HY 357 Lecture Notes - Lecture 55: Emancipation Proclamation, Fugitive Slave Laws, Missouri Compromise
6 Jun 2018
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Affirmative Action
Affirmative action remains one of the most hotly debated topics in civil rights. The term
refers to a broad range of programs that are intended to correct for the past effects of
discrimination through preferential recruitment and treatment, numerical goals, quotas,
or set asides in employment. In contracting with a municipal or state agency, companies
that are identified as minority or women business enterprises, so-called MBE/WBE, may
be given a preference over a firm owned by a white male. Affirmative action traditionally
goes beyond equality of opportunity, long the goal of the civil rights movement, and
seeks equality of outcome.
Reverse discrimination
In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court ruled in a
controversial 5-4 decision that setting aside a specific number of places in a medical
school class for minorities violated both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth
Amendment. It ordered that a white applicant initially denied admission be admitted so
as to avoid reverse discrimination. The Court also stated that the state had an interest
in promoting a diverse student body in its schools. The upshot of the Bakke decision
was confusing; although obvious quotas were unconstitutional, recent Court cases have
further restricted affirmative action policies, so that they may be used only to redress a
past pattern of discrimination.
Challenges to affirmative action
There is little doubt that affirmative action policies have changed the face of the
workplace and many of our public institutions. Perhaps contrary to expectations, the
group that has been helped most by affirmative action is white women. In the 1990s, the
courts struck down numerous state and federal programs that used race and gender to
discriminate and have considered quotas only where there is a specific history of past
discrimination. Public opinion polls show broad support for ending affirmative action.
This is reflected in the 1996 ballot proposition in California known as the California Civil
Rights Initiative. Although voters approved the initiative to end affirmative action
programs in the state except those mandated by the federal government, the
constitutionality of the measure was immediately challenged in federal court.
Slavery and Civil Rights
Civil liberties and civil rights are not the same. Civil rights involve the government protection
of individuals against discrimination based on their race, religion, national origin, gender, age,
and other factors. The concept of civil rights is based on the equal protection clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment, which says that no state shall "deny to any person within its jurisdiction
the equal protection of the laws."
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