For most of America’s history, affirmative action only applied to white Americans. If you were white in America, you had a status that guaranteed you privileges. White meant you were above all other Americans.
In 1790 when the Citizenship Act was passed, the only people in America that could be citizens were free white people. Being white meant there were affirmative, positive, proactive steps, that you were considered above all others.
A Federal Commitment
In the early 1970s, the federal government committed that colleges, universities, and businesses should take affirmative, proactive, positive steps to ensure that the pool of applicants and employee candidates was diverse racially, ethnically, culturally, and sexually.
That didn’t mean those people were not qualified.
It meant that unlike most of our history when white Americans were legally guaranteed benefits over other Americans, now the federal government was saying we should make sure we reach out and have a diverse pool of applicants.
Where Would We Be Now?
What would America look like today if, from the beginning, we had taken affirmative, proactive, positive steps to ensure diversity?
Think about all the brilliant people from a broad range of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds who were overlooked simply because they were not white.
Affirmative action has nothing to do with people who are not qualified. It’s what we do every day when we consider other people based on who they really are. It’s the kind of country America should be. It’s the kind of country I want to live in.