Welcome back, readers! It’s week four of our class on ethics and we are going to talk about affirmative action. Without a doubt, this is a topic that generates high-energy conversations among most Americans. Given the subject of our class, the question we face is whether affirmative action programs are ethical. I contend that the concept of the program is ethical, but the various applications of the program have not always been so. In our textbook, LaFollette contended that affirmative action programs are both necessary and ethical (2007).
In their inception, affirmative action programs were to provide a leveling of the playing field for groups that were historically underrepresented in the workforce and in other areas, like university enrollment. The programs were to give minorities and women a fair chance to compete for jobs. As the website www.civilrights.org noted, “As President Lyndon Johnson said in 1965, ‘You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair’"(2017). Additionally, www.civilrights.org stated, “The emphasis is on opportunity: affirmative action programs are meant to break down barriers, both visible and invisible, to level the playing field, and to make sure everyone is given an equal break. They are not meant to guarantee equal results -- but instead proceed on the common-sense notion that if equality of opportunity were a reality, African Americans, women, people with disabilities and other groups facing discrimination would be fairly represented in the nation's work force and educational institutions” (2017). It is worth noting that the US Congress still does not meet the measure of the ‘common-sense notion’ mentioned above.
To strive for each person to have an equal opportunity to be considered for a job or a college enrollment is an ethical position to take. If we are to believe that all people are born with the capability to perform equally, given equal opportunity, then representation in the workforce and other areas should closely resemble that of the population.
Some high-profile court cases regarding various affirmative action programs have damaged the image first proclaimed by President Johnson. In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court faced a case in 1978 where a white male, who was more qualified than African-American applicants to the university, was denied entrance to the school because 16 slots were kept for ‘qualified’ African-Americans. All the designated slots were not filled, yet Bakke was denied entry. This happened two years in a row and then Bakke filed suit (Wasson, 2004). “In 1987, the high court said temporary and “narrowly tailored” quota systems were allowed. The case stemmed from an affirmative action plan that imposed a promotion standard of “one black for one white” in the Alabama state police ranks. The quota was justified, justices ruled, because of the department’s “long and shameful record of delay and resistance” to black employment opportunities. Twenty years later, a more conservative court declared that public school systems cannot try to achieve or maintain integration based on explicit race rules. In a 5-to-4 opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” At issue in the case were programs in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., that tried to maintain racial diversity by limiting transfers and admissions”(Fontaine, 2009).
A key point of affirmative action was that it was to serve as a guide and not a quota. The court cases I have seen appear to have been caused by programs using a more quota-like approach. My experience with affirmative action programs has been positive, in that the program served as a guide and not a quota. If there were no minorities who were qualified to fill a position, we could move straight to recruiting members of the majority. My understanding is that this approach is a function of a cooperative relationship between my company and our State’s EEO office.
In summary, I believe affirmative action programs are ethical. It is in the implementation of these programs that issues of reverse discrimination arise.
Have a great week and we’ll see you again soon at The Educated Leadership blog!
LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Unknown. (2017). Affirmative Action. Retrieved from http://www.civilrights.org/resources/civilrights101/affirmaction.html?referrer=https://www.google.com./
Wasson, G. P. (2004). Affirmative Action: Equality or Reverse Discrimination? , Liberty University. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1148&context=honors
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