Option A.- What would it be like?
From the moment you are born, before one even has the chance to make an impact on society, different races are born with certain advantages or disadvantages. I’ve recognized that my own particular race is most definitely at an advantage stand point. White people in nearly all cases have almost always had life come easier to them than other races (visual minorities). In this blog post, I want to highlight the advantages we do have over visual minorities, and whether or not Affirmative Action can be considered a solution to these inequalities.
As the human race developed, it’s safe to say that impressions, opinions, and connotations towards particular races developed to. More modern (and horrible) connotations would be examples like- Native American’s are ignorant, or black people are dangerous. White people are born without these accossiations, whereas visual minorities do. This is an advantage that Caucasian people have, and almost always have had. Building off of these simple yet disgusting associations, day to day scenarios for visual minorities are biased in a negative way. For example, it is statistically proven that black people are more likely to be pulled over than white people. Of course, scenarios vary, but this is often the case. Inequality of races also lies in career opportunities. In many fields of work, companies are less inclined to hire visual minorities. This is where affirmative action plays into opportunities.
Affirmative action provides opportunities in the workplace for racial minorities and women. This is most definitely a positive aspect, although it can also be seen as negative, as it may take away opportunities for very qualified workers. In my personal opinion, affirmative action is not neccasry for workplaces that have open minds and completely unbiased opinions toward minorities. In this sense, the most qualified should get the job, no matter the race or gender. This is a different story for careers that generally do have bias. In this case, I believe it is very useful to to give races certain opportunities.
Hey Bella,
It’s tough to learn about how differently people are treated in many societies, our own included, without recognizing the advantages we each may hold. With that acknowledgement comes responsibility of appreciating that status and being an ally to those without it. I think in your post you were able to relay your understanding of it with a tone of empathy; you’ll be an ally for those not born to privilege and that’s one of the goals for this unit – to grow empathy in young people who’ll grow up to be leaders with empathy in the future.
Thanks for sharing this.