White males continue to occupy a disproportionate number of positions of power in the United States. Whether CEOs of major corporations or state senators, people in positions of power have the ability to change public policy, alter consumer habits, and influence lifestyle, worldview, and cultural ideology. Politically correct language has done little to correct the imbalance at the upper echelons of society. As a result, minorities are poorer and less well-educated than their white counterparts. Race continues to be a major social, political, and economic issue in the United States, because there are too many obstacles standing in the way of true racial equality. In order for the playing field to be even for people of all races, affirmative action policies are still necessary, whether in universities or in Washington, D.C.

             Affirmative action policies help to eliminate the subtle forms of prejudice and bias that guide hiring and acceptance decisions. For example, if an admissions committee at a major American university has no affirmative action policy in place they might unconsciously seek students who reflect the demographics of the current student body; in other words, students that "fit in." If the student body is majority white, then white students may be given an unintentional priority over African-American students. What affirmative action policies do is encourage admissions officers and employers to consider people they might have overlooked, if not by conscious intention, then by unconscious bias.

             Affirmative action policies are frequently criticized because of a few core misunderstandings. First, affirmative action policies do not require quotas. An employer is not told that she or he must hire 70 African-American employees for every 100 white employees on staff. On the other hand, affirmative action policies offer some leeway for the consideration of race, so that race becomes a factor in a person's favor just as a volunteer position at the YMCA might also be a deciding factor.