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Affirmative Action

The model of affirmative action was created as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In Moral Issues in Business, 10th Edition, affirmative action is described as a program designed to take race or sex into account as part of an effort to correct imbalances in employment that exist as a result of past discrimination. (Shaw & Barry (2007) p. 465-466. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10925, which made all federal contractors "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 followed, prohibiting all forms of discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin (Shaw & Barry, 2007,0p. 461). The Civil Rights act came at the height of the civil rights movement and it forced the diversification of business and schools who would otherwise continue to support segregation. Today, businesses and continuing education institutions are required to have an affirmative action programs to ensure they have people of all races and both genders represented in their population.
Selecting applicants based on anything other than merit is ethically, morally, and legally wrong. However, affirmative action does exactly that. Affirmative action considers one’s gender or race and makes decisions regarding schooling and work based on skin color and gender. It discriminates against non-minorities to compensate for past discrimination against minorities. Minorities who receive appointments must examine if their appointment was a result of merit or affirmative action. Others may resent the loss of opportunity based on their own race or gender. It is likely that resentment grows because of affirmative action and we become as a society. We should abandon affirmative action because it promotes reverse racism, it harms those it is intended to benefit, and it divides us as a society.
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