Resolved: Affirmative Action to Promote Equal Opportunity in the United States is Justified.

I thank my oppenent for this round. "If you don't like affirmative action, what is your plan to guarantee a level playing field of opportunity?" Because I agree with the words of Maynard Jackson I am in support of the resolution Resolved: Affirmative action to promote equal opportunity in the United States is justified. Definitions American Webster's Dictionary Affirmative Action- A policy or program providing advantages for people of a minority group who are seen to have traditionally been discriminated against, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society through preferential access to education, employment, health care, social welfare, etc Opportunity- a good position, chance, or prospect, as for advancement or success. Justify - show to be right by providing justification or proof; "vindicate a claim" This debate should be centered on the capability for humans to compete on educational, equal level. To promote equality in the United States, we must have affirmative action because for minorities, disabled, and challenged people we can't discriminate against any race, gender, or age or ethinicity. I'm not saying that we should focus on racism but why affirmative action is justified. Contention 1- AFFIRMATIVE ACTION HELPS LEVEL THE EDUCATIONAL PLAYING FIELD Daily Illini ,"Keep Affirmative Action About Race," UNIVERSITY WIRE, April 1, 2008,npg. To quote professor Dyson, "to understand affirmative action one must look at the historical context....since race was used as a demerit in the past, it is only just and logical to use it as a merit in the present." The purpose of affirmative action is to level the playing field. Since blacks were historically discriminated against because of the color of their skin, they should be given a preference today to make things equal. One example is that many schools give credit for legacies. If your mother or father attended a university in the past, you are given preference. Blacks, who have historically been unable to go to college, are at a disadvantage. Affirmative action helps correct that scenario as well. In order for someone to have equal opportunities we must have affirmative action for their educational experiences to be met and leveled out with everyone else. The direct clash in the round is that we need to equalize and give them an opportunity to every citizen in the United States. SPA- It is against the constitution to reject equal opportunity. Therefore we need affirmative action. In the United States Constitution Amendment 15, Section 1 The rights of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the US or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The 14th Amendment, Section 1 states "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States: nor shall any Senate deprive any person of life liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Thus by having discriminating people, we must have affirmative action for justification of being equal. Contention 2- DIVERSITY AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IS NOT IMMORAL -- IS JUSTIFIED ON MULTIPLE GROUNDS James P. Sterba, Professor, Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND RACIAL PREFERENCE: A DEBATE, Oxford University Press, 2003, p.308-309. Cohen also goes on to identify all diversity affirmative action with the pursuit of racial proportionality and to condemn it on those grounds. But this hardly does justice to diversity affirmative action. Racial proportionality has its applications in the context of remedial affirmative action. By contrast, diversity affirmative action is a nonremedial form of affirmative action; it claims to be justified on the basis of the future benefits that diversity provides, not as a remedy for past discrimination. Diversity affirmative action aims to achieve a critical mass of underrepresented minority students in order to attain the benefits of racial diversity in various academic settings. That critical mass is determined not by the percentage of underrepresented minority students graduating from the relevant high school populations, as would have to be the case if racial proportionality were the goal. Rather, the number of students admitted is designed to be "sufficient to enable under-represented minority students to contribute to classroom dialogue without feeling isolated." In conclusion, affirmative action is justified because equal opportunity is important in every person's life. Due to the context of what is morally right for citizens in the United states we should be civilized and treat every citizen with respect under or own jurisdictions. .