Affirmative Action
Affirmative action was first implemented in 1965, by president Lyndon B. Johnson. Affirmative action was created to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Civil Rights Act had passed just a year before and it created a situation where minorities were considered equals but not treated as equals in the work force, schools, and in government. There was a desperate need for some sort of law aiding minorities who had been constantly held back by the racist system. Affirmative action called for many institutions to start quotas that made the hiring and acceptance of minorities. From that point on after 1965, many provisions were added to the goals of affirmative action. In 1969, the role of affirmative action was furthered into the craft unions and the construction industry, through a forceful plan called the Philadelphia Order (Steinberg 69). President Richard Nixon initiated it because he recognized the numerous violations and offenses of the equal opportunity laws by tight circles that controlled the craft and construction industries. Nixon wasn't able to force all of the construction companies to live up to the quotas, but he did for
The nicely organized pyramid that resembled our economical structure is now the shape of an hourglass. The most obvious sign of change is the shrinking middle-class and the best explanation for it was that they either moved up along the pyramid or moved down. The reason is because our economy has shifted from the manufacturing sector to a service sector. The cheap labor in poor countries took all of our manufacturing jobs and replaced them with low paying service sector type jobs. To explain for the growth in the upper class and the lower class is simple, the gap between the rich and poor is growing. Those that once held the blue-collar jobs are either moving up to the white-collar jobs or staying behind to take lower paying jobs. The rise of immigrants also made it hard for natives to find jobs that were decent paying. The high supply of immigrant workers drove down the salaries and wages. Immigrant workers were also willing to take the lower paying jobs. "The apparel industry was the most visible in expansion of overseas assembly and production of garments for import back into the United States" (Loucky 345). The immigrants here take all the remaining garment jobs, who are willing to accept the low wages offered. "Immigrants from Latin America and Asia now predominate in the garment sectors of many U.S. cities" (Loucky 365). Since the Bakke ruling, there have been numerous incidents where affirmative action has been viewed as unfair towards the majority. It only paved way for more cases of injustice caused by affirmative action programs. Many experts including, Richard D. Kahlenberg, began to think about how we should change this injustice of using racial preference. He suggested the idea of class-based affirmative action so that the system would be colorblind and instead focus on people with financial disadvantages. Class-based was also suggested by Martin Luther King Jr., he valued that idea because he knew that the majority of Blacks were in the lower class (Kahlenberg 86). King felt that affirmative action was only good if it utilized a colorblind system, that way not only do Blacks benefit from the program but also the poor White community. The problem with King's proposal was that the era that he lived would not see beyond the race and color issue. Nevertheless, he believed a colorblind system would be more effective in leveling the so-called playing field. This new type of thought began to be the main argument for changing the affirmative action based on racial preferences. Whatever the result, one can say the impact of globalization has change the way the world has worked. It now seems that the world is getting smaller and we're all encountering the diversity of cultures of the world. The idea of globalization was an inevitable occurrence because it's the mechanism of a free market system. We really can't stop what is happening since it has already exploded, but we can learn to adapt and focus working together peacefully. Our capitalist ways have always had the same effect, the rich will always benefit in the end. Soon America was experiencing a wave of minority groups entering all types of schools, jobs, and government positions. It all seemed great because minorities were now doings things that they were once prevented from doing. However, no one thought about all the w
Some common words found in the essay are:
Effects Globalization, Slowly California, Latinos Dominicans, Coming America, Richard Nixon, America Asia, Soon America, Rights Act, King Jr, Supreme Court, affirmative action, lower class, cheap labor, service sector, paying jobs, labor force, prop 209, cheap labor force, colorblind system, playing field, affirmative action programs, freedoms america, affirmative action based, paying service sector, low paying service,
Approximate Word count = 2257
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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