Ride pass any major construction or road project’s surrounding the major city and you will notice that there are not many female or minorities laboring there. Though there are plenty that live in the nearby city. Likewise, if you go into a fire station in predominately black or Hispanic neighborhoods you will find few minorities in there also. But if you visit a N.F.L. football stadium you will find it Isis’s dominated with black players on the field and others as hot dog vendors during a game, but very few in the overpriced seating. But immediately after the game it is dominated by minorities again, but this time it’s the post game clean-up crew. Finally, there is a college in New York with less than 6% blacks in its student body. Is it because it is a mostly white town with few blacks?. Or is it because blacks don’t apply?.

The original intent of affirmative action was to give incentives for the placement or hiring of qualified African American and other minorities in industry or higher education opportunities. Not just in unskilled area’s but skilled high paying probabilities. Has it succeeded in its goals?. Some. But mostly, it has separated and angered many people. It has failed to spark a dialogue with intelligent people about a sensitive subject.. Partly because the government is involved, who tends to be terrible at implementing things. In industry objectives have been resisted because of fear, ignorance and good old nepotism. In academia the problem is in the pathetic and unorganized public school system. Along side of affirmative action we should be working on the hearts of the nations people. Until the heart of people is changed it will be difficult to reach all the goals of affirmative action. But it doesn’t mean the nation should stop trying to ensure a fair process.

Labeling affirmative action unfair does not close the book on treatment of qualified workers of a specific ethnicity or gender. We should all step away from the talking points of the media and sound bites by vicious bigots. We will discover a worthwhile view point. It is also fair to point out that many institutions have played by the rules and produced great results without the enforcement of affirmative action. Before we abandon affirmative action or label it is a failed program. Let us together find ways to address the problems that will still be there if the system is gone away.