People can never be regarded as equals

"but treating people as equals means that there is no discrimination from person to person. In the current status-quo, we do not have much discrimination for segregation" Pro partially agrees with Con's statement, however that statement is not entirely true, yes segregation has ended, however society and the mindsets of society are still geared towards segregation in the social, economic and political context. The fact that a black president won the presidential elections in 2008 does not change the fact that racism is still rampant in society, 10.1% of African Americans remain unemployed as opposed to only 4.7% of white americans. . "It has been institutionalized and maintained through educational, economic, political, religious, social, and cultural policies and activities. It is observable in the prejudiced attitudes, values, myths, beliefs, and practices expressed by many people, including those in positions of power". http://www.socialworkers.org... "If there was segregation or sexism in the US today, I truly doubt Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would have made it to the top two presidential candidates of 2008" Not too long ago, infact early this month, the first black female minister in Italy Cecile Kyenge was insulted both on the basis of her race and her gender by a European parliament member Mario Borghezio (referring to the Italian government as a bonga bonga government). The point is the status quo would be maintaining this racially divided society. Therefore inequal treatment is required to empower those who disadvantaged by the racial bias that currently and has existed for many years. " You also stated that if we had black slaves, our society would have functioned better" Please refer to the part where I say that. What I said was We cannot address the inequalities created by the segregation, emasculation and economic deprivation which arose during the 400 or so years of slavery and segregation without helping those who were previously disadvantaged more than we would those who were advantaged (which is were affirmative action comes into play) This "unequal" treatment of people (which is a reference to affirmative action) actually helps society function better. At what point do I insinuate what you have suggested? "The point I'm trying to get across is, there needs to be a BREAK IN THE CYCLE, or else for many generations to pass, your family will be poor. This is similar to the Non Europeans and African Americans, most of them came from a poor family due to the government, but the government now wants to correct its mistake as much as possible and temporarily" I'm not sure how that helps your argument, because what i'm saying is that affirmative action, or broad based black economic empowerment as it is called in South Africa, cannot by its very definition be regarded as treating people as equals, from a literal perspective it amounts to empowering a certain group of people, you say in the long run the generations will have equal opportunities, but the fact remains that people empowered by these provisions are not literally regarded as equals to those not empowered by these provisions. They are afforded with more opportunities in essence it is reverse apartheid/segregation. "It's not about the money, it's about how much they are affected by it" Have to pay credit where it's due, that is a nice counter argument. However I would like to point a flaw in your statement "how much they are affected by it". The wealthy are not treated as equals, by the tax system, instead they are regarded in higher esteem. Firstly you need to note that not all income is taxable; municipal bonds offer tax free income, tax from foreign income is exempt from tax to a certain degree and income from long term capital gains amongst a few. These are tax breaks readily available to the wealthy to use and to abuse. http://www.foxbusiness.com... The Fed is aware of this, yet continues to literally hand these tax breaks over to the wealthy, is that not a sign of unequal treatment. A good example arises in the case of Warren Buffett who is afforded by the tax system a lower tax rate than his secretary. Infact in 2010 he was taxed of only 17.4% of his taxable income http://www.forbes.com... tell me is that equal treatment "It is necessary to remember, these disabled people are paying taxes within our current society as well" On top of the ramps that are to be built by "their tax money" disability grants are also afforded to the disabled. They help pay for staircases, we help pay for ramps and their grants. That is not equality "These prisoners are still respected as human beings though, for they have not had their unalienable rights, the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, taken away" Liberty is defined in the oxford dictionary as : 1) the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one"s behaviour or political views Prisoners are not free from oppressive restrictions, the very fact that their movement is limited and confined at certain times to a cell, infringes on the right to liberty. Furthermore the statement "we are protecting the safety of the people...FOR THE COMMON GOOD" is not entirely true. When prisoners get out of jail they have incredible difficulties finding a job because society already labels them as villains (again another example of unequal treatment) to the point that some return to crime as a way of feeding their families. How is that helping the greater good? Certain researchers have suggested that sexual victimization in prison may be as high as 41%, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... according to your assertion this is for the greater good.