My Case Against Affirmative Action

In 1965 President Johnson, using executive action, introduced affirmative action as a way to redress past discrimination and racial bias. Although his action applied to government contractors, with the passage of Title VII colleges began implementing their own affirmative action programs and started admitting more minority students. In my opinion, affirmative action is not only discriminatory in its own right, but should be abolished by the courts that have seen so far to uphold it. Affirmative action, though started with good intentions, has now dissolved into a policy that gives minorities’ unfair advantage and encourages “reverse racism” instead of discouraging it. It admits lesser qualified minority students into post-secondary institutions while passing over more qualified students. As David Sacks and Peter Thiel say in their paper The Case Against Affirmative Action, “If, after 25 years, affirmative action has not succeeded in ending discrimination, perhaps it is time to try something else.” Affirmative action, in addition to hurting the minorities it supposedly is meant to help by placing unprepared students into colleges they are not ready for, all serves to promote racism. Anytime someone is placed above someone else based on race, that’s racism, be it a white student accepted ahead of a black student or vice versa. Today, especially in light of what we see in Missouri, Staten Island, and other cities, racism is seen as white against black, with blacks being the discriminated against race. Why then, is it not discriminatory to place a black student, who may not be as prepared or academically ready for college, into a seat a more qualified white student should have received? Is racism not racism? In her article Affirmative Action: Who Does It Help, Who does It Hurt?, Megan McArdle makes a very interesting point. “If