What I worry about is that things could start swinging the other way without affirmative action laws in place. Maybe I'm just cynical, but I don't trust that America as a whole is quite ready for there not to be anything there to remind them that they still can't turn someone away from a job, or deny them housing, and so on for being part of a historically marginalized group.
I totally agree that we have to get to the root of the disparity issues in order for gaps to be closed up. It's simply not enough to try and hire/accept a proportionate amount of [insert group] people because that isn't solving anything... but I still think that having that system in place until we can implement something more effective is a good idea.
Maybe I'm just cynical, but I don't trust that America as a whole is quite ready for there not to be anything there to remind them that they still can't turn someone away from a job, or deny them housing, and so on for being part of a historically marginalized group.
What about, for example, the Civil Rights Act of 1991? There's already a pretty solid amount of anti-discrimination legislation; can we enforce what we've got (and even expand it, as in the case, for example, of gay rights)? Maybe put up more literature in workplaces about it?
Don't we have anti-Discrimination laws to make sure people aren't denied anything solely because of their race? This is the same racist country that just voted for Obama for President. Some people may still be racists and may not want to give a minority a fair shake, but they are in the minority. If the minority in question is qualified for the job and they are denied, the person who ultimately loses is the person who didn't hire them.
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I totally agree that we have to get to the root of the disparity issues in order for gaps to be closed up. It's simply not enough to try and hire/accept a proportionate amount of [insert group] people because that isn't solving anything... but I still think that having that system in place until we can implement something more effective is a good idea.
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Isn't that what anti-discrimination laws are for?
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Agree 100%
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