Affirmative Action Gets Ousted in Michigan
By mamarama
@mamarama (206)
United States
November 8, 2006 11:22am CST
I voted yes to repeal affirmative action in Michigan. My husband voted no. The damnedest thing is, I can understand his point of view about this situation.
Why did vote yes? I believe in this day and age, there are opportunities surrounding us all (and yes, they are there--you just have to get off your lazy butt to find them). Affirmative action was started out of a need (that shouldn't have been). I think in the long run, though, affirmative action is detrimental to minorities and women. Affirmative action is a handout. It has done wonderful things for people, no doubt, but it has an underlying message: minorities and women are weaker than white men. This message needs to be eradicated.
My husband believes I am wrong, wrong, and more wrong about this issue. He envisions Michigan becoming a hardcore white man's world without affirmative action in place.
What do you think? Are you for or against affirmative action? Does your state have affirmative action laws?
1 person likes this
3 responses
@deeds14 (815)
• United States
11 Nov 06
I really disagree that affirmative action is a "handout." Maybe you don't discriminate against minorities, but it still happens every day to them. Affirmative action forces people to hire them or let them into their college. Should it be this way? No! Employers should hire them for diversity and skill. But there is still too much racism for this to happen by itself. Affirmative action doesn't hurt privledged white people (like myself). Nothing bad comes of it. With proposal 2 being passed, many women's programs were cut as well. I have a friend who is Indian that might lose her scholarship and therefore won't be able to go to school. Did her getting the scholarship in the first place give a message that she was weak? No, it was that she didn't have the opportunities that a white person has because of her race and the history of it. She deserves to go to college, and affirmative action was helping her do that. Now, who knows what will happen to her?
@mamarama (206)
• United States
12 Nov 06
If your Indian friend is smart and resourceful, she will stay in college. This is the United States of America, and we ALL have opportunity here. It is a cop-out to say that minorities need special help. I grew up in a black and Arab community, and most of the businesses were minority-owned. Minorities are just as smart and resourceful as whites.
@fiyahcreation (2140)
• United States
8 Nov 06
without affirmative action many people of color would be jobless.
