Leveling The Playing Field - 1479 Words

Leveling the Playing Field Tracy Hunt BA340 G00114492 June 11 2015 Stephen Shortland Leveling the Playing Field The term Affirmative Action had very little meaning for the average American years ago. Affirmative action has been described as actions or steps an organization must take to show that it is not showing or fostering any kind of discrimination. It provides qualified people with the same access to educational and professional opportunities that would otherwise have been denied them if they were fully qualified. Through out the years the affirmative action has adapted to the times and to the people. Affirmative action has been known for accomplishing a great deal of good but also a great deal of harm. Good examples†¦show more content†¦Plus Congress discuss Civil Rights Act that Congress prohibited private employers from discriminating against applicants or employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or religion with respect to employment decisions. Organizations that had find an imbalance may actively search for qualified minorities by recruiting from colleges where most African Americans or women attend. During these times this program was a target and also received lawsuits. Much of the scrutiny had focused on the realization that affirmative action based employment decisions were focused on group membership rather than individual performances. So to change the imbalance of information the Privacy Act of 1974 came out. This act applied to the federal government agencies, and it required all employee personnel files to be open for inspection. So during this time employees would be permitted or be allowed to look into their files at anytime to make sure all the information inside is correct. Affirmative action at that time became a very touchy subject. So the action would change drastically and became something that it was never intended to be. In fact, it has become reverse racism in this day and age. A good example of how affirmative action has becoming reverse racism was obvious in the â€Å"Gutter and Gratz case.† Although the Gratz case was ruled