Affirmative Action Takes Focus
Away From Individuals
by

This first appeared in the
North Hills News Record

As a woman, I could benefit from affirmative action legislation, yet I staunchly oppose it. No, I don't believe we've conquered discrimination. I've met too many racists and sexists to deny its existence. But affirmative action policies ignore the individual and pigeonhole everyone into neat, orderly categories.

And how we love to categorize. Straight, gay. Senior citizen, Generation Xer. African-American, Chinese-American. There's no end to the number of labels we can conjure up.

Affirmative action legislation was supposed to ensure that individuals would be judged on merit, not their outward appearance. In practice, however, government set aside programs, college admission standards, and business hiring practices have taken the exact opposite approach.

Instead of upholding an objective standard, groups suffering so-called discrimination are usually held to a lower standard. That's inherently prejudiced. It assumes a person is incapable of achieving the higher standard, and a lot of women and minorities are outraged at this assumption.

To make matters worse, so many groups now qualify for protection under affirmative action, it now encompasses the majority, not the minority of the American population. Affirmative action has created legal protection for the many from the few.

But what about income disparities? Isn't that reason enough to continue affirmative action? There's very little empirical evidence to support a gender bias. (Read about it!) So what about racial bias?

A large part of the income difference between blacks and whites is the result of demographics not racism.

The majority of blacks in America live in the South. Historically, wages there have been significantly less, for both blacks and whites. The cost of living is cheaper too. So these lower wages don't necessarily translate into a reduced standard of living. It will, however, lower the average income.

There is also a large black youth population. This creates a younger median age for blacks. Since a person's earnings increase as they grow older, having a large number of young people will skew the average income downward.

Another factor is the large number of black single-parent households. Marriage almost always increases household income. When black married couples are compared with white married couples of similar age, education and background, the income disparity between blacks and whites virtually disappears.

Prejudice knows no boundaries. Unfortunately, there will always be people who need to feel superior so they create groups who they  believe are inferior. No amount of government legislation can correct that.

It's time to reexamine affirmative action policies. We need to stop grouping people and start focusing on the individual, no matter what their race, color or creed.

And those who will still attempt to categorize me, you can categorize  me very nicely in a group of one.

© Copyright Deborah A. Ayers 1995. All rights reserved.