Affirmative Action Essays (3214 words) - Law, Politics,

Affirmative Action Although many people believe that affirmative Action is a form of racism, it is actually used to help minorities find employment in an otherwise racist world. In the United States, equality is a recurring theme. It has flared into a fervent moral issue at crucial stages of American history: The revolutionary and Jacksonian Period, and the New Deal. In each era, the legitimacy of American society is challenged by some set of people unhappy with the degree of equality (Verba and Orren). Following the Civil War, Congress passed a number of laws designed to put former slaves on an equal level with white people. The Fourteenth Amendment made the freedmen citizen and prohibited states from enforcing any law which took away the privliges of any citizen, depriving men of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law, or denied men equal protection of the laws. In 1875, Republican majority in Congress, aware that reconstruction would soon end, passed a civil right act to secure by law semblance of equality for Black Americans (Urofsky 19). Many white Americans really did not like the idea of equality for the Black Freedmen. Gideon Welles, who had been prevailing sentiment when he wrote in 1871: Thank God slavery is abolished, but the Negro is not, and never can be the equal of the white man. He is of an inferior race and must always remain so(Urofsky 23). The supreme court agreed and in 1883 passed the Civil Rights act which diluted much of the protection of th e Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Joseph Bradely interpreted the enforcement provision of the amendment as strictly remedial; congress has the power to remedy a discriminatory state law, but could not take affirmative steps to protect blacks from other forms of prejudice (Urofsky 21). As a result of this decision, the federal government took no action to combat racism in the country until the second world war (Urofsky 22). Because resentment continued to increase within the black communities and because of the threat of a march on Washington, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an executive order on June 25, 1941. This order directed African Americans to be accepted into job-training programs in defense plants. The order also stated that discrimination would not be excepted by employers holding defense contracts. It also set up a fair employment practice commissions to investigate charges of racial discrimination. Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower continued to enforce fair employment legislation after Roosevelts policies because Congress was unwilling to do so. In 1954, the supreme court decision Brown v. Board of Education pressured both houses of Congress and the executive office to take some positive steps on behalf of civil rights. In January 1961, John F. Kennedy took office. Almost immediately Roy Wilkins of the NAACP called for action to promote employment opportunities for African Americans. John F. Kennedy responded with executive order 10925, which created a presidential commission on equal employment opportunity; it also mandated federal contractors to take Affirmative Action to ensure that there would be no discrimination by race, creed, color or nationality. This was not the first time that the government ordered it own contractors not only to avoid discrimination, but to take positive steps to redress the effects of discrimination in society. In some cases contractors were asked to pay employees doing similar work, the same amount of pay. Without congressional action an executive order could only last so long, and in 1963 Kennedy secured passage of the Equal Pay Act. The Equal Pay Act prohibited employers from paying women less than men for the same work. A short time later due to the assassination of kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson called for the passage of the Civil Rights Bill as a memorial to the late president kennedy. Lyndon B. Johnson skillfully guided and expanded versions of kennedys proposal through the house and senate. The Civil Rights Act was signed into law July 2, 1964. Title VII of the act banned employment discrimination based on race, color, sex, and nationality, it also created a permanent equal employment opportunity commission to enforce its provisions. The act also for the first time included obligations not to discriminate to private employees, labor unions, and governmental agencies.(Urofsky

The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essays

The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essays The Pearl by John Steinbeck Paper The Pearl by John Steinbeck Paper Essay Topic: The Pearl 1. What kind of people do you think Kino and his wife are? First of all, Kino and his family seem to be poor people because we can see in the text that they have a quite bad standard of living: they live in a brush house, the baby sleeps in a hanging box, there ants in the house, they are not protected from wild and dangerous animal as the scorpion which stung Coyotito, they do not have enough money to get a treatment for the baby We can also notice that Kino and his family are Indians. Indeed the doctor call them like this and the author himself speak about the Kinos race but without saying which one it is. It seems to be different races where Kino lives. Another indication which makes us think that they are from another culture is when Juana is summoning magic when the baby is stung. 2. What ideas do you get about them living in a brush house near a tuna clump? Once again, it gives us the impression that they live in a poor place. Indeed the brush house suggests that they might have built their house themselves. It says in the first page: he looked first at the lightening square which was the door. This shows us that there is no door in Kinos house or that that the light can pass through it. 3. What can we conclude from what weve learnt so far? Basically, we learnt that Kino and his family seem to be quite poor living in a slum in a kind of shanty town aside from the real town. We do not know exactly what they do for living but they seem to have a simple and monotone life which does not enable them to provide themselves basic essentials such as paying a doctor for their baby for example. 4. Soundless, internal songs are important to Kino. What do you think that might tell us about him? Internal songs are maybe important to Kino because these animate a little bit his monotonous life: these help him to not be bored by the routine of his life. We learn that these songs are old songs and each of them represents the different feelings that Kino could have. Indeed when he wakes up and sees his wife doing the daily preparation, he heard the Song of Family and when he is enraged when he goes to the doctor, there are other songs in his head which correspond with this feeling. These songs tell us about Kino that he is a quiet man and he must be quite sensitive too if he can feels his emotions so much that he hear songs which correspond with each feeling. 5. How these differ from your family morning routines? First Juana wait that her husband wakes up, then she wake up her son. After this she prepares the breakfast for Kino, takes care of the house then she can take her breakfast. In primitive society, women prepare the meal for the husband because he needs to work, then they must take care of the children and the home and finally take care of themselves meanwhile in our modern society, tasks and jobs are shared between men and women. 6. How would you describe Kinos attitude to the life around him? Kino is young and strong which explains that he is a pearl diver. We can also say that he is dark skinned (the brown forehead). Kino also has a warm, fierce and bright gaze. He seems to like his life even if he is not very demonstrative: the Song of the Family shows that he is a family man and even if he is not rich, he has all basics essentials. 7. Does this seem a calm and happy family? Yes it seems to be a happy family because Kino and Juana love each other and they have a son that they love too. Once again the Song of the Family can prove to us that it is a peaceful and happy family. 8. Kino and Juana dont speak to each other much but the author says this isnt a sign of discontent. Does silence between two people usually indicate happiness or unhappiness, in your experience? In my opinion, conversation and communication between two people depend on the characters of the two people. Sometimes the fact that people dont speak together might mean that do not like each other but it can also be a sign of harmony between the to people and therefore do they do not have to talk or to argue. This is the case of Kino and Juana. Kino notices about his wife that she does not look strong. Indeed shes dependant and she is inferior to her husband, she is extremely patient and she has an iron will. We see that she can also take initiatives far example when she says get the doctor. She looks weak and fragile but psychologically, she is as strong as Kino. The changes in the way of living. There obviously no slums in Brussels and certainly no brush houses but there are of course, like in all big cities, rich areas and not so-rich-areas. For example the way of living in Uccle is very different from that of, for example, Scharbeek. 9. The beggars know about the doctor. What do they know about him and how have they found this out? The beggars were always watching and listening and therefore learnt a lot of people in the town. They knew the doctor, the fact that he was ignorant, liked money and carried out abortions, sometimes not very successfully. 10. When they arrive at the doctors door, Kino hesitates. What feelings sweep over him and why does he feel this way? He feels fear and anger obviously provoked by the fact that people of the doctors race considered people of Kinos race as animals, especially at that time (when Steinbeck wrote The Pearl). Fear because he was afraid that the doctor would turn him away and anger because it was not just. His anger manifested itself when he hit the iron gate so hard that he injured his hand after they were told to go away. By saying: I am a doctor, not a veterinary, the doctor obviously meant that these Indians who had come asking for help were nothing more than animals maybe because he is only racist or maybe because he really thought Indians were animals.