Affirmative Action

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS the term used for an American legal and political policy that was created in 1961 when, through Executive Order 10925, John E Kennedy established a Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities. This was the first important step on the road to more extensive Affirmative Action directives that came after the 1964 Civil Rights Act. President Lyndon Johnson's 1965 Executive Order 11246 strengthened the federal approach that was further enhanced in 1967 to include gender discrimination. The rationale that justified the Affirmative Action drive was the elimination of historic employment discrimination. It was believed that a fairness doctrine would reverse past grievances and correct them through favorable hiring, recruitment, and admissions policies. Affirmative Action required the application of positive interventions to end discrimination, and therefore increase the representation of minorities and women in all areas, public and private. This would later include education, state and private employment, and business. Its necessity was dictated by a past that saw these groups systematically excluded from legitimate opportunities. As a corrective, the system granted preferential treatment to minorities and women in hiring, and provided other opportunities.

The implementation of Affirmative Action policy followed essentially two directions. On one front, there was a steady introduction of various schemes through government, administrative, and court action. The second front was one of continuous philosophic and political debate in which pro- and anti-forces gathered momentum as to the Tightness or wrongness of specific practices, actions, and theories. As Affirmative Action grew in its effect and application, in the 1970s questions were raised about its ultimate fairness. The policy ended discrimination against one ethnic group or gender by increasing discrimination against another ethnic group or gender. Affirmative Action has kept race as a center point in American politics and life. As a consequence, tensions have risen on every level where it has been applied. The favoring of one ethnic minority over other minorities, particularly in terms of education admissions policies, would in time compound this.

The introduction of the initial operating concept in the 1960s had widespread support. Affirmative Action was judged a temporary measure to establish a “level playing field” in the competition for jobs and educational opportunities. In this way, African Americans and other minorities, as well as women, could catch up in fields that were dominated by white males. In turn, career paths, salaries, promotions, and college admissions would become more equitable. As Affirmative Action politics spread, a sense of injustice also grew. Claims for reverse discrimination increased when certain individuals felt they were victims simply because they were born white and male. Their own achievements [Page 12]were seemingly ignored as weaker candidates advanced. This sense of anguish would increasingly seek redress in the courts and the 1978 Bakke Case became the most famous early challenge to Affirmative Action.

Allan Bakke, a white male, challenged a medical school's rejection of his application on the basis that they had reserved, through a quota system, a number of places for minority students who were less qualified. In the Regents of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court in a 5–4 decision ruled that although race was a fair consideration in admissions, the use of inflexible quotas was not. Bakke's position was vindicated in terms of his particular circumstance, but the court did not challenge any fundamental aspects of the Affirmative Action doctrine as concept or practice.

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