As Long as Racism and Sexism Exist, Affirmative Action is Still Needed
As long as there are racial and gender disparities in our society, affirmative action will still be needed. Affirmative action programs are race- and gender-conscious measures to counteract the institutional racism and sexism that stills exists in our society. Affirmative action opens the doors of opportunity that have previously been closed to women and underrepresented minorities in the areas of college admissions, hiring and contracting. Affirmative action policies are the desegregation programs for higher education.
Racial disparities exist in every aspect of our society, independent of class. Inequalities are present in the criminal justice system where white and minority first-time offenders receive vastly different sentences for the same crime. In healthcare, white patients are more frequently referred for life-saving medical procedures than minority patients with the same health-care coverage. In the job market, applicants with “white sounding” names get called for interviews at a much higher rate than applicants with black, Latino/a or Native American-identified names with identical resumes. Similar discrimination exists in housing, lending and almost every other aspect of life.
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I am honestly asking this. I work within my state's prison system. I work within the healthcare system in the prison. Please help me understand this: why can blacks call other blacks "nigger" but I would get stabbed for doing so (I am white)? Also, out in the freeworld, why do the races segregate themselves, say by neighborhood, when there is no government intervention? We all have free choice in what house to purchase, but we still tend to live around our own 'kind.' The town I live in has a very small 'government housing' area--most folks here are employed and live in average/typical family homes (the disparity in income is minor as a whole). Income does not appear to be a deciding factor. This town also appears to have nearly equal amounts of hispanics, blacks, and whites (little to no asians). Thanks.
From what I can see, people need to understand each other, especially in a community. I am a white male living in a now predominantly Hispanic community. I try to talk to my neighbors; some will talk, others will not. Why the 'n' word is allowed within the african-american community is also beyond me; it makes no sense whatsoever, but it happens.
Where I work is predominantly Korean. And down the street a bit there is an Indian section. It would seem to me that people of the same culture can understand each other more, hence the unforced grouping in communities. In mine, the white folk are slowly dying out simply of old age. So the demographic changes.
But though there is some apparent 'mixing of races' within the community, in actuality there is none. It is as if there is a 9 foot brick wall built; some neighbors simply will not talk to me. I tried a few times to find out that the neighbors that would not talk to me did not understand plain english. Their kids did, but their kids didnt want to talk to me, either, and I have not been told why.