Affirmative Action: Has the Election of Barack Obama Changed the Discussion?
Eze Simpson Osuagwu
4/21/2012
Affirmative Action: Has the Election of Barack Obama Changed the Discussion?
With the election of an African American as President, many would think that the question of affirmative action and equal opportunity have been finally laid to rest in the United States. This perception may seem to be true for the protagonists of affirmative action, who over the years have believed that the struggle for civil rights and equal opportunity can only be seen to fruition if an African American emerges as President (Kamalu and Kamalu 2004). The Civil Rights movement brought issues of affirmative action to the forefront of government policy making, hence Congress enacted the Equal Opportunity Act of 1964 as the legal backbone. It was obvious that the primary purpose then was to create equal opportunities for minorities and the under-privileged in the society. However, as time went by and following subsequent interpretations of the Act by the courts in cases of reverse discrimination, the effect of the law on equal representation in employment, schooling and government contracting was diminished. To this end, affirmative action became a form of preferential treatment awarded to privileged groups, a form of reverse discrimination, a denial of meritocracy and social justice (Pauwels 2011). As a matter of fact, minority under-representation was one of the most widely discussed issues in the polity, to the extent that President Bill Clinton in his 1995 address to Congress said “the way out is to introduce the principle of race neutrality and the goal of aiding the disadvantaged into affirmative action preference programs themselves: to base preferences, in education, entry level employment and public contracting, on class, not race” (Kahlenberg 1995, 21), this was his response to many reverse discrimination decisions coming out of the supreme court in favor of the plaintiffs. The Bush administration however, did not improve the cause of affirmative
4/21/2012
Affirmative Action: Has the Election of Barack Obama Changed the Discussion?
With the election of an African American as President, many would think that the question of affirmative action and equal opportunity have been finally laid to rest in the United States. This perception may seem to be true for the protagonists of affirmative action, who over the years have believed that the struggle for civil rights and equal opportunity can only be seen to fruition if an African American emerges as President (Kamalu and Kamalu 2004). The Civil Rights movement brought issues of affirmative action to the forefront of government policy making, hence Congress enacted the Equal Opportunity Act of 1964 as the legal backbone. It was obvious that the primary purpose then was to create equal opportunities for minorities and the under-privileged in the society. However, as time went by and following subsequent interpretations of the Act by the courts in cases of reverse discrimination, the effect of the law on equal representation in employment, schooling and government contracting was diminished. To this end, affirmative action became a form of preferential treatment awarded to privileged groups, a form of reverse discrimination, a denial of meritocracy and social justice (Pauwels 2011). As a matter of fact, minority under-representation was one of the most widely discussed issues in the polity, to the extent that President Bill Clinton in his 1995 address to Congress said “the way out is to introduce the principle of race neutrality and the goal of aiding the disadvantaged into affirmative action preference programs themselves: to base preferences, in education, entry level employment and public contracting, on class, not race” (Kahlenberg 1995, 21), this was his response to many reverse discrimination decisions coming out of the supreme court in favor of the plaintiffs. The Bush administration however, did not improve the cause of affirmative
Cited: Works Clegg, Roger 2008, “Unfinished Business: The Bush Administration and Racial Preferences” Harvard Journal of Law, Public Policy, 32, 971 – 997. Clinton, Bill 1995, “Remarks by the President on Affirmative Action”, Essential Speeches 2009. Academic Search Premier. Frymer, P. and Skrentny, J.D., 2004, “The rise of instrumental affirmative action: law and the new significance of race in America” Connecticut law review, 36 (3), 677_723. Kahlenberg, Richard 1995, “Class Not – Race: An Affirmative Action that works”, The New Republic April 3, 1995. P. 21 Kamalu, Johnson and Ngozi Kamalu 2004, “From Bakke to Grutter: The Supreme Court and the Struggle over Affirmative Action in the Era of Globalization” The Western Journal of Black Studies, 28:4, 489-502. Magliocca, G.N., 2008. The Obama realignment (and what comes next). Working Paper [online], December 2. Available from: http://ssrn.com/abstract_1310202 Obama, Barack 2011, “The New Nationalism: On the whole and in the long run we shall go up or down together” President of the United States: Speech delivered at Osawatome High School, Osawatome, Kansas December 6, Pauwels, Marie – Christine 2011, “Does Affirmative Action have a Future in Barack Obama’s America?” Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32:3, 309-319 Young, C., 2009. “Obama: Race and Affirmative Action”. Real clear politics [online], 27 January. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/printpage/?url_http://www.realclearpolitics. com/articles/2009/01/dnp_obama_race_and_affirmative.html