Affirmative Action was set up as a redress, a way to rectify past injustices.
Class is indeed a very important factor in social structure.
But it in itself is not the central issue of Affirmative Action. The central issue of Affirmative Action is the apparent and not so apparent differences in employment practices, the percentage of minorities who are poor in comparison to the majority with the same opportunities, the low number of students enrolled in universities, the business market, the lack of minority businesses, the lack of minority professionals, the low percentage of minorities in the labor force, the dropout rate of minorities, and the need to adequately represent other sectors of this society. Furthermore, the Constitution does indeed guarantee equal opportunity, and not necessarily outcome. But it is historically evident the framers of the Constitution were not referring to minorities, and it is apparent the equality so highly regarded in the farmers' writing in the Constitution itself has not always been implemented or practiced throughout American history. This goes to show there was and is a need for Affirmative Action.