Affirmative Action is Not Justified

Racism is NOT the same as discrimination and it isn't fair to claim that discrimination in order to lift up marginalised people is a form of racism. Racism - prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. The key requirement in making a form of discrimination racist is if that discrimination is driven by the belief that one's own race is superior. Proponents of AA never argue that some races are better than others we argue quite the opposite. We say that all races are equal in value and rights and therefore it is absolutely despicable that we currently have such an unequal and prejudiced society. The way we see to fix this is by lifting up those disadvantaged people through AA in order to end the current system of inequality. This is positive discrimination because it leads to positive outcomes. White men, in our current society, can be less deserving of a job if a woman or POC stands in there way, depending on what reason the AA is used for. If the AA is used because that POC or woman has come from a background of discrimination and prejudice (as many have) then the white man is less deserving because they have an immense level of privilege. However, if AA is used because there is a lack of POC or women in that field of work then the white man is not less deserving but is being put at the back of the queue because the corporation wants to fix the problem of racism in our society. AA is also used to make sure that prejudice within the selection purposes towards POCs and women doesn't play any part in the final intake of employees since an amount of women and POCs will always be in that intake due to AA. Another important thing I want to point out is that often AA is used because the background of someone can play a part in their qualifications and thus their apparent capability. If you are a poor person (AA is also used to help poorer people) or are a POC who has faced all the kinds of anxieties that many POCs face as a result of racism, then your results in school and your qualifications will likely be lower than your actual potential since you have been so put down by your social status. Therefore, AA is used to make sure that certain people who are likely smarter in real life than they appear on paper are not rejected. AA helps to get these people into that institution who often have more right to be there than anyone else. Onto the nature of our society, our society does have a big problem with race. The reality is that we aren't colour blind and the minorities bare the brunt of both explicit racism and implicit bias. Not only do historical injustices such as Jim Crow, the mass incarceration of POC in the 1980s-1990s and even the anxieties of slavery, have impacts on POC in America but so does the level of racism that we still have today. White people are not only (as an overall demographic) privileged compared to POC due to their historical advantages which still have an impact today but also because they do not face the same number of barriers as the average POC. It is not just historical and implicit bias studies are great evidence of this fact: An experiment in 2003 by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, two American economists. They drafted 5,000 CVs and placed archetypal "black" names such as Tyrone or Latoya on half of them and "white" names such as Brendan or Alison on the other half. They then divided the white CVs into high and low quality and did the same with the black CVs. A few weeks later the offers came rolling in from employers, and guess what? The "black" candidates were 50% less likely to be invited to interview. Employers were using skin colour as a marker for employment potential, despite the fact that the candidates' CVs were identical. It is also important to point out that not all groups face the same level of discrimination. Jews for instance are often wealthier because historically they were the only people who could work in banking due to the rules of the Pope. Furthermore, it is more difficult to have implicit bias towards most Jews in comparison to POCs who obviously look different to you. Just because some minorities have succeeded (often due to government policy) that doesn't mean that there is no discrimination towards POCs and Latinos which has made life more difficult for them. Also, on a side note, Latinos have faced historical discrimination as well and face a lot of racism and bigotry in society currently as well. Have you ever considered why white men are more qualified? Maybe because they don't get locked up when they're young unlike many black men. Maybe because they are not discriminated against in admissions at university. Maybe because they haven't faced the same level of social anxiety (which has a big effect on achievement in school) compared to most white people. Maybe its because most black people live in deprived and often rougher areas with under-funded, worse schools. It certainly is not because "Whites tend to be smarter". If you're going to make such a racist and controversial comment then you need to provide evidence. There is no evidence for white people being smarter than black people and that's the same kind of pseudo-scientific, crappy nonsense that was used to justify the enslavement and rape of Africans. And, where's your evidence for the equally offensive claim that women "hate competition" and are less "ambitious" than men. Women seem to be less "competitive" not because of their biological make-up but because society has conditioned them into being submissive and cooperative. Give one scientific study showing that women "hate competition" due to biology. You can't just claim "biology" as for why women are underrepresented in certain jobs. A lot of women would want to be engineers and builders but we have a society that tells them "you have to do girly jobs". Oestrogen and Progesterone only tell us that women have more feelings of caring for children but that's not evidence for women being against engineering or construction. Many women do want these jobs but are discriminated against, face workplace bullying and harassment and have been told for years that "it's not there place". AA solves the problem: 1; it puts inspiring role models into such positions which motivates more women to do such jobs (Hilary Clinton has undoubtedly inspired many women to enter politics which is often considered a man's job), 2; it artificially ensures women are given fair representation into such jobs by equalling out the proportions of men and women, 3; it forces men to interact with new women in the workplace thus changing there views on women and helping them to realise that women can be just as capable and intelligent as they are. Your explanation for why AA hurts POCs is ridiculous. It only refers to one group of supposedly "bilingual" people and not all minorities or indeed women, LGBT people or people from deprived backgrounds. It then assumes that in most jobs being bilingual is crucial. It is a narrow and small potential harm that is not worthy of any legitimacy as an actual argument. The idea of a single, unified, european "white race" is nutty. Europeans can be racist towards each other too and there is no such thing as a unified european race. More interrelations between racial groups does create real change. Yet AA does this. It forces white men who may rarely see to POCs or women in the workplace and have misconceptions about them, to actually meet such people and realise how equally smart and capable they are. So, AA actually solves your problem by increasing the rate. You claimed the solution to racism is time. That's not good enough: if racism is so bad, then why not adopt policies to solve it quicker like AA? Our society places huge burdens on barriers on women and minorities. AA solves this. It helps minorities to succeed in a world which is stacked against them