Very true and yes, it was the intent of “affirmative action”, but it might not have worked that way in reality.
I think the problem comes in where someone thinks “well I didn’t discriminate against non-whites” so why should I get punished? And it’s not like all whites have had an advantage and all blacks have not. And what about other non-white groups, or ethnic white groups that have been disadvantaged in history? I believe Irish, Italians, Catholics, etc were harshly discriminated against in the early twentieth century. Are they included in the mix for special treatment as far as affirmative action is concerned? Reparations? Etc. I don’t believe they are, or at least it’s never mentioned.
How would you like to be the parent of a white kid, who worked two or three jobs to give their kid a fighting chance at college, only to be turned down not because of merit, but because school xyz let the black kid in because a hundred years ago his ancestors were discriminated against? Just doesn’t seem fair, and actually I’d hate to be the black kid who got in at the expense of the poor white kid in this scenario. Just something seems fundamentally unfair about affirmative action. Maybe it’s the best of the worst available options? Honestly I’m torn.
That is an unfair comparison. No one is chosen who is not worthy of being chosen.
When there is one job and 15 different applicants for the job, each with sufficient skills to do the job how are you not going to discriminate against 14 by choosing 1 of any creed.
The idea is that at some point it is desirable to have a fairly representative balance in public offices . IMO that is the ideal the Constitution and Bill of Right describes with the words ; “all men are created equal” .
Your introduction of color is itself prejudicial when discussing competence which is completely color blind.
I know you don’t see yourself as a threat to the success of a colorblind society. The problem is that you see colored people as a threat to (colorblind ???) society.