|
|
ORIGINS OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Originating from the civil rights movement three decades ago, affirmative action calls for minorities and women to be given special consideration in employment, education and contracting decisions. Affirmative action is a growing argument among our society and is a multifaceted topic very vaguely defined. Some can characterize affirmative action as the ability to strive for equality and inclusiveness. Others see it as a quota-based system for different minority groups. However, defined by the Commerce-Database, affirmative action is a "a system designed to remedy past discrimination and eliminate current and future discrimination" (Commerce Database 1) "Affirmative action was originally designed to help minorities" (Gross, 1996). The path affirmative action took before it was finally accepted is a long and tiresome one, beginning in the years the following the Civil War. Once America entered into peace time, Congress passed a number of laws designed to put former slaves on an equal level with white people. Encouraged by Abraham Lincoln, the Fourteenth Amendment made the freedmen citizen and prohibited states from enforcing any law which took away the privileges of any citizen, depriving men of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law, or denied men equal protection of the laws. In 1875, Republican majority in Congress, aware that reconstruction would soon end, passed a civil right act to secure by law facade of equality for Black Americans (Urofsky 19). Many white Americans really did not like the idea of equality for the newly freed black men. "Gideon Welles, who had been prevailing sentiment when he wrote in 1871: 'Thank God slavery is abolished, but the Negro is not, and never can be the equal of the white man. He is of an inferior race and must always remain so'"(Urofsky 23). The Supreme Court agreed with Welles and in 1883 passed the Civil Rights Act which diluted much of the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. The future of affirmative action continued to look uncertain Soon after, Justice Joseph Bradely interpreted the enforcement provision of the amendment as strictly counteractive; "congress has the power to remedy a discriminatory state law, but could not take affirmative steps to protect blacks from other forms of prejudice" (Urofsky 21). As a result of this decision, the federal government took no action to combat racism in the country until World War II. (Urofsky 22). President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order on June 25, 1941 because resentment continued to increase within the black communities and a threat of a march on Washington had been placed. Roosevelt's order directed African Americans to be accepted into job-training programs in defense plants. It also stated that discrimination would not be excepted by employers holding defense contracts and set up a fair employment practice commissions to investigate charges of racial discrimination. Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower continued to enforce fair employment legislation after Roosevelt's policies because Congress was unwilling to do so. In 1954 under the authority of Presiding Judge Walter Huxman, the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education pressured both houses of Congress and the executive office to take some constructive steps on behalf of civil rights. (Topeka 1) Soon after John F. Kennedy took office in January 1961, Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called for action to promote employment opportunities for African Americans. Kennedy responded with executive order 10925, which created a presidential commission on equal employment opportunity; it also mandated federal contractors to take 'affirmative action' to ensure that there would be no discrimination by "race, creed, color or nationality." This was not the first time that the government ordered it own contractors not only to avoid discrimination, but to take positive steps to redress the effects of discrimination in society.
|
