Affirmative Action should be based on Socio-Economic Status and not race or religion

Firstly, thank you for your excellent points. I can tell you are intelligent, a great debater, and will give me an excellent challenge. The first issue I perceive my opponent brought up is that of the purpose of Affirmative Action. My opponent points out that Affirmative Action exists in the need to assist those that have historically been discriminated against. However, as my opponent has clarified, we must focous on modern times. It is blind to pretend that whites currently in poverty have not had ancestors who also had difficulty assimilating into society due to oppression. German Americans were distrusted because of their separatist social structure, their love of beer, their German-language schools, their attachment to their native tongue over English, and their neutrality in World War I. The Bennett campaign is a strong example of German American discrimination. (. http://content.wisconsinhistory.org...) Irish American discrimination has been previously and adequately described. It is unnecessary to mention every form of discrimination against those that are white to understand the consequences thereof. While difficult in Modern times to accurately make a demographic due to white intermarriage, it can be guaranteed that there is a correlation between historical discrimination against ancestors and current socio economic status. It further makes sense in the fact that, while only certain white ethnic groups were discriminated against, all Hispanics and blacks have been discriminated against. Furthermore, while the poor may not have been discriminated against specifically because they were poor, they have certainly been oppressed due to being poor and the lack of power thereof. The Pullman . http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org...) and Homestead (. http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu...) strikes are two horrific examples of how the elite could unjustly and violently oppress a legal uprising by the poor. The poor white man was usually oppressed because of his lack of power, not because of the color of his skin. Why mention historical oppression of the white man? History illustrates why things are the way they are today. While difficult in Modern times to accurately make a demographic due to white intermarriage and a lack of work in preserving evidence of and general ignorance concerning individual American's family heritage, it can be guaranteed that, with a few extremely notable and extremely few exceptions, people don't leap from social class to social class. They nearly without exception land where their parents were. This explains the current disadvantage of minorities: they have historically been discriminated against and due to that discriminatation, they are now disadvantaged (. http://www.infoplease.com...). While the minority has been the most notably oppressed because of an ability to spot an obvious trademark, such as skin color or religious preference, the poor white man has had ancestors that have been unfairly and unconstitutionally oppressed. Current Affirmative Action only assists those with obvious trademarks of oppression. However, Affirmative Action based on socioeconomic status would assist all who have been unfairly oppressed. It would assist those with obvious and not so obvious trademarks of unfair oppression of ancestors that have in turn oppressed them. My opponent's next point is ethnic groups are discriminated out of education specifically due to race. With respect and admiration to my opponent, not only is this false but there are laws specifically preventing such discrimination. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in educational institutions that receive federal financial grants or assistance. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U. S. Department of Education is charged with enforcing all of the federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the bases of age, race, color, national origin, disability and sex. The self-stated mission of the OCR is "ensuring equal access to education and promoting educational excellence throughout the nation. " Complaints received by OCR dealing title VI may involve ability grouping, disciplinary practices invoked by schools, the prevalence or acceptance of inter-district student transfers, school desegregation, housing concerns, and racial harassment, among many others. According to the Department of Education, the introduction of Title VI is beginning to appear to be having a positive effect. In 1976, the dropout rate of African American students ages sixteen to twenty-four was 20.5 percent. In 1990, that number had declined to 13.0 percent. Another statistic reveals that in 1982, minorities comprised only 11 percent of the students in advanced placement courses. In 1997, that number had risen to 29 percent. In a final statistic, a study revealed that since 1990, the number of Latino students enrolled in higher education facilities has increased by 47 percent. African American student enrollment increased by 20 percent. The number of American Indian enrollment has increased by 30 percent. Minorities are integrating more and more into educational success due to current laws against discrimination. (. http://public.findlaw.com...) My opponent points out that poor often receive finantual assistance for being poor while the rich must pay their way through schooling. People with high socioeconomic backgrounds have far more advantages and have far higher chances of wealth than those of lower socioeconomic status. (. http://www.econ.ceu.hu...) Furthermore, they obviously have far more advantages in a successful education and career (. http://www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu...) While a rich child may not get the same scholarships and finantual aid as those of lower socioeconomic status, the chances of success still heavily lean towards those of high economic standing. The purpose of socioeconomic Affirmative Action is to be able to lessen that gap, to give the poor a greater chance. The purpose is to truly make America, as Abraham Lincoln would put it, 'of the people, by the people, and for the people'. The poor may not be discriminated against due to being poor, but as previously been proven being poor is a gargantuan disadvantage in life, not only due to the lack of money but due to a general lack of work ethic and emphasis on the importance of education. Being a minority is not a disadvantage in itself but having low socioeconomic status is. In fact, the core of minority disadvantage is based on their general low socioeconomic status, not because they're black or Hispanic. Racism, as my opponent has pointed out, does still exist in more subtle forms. Why does it still exist? It exists because minorities still generally have lower socioeconomic standing. Booker T. Washington stated that racism would end when minorities gain the same socioeconomic as white men. Black men generally do have higher crime rates, are less responsible, and have low education due to historical oppression. (. http://en.wikipedia.org...) People stereotype and do not look at the individual, resulting in such deplorable racism. However, because minorities do generally have lower socioeconomic standing, socioeconomic Affirmative Action would target the root of the cause as opposed to pretending it is due to the color of their skin. I didn't have enough room to debate women in Affirmative Action with justice.