It is very easy to think of affirmative action as "reverse discrimination" if one only views the label of, "It decides who gets what based on race." It is enticing to believe that banning affirmative action will prohibit discrimination and give a more "color-blind" hiring or application process. However, by banning affirmative action, all you are doing is taking opportunities away from African-Americans, other minorities, and women.

When looking at affirmative action, one has to recognize that racism and racial inequality are the foundation of which this policy was built upon in 1961. Although we don't see racism and racial inequality as much today, its presence unfortunately still presides. Affirmative action was established to help bridge the wide gap between the "privileged" white and "unprotected" black when it comes to employment and education.

There is statistical evidence that shows that progress has come along. In the first two decades of the policy, black men improved to received about 75% of what white men earn, which jumped from around 60% before the 1960's. It is also worthy to note that this jump in annual earnings did NOT come at the expense of white men. In fact, white men were actually earning a considerable amount more at this time than they were in the 1960's. Also, the University of California-Berkley had 6.51% of black first year students in late 80's. This number shrunk to 2.54% after 1999 when the admissions became "color-blind".

The bottom line is that if we do away with these conscious efforts to deal with racial inequality, including scholarship, mentoring, and outreach programs for African-Americans, then we will undo the progress that we have made in this country on the matter of racism.