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Justice4All · 36-40, M
Martin Luther King Jr. would definitely oppose Affirmative Action. MLK believed in Blacks and our ability to succeed. Believe it or not, some of us believe in ourselves and many of us oppose affirmative action. AA isn't about helping helping blacks and has benefited White women more than any other demographic.
Longpatrol · 31-35, M
@Justice4All I thought the criteria for affirmative action was on minority race and not gender?
bijouxbroussard · F
@Justice4All You might be surprised:
[quote] King may not have used the words “affirmative action” – the term was coined by President Kennedy – but he often supported the concept.
In his book “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” King said a “society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the Negro.”
He cited a Southern Christian Leadership Conference program that sought to force companies working in black communities to hire a certain percentage of black employees.
“If a city has a 30% Negro population, then it is logical to assume that Negroes should have at least 30% of the jobs in any particular company, and jobs in all categories rather than only in menial areas,” King wrote.
But King’s sense of affirmative action was not something that only benefited blacks, Baldwin says. Using the GI Bill as an example, King would often remind people that the U.S. government adopted a policy of preferential treatment for World War II veterans when it paid for their college educations through the bill.
“He was not talking about race-based affirmative action. He was concerned about need-based affirmative action,” Baldwin says. “If you look at his call for an economic bill of rights, he was talking about affirmative action that benefited all people that were poor and deprived.”
[/quote]
But you are correct that the people who most benefited from Affirmative Action as it was put in practice were white women. Affirmative Action as it’s been most recently understood evolved from the original discussion of "reparations" for blacks post Reconstruction (ignored by Andrew Johnson back when Reconstruction was repealed).
It was put in place with Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925.
But in addition to blacks other minorities of color were added, and finally with Executive Order 11114, women were included.
Even though the face of Affirmative Action remains that of black people, it was cynically used to provide opportunities for white women who saw more promotions than at any point previously.
Moreover, generations later that same demographic (white women) has been at the forefront of those fighting Affirmative Action—even though they benefited—because of the fear that it would harm their [b]sons[/b].
[quote] King may not have used the words “affirmative action” – the term was coined by President Kennedy – but he often supported the concept.
In his book “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” King said a “society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the Negro.”
He cited a Southern Christian Leadership Conference program that sought to force companies working in black communities to hire a certain percentage of black employees.
“If a city has a 30% Negro population, then it is logical to assume that Negroes should have at least 30% of the jobs in any particular company, and jobs in all categories rather than only in menial areas,” King wrote.
But King’s sense of affirmative action was not something that only benefited blacks, Baldwin says. Using the GI Bill as an example, King would often remind people that the U.S. government adopted a policy of preferential treatment for World War II veterans when it paid for their college educations through the bill.
“He was not talking about race-based affirmative action. He was concerned about need-based affirmative action,” Baldwin says. “If you look at his call for an economic bill of rights, he was talking about affirmative action that benefited all people that were poor and deprived.”
[/quote]
But you are correct that the people who most benefited from Affirmative Action as it was put in practice were white women. Affirmative Action as it’s been most recently understood evolved from the original discussion of "reparations" for blacks post Reconstruction (ignored by Andrew Johnson back when Reconstruction was repealed).
It was put in place with Kennedy’s Executive Order 10925.
But in addition to blacks other minorities of color were added, and finally with Executive Order 11114, women were included.
Even though the face of Affirmative Action remains that of black people, it was cynically used to provide opportunities for white women who saw more promotions than at any point previously.
Moreover, generations later that same demographic (white women) has been at the forefront of those fighting Affirmative Action—even though they benefited—because of the fear that it would harm their [b]sons[/b].
eli1601 · 70-79, M
Sure you did 🤣
MartinTheFirst · 26-30, M