There have been some interesting Supreme Court rulings recently. What do you guys think? State-sponsored racism, or a means of equalizing opportunities?

::puts thumbs down to affirmative action:: boourns i say.//

yeah... affirmative action is bullshit.

i agree!

state sponsored racism

but currently it seems that there aren't any alternatives, and without something in place things would get worse. We can't leave it to the bigots...

To offer some insight to the other side of the arguement, since this seems one sided:

I can see the point of affirmative action, but it's not the correct solution to the problem. Especially with college admissions, they try to give advantages to people who need educations, But because of their race(most minorities are from inner-city/ghetto areas) aren't giving proper education becasue of lack of funding. Some people grow up in environments that are very rich, encouraging, mentally stimulating, and culturally diverse, while others grow up in areas starving for this. I think it's fine to give these students a chance to pursue an education at a major university. They will definately have to try harder because they are disadvanteged from the start but that does not mean that they cannot make it.

As far as affimitive action in the work place, Race should hold no bearing on hirings or promotions. I really just cannot agree with that. The only reasoning I can see behind it would be that the minorty might move to a better area(school district) so his children can get a better education than he/she did. The thing is there is no way to determine what they will spend thier money on they might just go buy some 'ice' so they can 'bling-bling'.

If a program like this is to succeed, it would have to be more structured and less generalized. For instance inner-city children that that come from schools with overal low testing scores that show potential should be given oppurtunities that are less strict from normal students.

Money is the water to our society. Places that are wet flourish and grow, while dry places wither and die. It was just a policy to try and keep things even.

first off: i must state again that affirmative action is bullshit. just because i hate it so much.

not to get off on a rant here.. but, i understand that in theory AA was a nice idea. a lot of things are nice... in theory. but once it was put into action, it lost everything it was supposed to mean. at least that is what i believe.
people wanted as some sort of retribution for the whole slavery thing. but ya know what? we can't change the past. we can look and learn from it, but never erase history. i know that slavery is a sensitive subject for most black people. but the thing, they were never themselves slaves. just like all the white people of today are not slave owners. that whole system just doesn't exist. i know that minorities still face some hardships in this country, but damn! we can't go giving handouts when there are so many other problems with this country that are more important. i really just don't feel that affirmative action is relevant any more. all the miniorities and woman just want to be treated as equals right? they're always bitching about wanting equality. than face the facts: affirmative action does NOT make any steps towards equaling things out. it puts an even bigger line between the minorities/woman and the white man. if they really wanted equality, they would hate AA. it just proves that they aren't good enough to succeed on their own. that they are so inferior that they need government help in order to make it in life.

but that's just my opinion. i could be wrong.

ah fleshwound, something we can agree on. you took the words right out of my mouth. yeah, but while i don't think that AA is directly related to slavery, all those damn reparations are BS as well anyway. but yes, AA is done with...out, gone. there's no such thing as minorities now. there are plenty and plenty of successful black, asian, hispanic, etc.. ppl out there. that is, if you can consider most of them minorities anymore. the way i figure it. if there is someone in some inner-city neighbourhood, if he's got something special, he'll stand out no matter what his surroundings. so many ppl have come up from the slums without AA. all AA does is screw over ppl who qualify, as well as degrading "minorities." in fact, ask most of them and they will tell you that they dont like it. or so i've heard.//

Since when did we start talking about Alcoholics Anonymous? haha *booooooooooo* anyway...Affirmative action is racism. It's treating people differently based on their race, therefore it's racism. If I was a minority, I would be offended that these schools think I need extra help getting in. However, as long as other insane things such as whether the parents have donated a new gymnasium to the college remain factors, affirmative action should say. Affirmative action should be taken out of the work place though, I definetly agree on that.

sin was talking about the fact that it helps lower income people, and though the majority of lower income people may be minorities that is not an excuse to give all minorities an advantage in college admission. aid should be based on your financial situation regardless of your race. affirmative action is racism in its planest form.

I think the answer that is being sought for regarding affirmative action is that racial or gender affirmative action should not come to mind at all. ECONOMIC affirmative action is the way to go. Those of you in favor of race as basis for affirmative action, I urge you to examine your beliefs closely to find out that they are in fact racist (though they are "helping" minorities).

I'm in total agreement with Fleshwound & Gollum.