In recent years, the issue of affirmative action has become one that has polarized debate in the United States. Affirmative action, which was originally conceptualized under President Johnson's Executive Order 11246 was supposed to provide social institutions with the mechanisms necessary to ensure that racial discrimination would not occur in the context of employment. Despite the fact that affirmative action has been touted as one of the most prominent pieces of legislation to ensure racial equality the reality is that problems with this statute have significantly weakened the ability of a social institutions and private organizations to effectively develop and conceptualize affirmative action policies that ensure the protection of minorities. With the realization that affirmative action has become such a controversial issue there is a clear impetus to consider how such a noble and altruistic proposition could have become so problematic for society.
[...] In handing down its decision in the Bakke case, the Supreme Court offered little guidance for either the University or other organizations facing the dilemma of implementing affirmative action policies. With respect to the issue of whether or not the quota system instituted by the University violated Bakke's right to equal protection under the Fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, the Supreme Court agreed that this was indeed the case. Organizations could not institute formal quota policies that could violate the rights of non-minority applicants. [...]
[...] As such, the specific issues raised in the Bakke case clearly stood outside of what legislators hoped to achieve through the development and implementation of affirmative action policies. In this context, it seems feasible to argue that the most pertinent method that could be utilized to reestablish the providence of affirmative action would be to effectively redefine the goals and intentions of affirmative action given the problems that have developed as a result of issues of reverse discrimination. While the issue of reforming affirmative action appears to be the most salient means to ensure that this policy continues to protect minorities against racial discrimination, there's considerable controversy over the specific methods that should be utilized to reform program. [...]
[...] Executive Order 11246 Until Bakke With the basic context of the theoretical development of Executive Order 11246 examined it is now possible to consider a brief review of the history of affirmative action for the time of its inception until the Bakke case in 1978. A critical review of what has been written about affirmative action between 1965 and 1978, it becomes evident that many of the cases that were brought before state and federal courts focused on the employer's unwillingness to effectively implement the rules of affirmative action that had been established by the federal government. [...]
[...] The question that remains is how affirmative action policies can be defined and developed such that they address this subtle, and even perhaps unconscious, racism that remains a pervasive part of social development in United States. Arguably, the easiest answer to this question is to put measurable systems in place that ensure that ethnic minorities are being treated fairly and equitable. However, the direct ruling made in the Bakke case creates a situation in which social institutions and organizations are prohibited from utilizing direct that set aside or to ensure that ethnic minorities are given fair and equitable treatment. [...]
[...] What is effectively demonstrates is that even went affirmative action policies in place, African-Americans have not been able to garner the overall benefits of establishing a level playing field for equal access to employment and other social resources. Not surprisingly, other authors have made similar observations about the overall effectiveness of affirmative action policies. Curry (1996) in his examination of the overall effectiveness of affirmative action policies reports that “African-American families not only inherit much less wealth; they are hit daily by institutional inequality and discrimination. [...]
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