Affirmative Action

            Thirty-eight years ago, there was discrimination occurring in America that made it necessary for our government to create and enforce a law called Affirmative Action. Although this was a positive intervention at the time, Affirmative Action is no longer necessary today.
             Affirmative action is any plan or program that promotes the employment of women and members of any minority group (Britannica 172). This term, first used by President John F. Kennedy, is an action taken to remedy the effects and specifically end job and college entrance discrimination (Neiss 244). In nineteen sixty-four, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty-four which made job discrimination illegal and really began to push Kennedy's affirmative action. When President Richard M. Nixon took office, he became the first to implement federal policies designed to guarantee minority hiring. .
             Over the years, there have been two significant court cases involving affirmative action. The first case occurred during the nineteen-seventies. A young man named Allan Bakke; who applied twice to the University of California medical school, was rejected in result of affirmative action policies both years. Bakke took his case to the Supreme Court, and in nineteen seventy eight, the court ruled in his favor. Allan Bakke's case resulted in an established affirmative action quota in colleges, and he was also admitted into the University of California medical school. .
             The second significant court case involving affirmative action occurred more recently. In nineteen ninety-six, a forty-three year old mother named Barbara Grutter applied to the University of Michigan law school. Grutter was not admitted into the school based on its racial preferences. The following year in nineteen ninety-seven, two other white students with good grades and high SAT scores were also denied admission at the University of Michigan.