Enc 1101.

0024 2-14-07 Affirmative Actions Discrimination More than once I have either fallen victim to Affirmative Action or have unjustly benefited from it, and I have seen it happen to others. Affirmative Action excludes those who needed it benefits many who dont. A trend in this country over the last couple years has been to be overly politically correct. So much so that policies such as Affirmative Action have been integrated into laws and discriminates against people who have more of a need then some minorities. Companies and schools are so worried to pass an invisible line they will go to extremes just to get the numbers. There should never have been an ethnicity or gender box on the SAT, there should never have been a question on job applications asking what race you are. What these questions actually do are segregate and unjustly give people a position they have not earned and discriminates against those who have. If we truly want to make everything equal, then we should never take ones race or gender into consideration. Unjustly benefiting from affirmative Action is when one attains something that otherwise would have been impossible to obtain if their genetic makeup was not taken into account. I have two friends; Jack and Jane, Jack gets decent grades works hard but academically is nothing out of the ordinary and lives in a middle income household. Jane has a higher GPA then Jack, a higher SAT score, volunteers at the local hospital and if from a low income family. They are both from the same school, taking similar courses, and applying to the same colleges about the same time. Which do you think will get the scholarship to the four year university? If you picked the girl, the person who worked

harder and needed the scholarship more, Im afraid you are mistaken, shes white. Because she could not get the scholarship she could not afford the four year university and had to go to a local community college. Jack admits if he was not black he would not have received the scholarship but still would have gone to the same college. Is this right? I thought we were helping the people who need it the most. Cases like these happen all the time and are benefiting people who just so happened to be born with the right genetic code, not people who really need the aid. Dividing people into race and giving all the money to those who have the most poor people may seem like a good idea to some, however if you simply divide it by their economic standing, then people like Jane would not be left out. The aid would go to all the lower income households, not just certain ones. If most of the poor people are black then most of the money will go to them; however the other groups who are just as poor will not be excluded. Some say African Americans simply disserve exclusive privileges because of their heritage. Half of the reason why we have Affirmative Action is to compensate for the social injustices of the past. The whole idea of white people today being responsible the crimes of slave owners, they had no relation to (less then 20% of white people owned slaves), and do not even know, more then 100 years ago is completely ludicrous. Affirmative Action cannot erase what a few white ancestors did centuries ago. Moreover, what history books fail to mention is the fact that more than 90% of the slaves who were transported to America were sold to the colonists by their own people. African cities and tribes sold their murders, thieves, or prisoners of war into slavery and made quite a profit off of it, for themselves. Why some blacks are are so infuriated at whites when their own people sold them for profit? Why is every other race in America supposed to give up their

hard earned money, which they made this century, to those who claim they have been wronged for something which never happened to them? Furthermore these African Americans lived more than one hundred fifty years ago before the Emancipation Proclamation was signed (1863), which is six generations ago. If these great, great, great, great, grandparents were never sold into slavery, by their own people, and were still in Africa, the African Americans would have never had this great opportunity to argue about the retribution they disserve because they live in a house with running water, cable and a fridge. Im pretty sure any true African now-a-days would happily trade places with any African American. The thought African Americans simply disserve exclusive privileges because America owes them, should be reversed if anything. Here is a Modest Proposal, if we are going to start with a group that has been abused, then lets start with one which has been mistreated and negatively profiled the longest, women. The sad part about womens oppression is that it happen for so long, most women had no understanding of their own equality and never questioned the injustice. It was all they have ever known and were taught. The few who questioned were persecuted as witches, beaten for heresy, and thought to be disobedient bitches. But one does not see anywhere near amount of scholarships for them as ones exclusively for African Americans. Why do some African Americans have the right to demand such payment (200years) while in Americas homes today, gender discrimination and oppression is still common and has been norm for more then 2000 years. If we are going to punish one group of people over another for some attribute, gene, or history they can not change or rectify, I think all men should be the first to be punished. Obviously this is ridiculous. But then why are we doing

the same thing with a different genetic trait? Skin pigmentation is a grand total of one gene verse half a chromosome which contains about fifteen hundred genes. If we truly want everyone to be equal, then we should all be treated equally. We should never be placed in to categories defined by our genetic composition. No minority should get special privileges over another. I get angry if someone gives me preferential treatment because I am a woman, to me it signifies that I could not gain the position by my work ethics alone. If I get something, I want the full confidence of knowing I have worked hard and earned it. Not because of some gene. When people demand payment or privileges simply for what they are, they are just shouting I do not want to work for it! That attitude should never be rewarded. Affirmative Action is trying to end discrimination with discrimination. It is a double standard which allows discrimination of one person over another. We should embrace diversity and cherish what each unique culture has to offer, but we should give equal opportunity to everyone, minority or not. I believe in personal responsibility, if you want something work for it. Financial aid should be given to those who need it and are willing to work hard for it. Perseverance, not parentage. Minorities are simply part of the American population. They can get into prestigious schools, get high paying jobs, and be successful as much as any white male. Anyone who wants an education and to be successful, but lacks the resources, is the type of person we should give aid to. But this aid should not be freely given, but worked for. People who volunteer, have some level of academic achievement, and just work as hard as they can, are the type of people who disserve scholarships and aid. We should do everything in our power to see these people succeed in their goals.

In conclusion, to make everything equal, we should never take race or gender into consideration. Aid should go to all the lower income households, not just certain ones. We should never compensate for the injustices of the past by similar actions in the present. People should not profit off of experiences they never had and genetics is not a reason to give a scholarship, work ethic is. Affirmative Action is discrimination, and two wrongs do not make a right.