of the ugliness of racism ever came into view.
Then I joined an institution where, in my opinion, racism of any kind is likely to be unwelcome. The military has a funny way of becoming the ultimate "melting pot" where individuals of all backgrounds and races come together for a common goal. Knowing the danger that comes with being in the military helps to increase an elevated sense of camaraderie where the skin color of an individual doesn't matter - they are your brother or sister-in-arms!
I am blessed to be apart of an organization that naturally curbs racism and has programs in place to eradicate it quickly and decisively. Having not dealt with Affirmative Action in any way, shape, or form, it was easy to go with the status quo that I had heard in my own community growing up. Affirmative Action was to simply ensure that more blacks were hired and more non-blacks were not. Unfortunately, I was at the age where I did not challenge these simplistic descriptions of Affirmative Action. How could I? I didn't even know any black people or understand their struggles,
In conclusion, I believe Affirmative Action to be an ethical way to help correct the inappropriate treatment of the black community. Past indiscretions of our society have made it very hard for the black community to rebound from poverty, prison, and low education rates. Affirmative Action seeks to reverse some of those trends, but has met some stiff resistance across that nation, e.g. Proposition 209 passed by the state of California (The Leadership Conference, 2017), Taking another look at Affirmative Action would be something that I would like to see happen. If those that both favor and oppose Affirmative Action would work together and come to understand each other, a better version of Affirmative Action with a different naming convention could be introduced and enacted to help the black community.
References
LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
The Leadership Conference. (2017). Affirmative Action. Retrieved
from http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/affirmaction.html?
referrer=https://www.google.com/
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