Is Affirmative Action Reverse Discrimination?

Life is not fair. It never has been and it never will be. Since the creation of the world, some have ruled while others have served. Down through the centuries, discrimination and racial prejudices have afflicted minorities in almost every country in the world. America's battle over the last two centuries against prejudice and discrimination has not only resulted in a civil war but in the killings of thousands of blacks, whites or immigrants by racist cults and others. This apartheid slowly simmered and was brought to a boil in the early '60s as the Civil Rights Movement emerged under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and others.

Climaxing in the late '60s, the movement for the freedom of blacks and minorities from discrimination has remained in the societal limelight since then, especially after poll taxes and literacy tests were banned, making the black vote as important, if not more important than the whites'. Laws and regulations over the desegregation of schools, government offices, buses, churches, restaurants and other public facilities began to be passed in state legislatures. However, despite the fact that by law discrimination is a crime, the discrimination and prejudice in individuals' hearts could not be controlled. It became clear that morality cannot be legislated.

What could be done? No matter what, minorities were still being discriminated, regardless of laws or civil rights acts. As commonly quoted in soccer, the best defense is offense. In comes affirmative action a.k.a. reverse discrimination. If you can't help their being discriminated, then let's discriminated in their favor. Simple enough, but deadly in practice. Let's examine the side effects of this nefarious aspirin prescribed for a societal cancer.

After the bitter medicine has been digested and injected into the ethical stream of society, a few effects can be noticed. First, the aggression of white cells cultivates further hatred against the blacks. A vicious circle begins, the hunter being hunted and so on. Clearly, instead of helping ease the pain, it only worsens it by injuring some other vital body function.

And that is why affirmative action does not work. All it does is nourish hatred and attempt to instill a sense of guilt in whites, while creating an inferiority complex in blacks. The field of life will never be level unless all players realize that everyone is equal and should be treated so. Putting in a preferential and biased referee simply won't do the job. What really needs to change is the mentality of the players. One must realize that Hey, he plays just as well as I do! and the other must say to himself Why am I letting myself be helped along by the referee? I can play as well as he can! And so the game must continue. If one side breaks a rule, then kick them out. Simple as that.

It has been said that life is the art of drawing without an eraser. The apparent solution presented, affirmative action, is not going to straighten out the marred picture of history. It will only blotch it up more and aggravate the wounds like salt. The wounds of time cannot be healed. They can only be noted and learned from to make sure they never happen again.

Currently, both liberals and conservatives, see ending affirmative action as a powerful political issue. Heartened by recent Supreme Court decisions that have limited affirmative action and by the passage of a 1996 California ballot initiative abolishing sexual and racial preferences, Republicans and numerous conservative groups are taking up the battle wherever they can.

The heated debate over affirmative action takes on a particularly bitter tenor in the trenches. Angry white men blame affirmative action for robbing them of promotions and other opportunities. Although many minorities and women support affirmative action, a growing number say its benefits are no longer worth its side effect: the perception that their success is unearned and the inferiority complex it creates in those it. At this point in America's history, does affirmative action make things better or worse? The debate rages on.