Is the goal of “affirmative action” a racist one?

The simple answer is, “of course it is.” But let’s take a closer look at “affirmative action.”

Dictionary.com defines “affirmative action” as, “A term referring to various government policies that aim to increase the proportion of African-Americans, women, and other minorities in jobs and educational institutions historically dominated by white men. The policies usually require employers and institutions to set goals for hiring or admitting minorities.”

“Affirmative action” begs the questions, “Does racism towards one group correct racism towards another? And, can discrimination against one group correct discrimination against another group?”

I would think that an honest, critical thinking, person would answer “no” to both of those questions.

Generally speaking, do you agree with the statement that, “Business and workforce populations should ideally reflect society.”

I believe that a fair-minded person would generally agree with that. I believe that a fair-minded person would also believe that this “reflection of society” would kind of sort itself out without any extra influence or assistance. A fair-minded person would probably not think it was fair to give some special treatment in order to achieve the proper “reflection of society.

The truth is, however, that some racial groups really don’t care about fairness for everyone…, only “fairness” for themselves.

The National Football League (NFL) is a good example of this.

There were concerns earlier this year that The Oakland Raiders had not complied with “the Rooney Rule” during the process of hiring its new head coach.

First of all, what is “the Rooney Rule?” The Rooney Rule is an NFL policy that requires league teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operation jobs. It is sometimes cited as an example of affirmative action, though there is no quota or preference given to minorities in the hiring of candidates. It was established in 2003, and variations of the rule are now in place in other industries. The rule is named after Dan Rooney, the former owner of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and former chairman of the league’s diversity committee.

The league found the Raiders did not violate the rule, however, this ruling is being challenged by the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which is a group that says it promotes diversity, but it really promotes the hiring of African-Americans.

Why do I say this? Well, let’s see.

First of all, let’s take a look at our society in The United States. The racial make-up of our country is as follows:

62.0 % White

17.8 % Hispanic

12.5 % Black

5.3 % Asian

Currently there are 6 Black head coaches in the NFL. There are 32 teams, so 18.75 % of the head coaches in the NFL are currently Black.

Based on the demographics of the United States, African-Americans are more than well represented, yet they have this rule.

In fact, if we look at NFL players, Black players represent 70% of the players, White players represent only 25% of the players, and Hispanics and Asians make-up only 5% of the player population.

Where is the concern about the disproportionate representation of the races amongst players?

Does anyone doubt that the African-American community and their promotional groups would have no problem if 100% of the players and coaches were Black? 70% obviously doesn’t seem to bother anybody.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has an even greater imbalance.

In fact, in an article by J.R. Gamble for “The Shadow League” website, he complained that, “In a league that is nearly 75 percent Black, it’s unacceptable that the head coaching ranks are comprised of just 20 percent African-Americans.”

How so Mr. Gamble? It’s almost funny how he is using one disproportionate figure to make his case for another figure. How could any Black person or Black promotional group be unhappy with a sports league where 75% of the players are black and 20% of the coaches are black, when only 12.5% of the general population is Black?

That’s why I said earlier, “The truth is, however, that some racial groups really don’t care about fairness for everyone…, only ‘fairness’ for themselves.”

Of any racial group, it would seem that Hispanics have a right to question their representation in the NFL, as well as many other areas of our society.

We won’t even get into the gender inequalities in these areas at this time, even though women represent 51% of our population. This is an analysis for another day.