Essay About Black Africans And Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action
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Affirmative Action?
Affirmative Action has been frivolously debated throughout the past 135
years. Citizens of the United States question whether the government should
grant certain advantages to races that have endured bigotry in the past.
This plan goes by the name of Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is a
federally subsidized program that encourages universities and other
educational institutions, to accept a greater number of minority students.
Throughout the years, Affirmative Action and the different advocates have
changed, but racial inequality remains stagnant.
Affirmative action has various proponents and opponents, both of whom seek
the eventual goal of an integrated, educated middle class society. The
opponents of Affirmative Action argue that it is not the responsibility of
the current majority to make up for prior actions; and imposing these
types of programs would be a form of so-called, reverse discrimination. The
proponents argue that it is everybodys responsibility to create a society,
which gives everybody an equal opportunity regardless of race, and the only
way to ascertain this goal is through Affirmative-Action programs. How can
this nation come together and disregard the color of a persons skin? Will we
reach this goal by subsidizing programs that assist minorities, or shall we
sit and wait for time to establish equal opportunity for all?
The history of Affirmative Action dates back to the days when the nation
attempted to rebuild its society after the civil war. Reconstruction
attempted to establish virtuous relations between the white Europeans and
black Africans that made up a large part of the American society. The nation
was torn on how to establish these relations.
Many call Reconstruction the low point of race relations in the United
States. This era included the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment,
defining national citizenship so as to include blacks. This Amendment passed
Congress in June 1866 and was ratified, despite rejection by most Southern
states (July 28, 1868). In response to the newfound freedom of African
Americans, whites incited numerous accounts of violence. White hatred of the
black race created an era that experienced the most lynchings in the history
of the United States. Whites also began using contemporary forms of labor
exploitation to maintain control of their socio-economic advantage.
Something needed to be done so that the nation would not split at its seams.
One side argued that time was the only solution to racial problems. Creating
government programs would make Africans dependent and give them an unfair
advantage. “They were said to be fat state subsidies that unfairly penalized
innocent whites and taught blacks self-destructive habits of indolence and
independence.” This argument was sustained by the Democratic Party who
expressed their thinking by publicizing material, which endorsed their
belief. One such example is a cartoon that was created in 1866, which pokes
fun of “The Freedmans Bureau”. This highly publicized illustration showed a
black man sitting under a tree, while a white man labored intensely.
Along with public advertising, many prominent individuals came out and spoke
vehemently against the establishment of compensatory laws. One of the
principal objectors of compensatory laws was Booker T. Washington. Washington
believed the best interests of black people would be attained through
education in the crafts, industrial skills and cultivation of the virtues of
patience, enterprise, and thrift. He urged his fellow blacks, most of whom
were impoverished and illiterate farm laborers, to temporarily abandon their
efforts to win full civil rights and political power and instead to cultivate
their industrial and farming skills, so as to attain economic security.
Blacks would thus accept segregation and discrimination, but their eventual
acquisition of wealth and culture would gradually win them the respect and
acceptance of the white community. This would break down the divisions
between the two races and lead to equal citizenship for blacks in the end.
Such rhetoric infuriated many black and white liberals, who were in favor of
such programs. For behind reformers clamor against class legislation and the