A634.4.4.RB - Is Affirmative Action Ethical?
Affirmative action, does it hurt or help the black community, the white community, employers, and society or does it place one party against another and draw a hard line in the sand? LaFollette (2007) explained that affirmative action is the practice of giving special consideration to minorities and women in hiring and school placement. There are two sides to this and each side has valid points to support their side, however; each side is fighting the other to prove their point instead of working collaboratively together to change the stigma and perception of affirmative action.
On one hand, LaFollete (2007) explained that affirmative action is reverse discrimination and the program discriminates against whites simply because of their race. Which is just as wrong as discrimination and continues to separate individuals from coming together because of a race. Sandra (2005) stated that in order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every race and ethnicity. Her words could not be truer! As a society, we must look at a person for their talents, abilities of what they bring to the table; judging a person or promoting them over another because of skin color has not changed the struggle our country faced 50 years ago.
For example, as a working woman I do not feel it is fair if I am given a job over a man just because of my gender, in the same respect, I do not feel it is fair for an individual to be given a job because of their race. I almost feel ashamed I am given a job over another person because of my gender. What if I am not as qualified but I was given the job because of a law? Then, walking into the position I may be resented by those who currently work there, I may be set up for failure, or I may succeed. This is the side, for those who support affirmative action, forget the consequence and the stigma that follows because of an automatic guarantee.
On the other hand, I do believe there should be diversity as well as checks and balances for college’s and job hiring to ensure one group of people, whether it be black and white, male or female, does not benefit over the other. LaFollette (2007) shared that employers have to right to hire whomever they want to; except affirmative action infringes upon this and prevents employers from who they want. This is a double edge sword because on one hand there should be checks and balances to ensure equal opportunity for everyone but forcing a company to hire certain genders or races over another continues to promote racism in reverse.
There are pro’s and cons to affirmative action and it can benefit and hurt a business and society because of the forced practice. Unfortunately, until people are willing to move forward from the past and change their current beliefs about racism, coming from both sides, such laws will be needed to ensure equality and balance.
LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Sandra, D. O. (2005, Sep). Affirmative action. Change, 37, 5. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/208048345?accountid=27203
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