Affirmative Action

Con has been reduced to saying that African-Americans are less qualified, in general. I am going to focus on this statement because it shows a huge problem with his argument. It's going to be very difficult for us to ever treat each other equally if we have people who can't recognize why they are less qualified. Again, there is no good reason why African-Americans should be unemployed at such a higher rate than whites. As was decided in Brown v. Board, blacks were receiving inferior education. This has not only hurt them economically since then, but it has also hurt them socially. Con says there is no way that all cultural groups would be equal. This argument means very little because it doesn't mean we should not take steps toward making these groups equal. It is very important and it is our duty as Americans to carry on our creed that all men are created equal. No, government can't give everyone a job. It can't magically lead people out of poverty. But the government can give everyone a fair shot at life. The government can provide programs for affirmative action to help qualified minority candidates rise up in social and economic standing. Now, affirmative action has undisputable progress. Blacks' wages have increased. The poverty rate of blacks has dropped. Other minorities' wages have increased. All minorities have been employed at higher rates. Women have been employed at higher rates and have had their wages increased. But we still have work to do. Minorities and women are still not up to par with white men's wages. I don't believe they should be equal as that would put too many restrictions on industry, but it clearly needs to be closer. Yes, it is a generalization that an African-American usually has to face more hardships. It's also backed up by statistics, unlike most of the things Con has stated in this argument. Blacks are in poverty at a significantly higher rate than whites. Minority schools are underfunded at a significantly higher rate than white schools. Con goes on to imply that my argument says all of the minorities that actually are as qualified as white Americans are the ones who didn't go to minority-majority schools. I'm not quite sure where Con gets this implication, but it is just putting words in my mouth. Minorities at underfunded schools just have a significantly harder time. Saying the removal of affirmative action wouldn't result in any minorities losing their jobs is unsubstantiated. I would ask Con to back this up, but it's too late and he has mentioned nothing on it previously. Saying that affirmative action would make you hate a Latino and African-American because you lost the opportunity to have a job does not mean all would hate them. It fails to take into account the acceptance that comes about when many different cultures and races are put in the same environment. Con has failed to prove that the burden is unnecessary. I believe the burden is necessary for the reasons I have listed in the past. Con used bad language in the first round to back up his argument and he's just trying to cover up that hole at this point. You did not refer specifically to each white American affected by affirmative action. Con referred to the majority as a whole and referred to the minority as a whole. Seeing as there are many less people in the minority, the majority obviosly won't be affected equally because there will be much smaller portion. Con has failed to back up this with the language from his first round argument. What he said wasn't clear at all, and he should have made it clearer. Claiming most of the hardships would have been experienced by their ancestors is just another obvious statement. Yes, they were. That doesn't mean African-Americans don't still have hardships. It doesn't mean they aren't still effected my the effects of over two hundred years of oppression on their social and economic status. Statistics clearly back me up in this aspect. The average African-American faces more hardships than the average white male. I've stated over and over again, that in affirmative action cases, the majority individual normally just appears more qualified or as qualified. The minority individual appears less qualified because of his or her systemic exclusion. He or she is still affected by past government wrongs. Con proceeds to use two logical fallacies in the same sentence. First of all, we weren't talking about the "war on poverty". Secondly, it really doesn't matter what Thomas Sowell says. You still have to prove your side regardless of what he said. Those are the red herring and appeal to authority logical fallacies. Con says a single woman makes as much as a single man, but fails to back up that claim. Again, it's an unsubstantiated claim and means very little at this point. I don't know why I'm responding to these arguments at this point, but Con is just making false statements at this point. No, Martin Luther King, Jr. did not make the difference alone. We made the difference as a country. Con proceeds to make a statement that contradicted an earlier statement of his. He says. "Over time, racism can disappear, and it can appear." Before, he stated, "It is also a fallacy, according to Sowell in "Economic Facts and Fallacies," that racism disappears over time. It doesn't." These statements come into direct contradiction. Putting more qualified African-Americans in the workplace helps them move up in society. They have done it since 1961, and they will hopefully continue to do it as long as we have affirmative action policies and beyond. Con's arguments are getting ridiculous. There is a bit of a difference between ten people and 41.7 million people. This again shows a lack of understanding of affirmative action policies. Affirmative Action applies only to qualified candidates. His arguments have been very weak. I thank him for this debate, but his arguments declined as the debate went on. No, we are still not equal. We are not equal as long as 6.1% more African-Americans are employed than whites. We are not equal when such a higher percentage of African-Americans are in poverty. We've made a lot of progress since 1961. But we need to keep progressing until affirmative action is no longer necessary. We cannot say that at this point, but I hope we can say it one day. Then, we can truly say we've done our best to give blacks an equal voice and an equal place in society.