Affirmative action to promote equal opportunity in the United States is justifed.

Affirmative Case My Partner and I affirm the Resolution: "Affirmative action to promote equal opportunity in the United States is justified. " We'd first like to define the following all from Dictionary. com. Affirmative Action: A policy or a program that seeks to redress past discrimination through active measures to ensure equal opportunity, as in education and employment Promote: To contribute to the progress or growth of; further. Equal Opportunity: Policies and practices in employment and other areas that do not discriminate against persons on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, mental or physical handicap, or national origin. Justified: To demonstrate or prove to be just, right, or valid More than forty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson described affirmative action as a vital tool in the struggle to provide all Americans with equal opportunity. "This is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights," Johnson asserted. "We seek…not just equality as a right and theory, but equality as a fact and as a result. " Recognizing that years of segregation and state-sponsored second-class citizenship had barred women and people of color from many of the opportunities others took for granted, Johnson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , and other civil rights leaders of the time knew it was the government's responsibility to act affirmatively to correct these mistakes. Their vision and the programs that sprang from it opened doors to opportunity for countless minorities and women who had theretofore been excluded, allowing them a fair chance to compete and ultimately to succeed. We have come a long way since the Civil Rights Movement, and many Americans feel that the time for affirmative action is over. Opportunities for women and people of color have expanded, and many believe that the unequal conditions that once justified affirmative action no longer exist. Sadly, this is false. Many Americana continue to experience race and gender barriers in education, contracting and employment. Existing laws help prevent outright discrimination on the basis of race and gender, but they alone are not enough to create equal opportunities for all Americans. Contention 1: AFF ACTION CONTINUES TO PROMOTE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Reginald T. Shuford Sr. Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation Spring 2009 Americans value greatly the notion that we are a country where people are treated fairly regardless of skin color, family connections, or wealth. Affirmative action promotes equality of opportunity for everyone and provides a fair chance to achieve one's full potential and to strive for the American Dream. It breaks down barriers-including good ole boy networks and glass ceilings- that have long blocked the pathways of opportunity primarily for people of color and women. Affirmative action policies help to make level a notoriously and historically uneven playing field. When obstacles are removed from the paths of women and minorities-providing greater access to more Americans-it allows families, communities, and our society as a whole to benefit. Contention 2: Affirmative Action Has Increased Opportunities for Many to Realize Their Dream through Education and Employment Perry- Rohrbach, United Methodist; Color Still Holds People Back; The Progressive Populist; May 15, 2004; Gale Group Databases In the four decades since Johnson's time, affirmative action has increased opportunities for many people to realize that dream through education and employment. While legalized discrimination died decades ago, racism still lives on. We can see it in the growth of Klan groups, Neo-Nazi groups and hate crimes. The affirmative action programs have stood as a continuing attempt to defeat discrimination among those who have not yet understood that racism is not part of The American Dream. •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 State 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. We must use affirmative action as a vital tool in assuring that everyone has an equal protection of the laws. Affirmative action will outlaw businesses, and educational facilities from discrimination which allows an equal protection of laws creating a justified structure. My partner and I support affirmative action as a vital tool in the struggle to provide all Americans with equal opportunity, to promote diversity in academic and professional settings, and to give each other and everyone a fair chance to compete for the American Dream. Thank you and please vote PRO! ! !