After all, the white man was responsible for their suffering. While this may all be true, there is another question to be asked. It is true that the white man is partly responsible for the suppression of the African- American race. However, the individual white male is not. It is just as unfair and suppressive to hold many white males responsible for past persecution now as it was to discriminate against many African-Americans in the generations before.
Affirmative action accepts and condones the idea of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
I think mother taught us better than that. Affirmative action supporters make one large assumption when defending the policy. They assume that minority groups want help. This, however, may not always be the case. My experience with minorities has led me to believe that they fought to attain equality, not special treatment.