After reading the book “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria” written by Beverly Daniel Tatum, I was left wanting more information on process-oriented and goal-oriented equality programs. Tatum quickly visits these two points in roughly two paragraphs, so I sought out other outside resources to better understand the two terms and how they interact with affirmative action. First, affirmative action is described as "any measure, beyond simple termination of a discriminatory practice, adopted to correct or compensate for past or present discrimination or to prevent discrimination from recurring in the future." (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Statement on Affirmative Action, October 1977). In other words, a program …show more content…
Though Tatum criticizes this theory as “ineffective”, I find that it can still lead to improvements. Taking the process-oriented theory and applying it to mindsets, people are more likely to learn if they are focused on how to get the answer, rather than goals of simply what the answer is. So, if process-oriented mindsets are ideal in classrooms, process-oriented programs can be beneficial in affirmative action also. To explain this reasoning, if a workplace is focused on making standards the same for everyone through a fair process, the outcome will lead to candidates hired based on their qualifications and not on meeting a “goal”.
Tatum critiques this by saying not everyone is given a fair chance because those in minority groups are not awarded the same opportunities, therefor leaving them disadvantaged from the start. However, standards must remain in place in order for a company or business to maintain productive outcomes. If a construction company requires a process-oriented program and mandates that every applicant must have a commercial driver’s license, an exception should not be made for the applicant of minority who has not had the opportunity to take theirs. Fair process, fair outcome. No exceptions. This is the exact point of affirmative action ; to have an equal
The Title VII’s disparate-impact provision inhibits employment practices that have the unintentional effect of race discrimination (Walsh, 2016, p.114). Even though Congress enacted Title VII for the main purpose of confronting racial discrimination in the workplace, courts have continued to struggle to appropriately address the prevalence of subtle racial discrimination that burdens minority applicants/employees today (Ritenhouse, 2013). Another legal issue included in this case is North Hudson refusing to implement non-discriminatory hiring procedures that do not disproportionately exclude African-Americans from employment without evidence of business need. The employer also refused to correct the effects of previous discriminatory practices. As an end result of this case, the District Court held that the employer’s business-necessity justification was insufficient and that there were alternative means to achieve the goals stated that were less
Erica Beckman Duran English 1A 28 October 2015 Affirmative Action In Chapter Seven of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? , Beverly Tatum discusses affirmative action, an action that guarantees equal opportunity to all individuals, regardless of any circumstances (117). Tatum remarks on the history of affirmative action, in which it was introduced to language and our legal system by executive order 11246 by President Lyndon B. Johnson (1965), and obligated federal contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, religion, sex, or national origin” (116-117).
Charles Mitchell (2013) went on to say, “by not promoting the more successful White employees, was this an act of illegal disparate treatment under Title VII (p. 43)? The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal disparate treatment. Assisting the U.S. Supreme Court in their ruling is the established Uniform Guidelines on Employment Selection Procedures (UGESP). The guidelines state, when an employer determines that adverse impact was evident in its testing process, they shall (1) valid the procedures (test), (2) confirm the linkage to its job, (3) consider alternative testing procedures (Mitchell, p. 45).
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Beverly Daniel Tatum is a very talented writer who wrote a book “Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria”. She has worked on the racial distinctiveness development and trials with having expressive dialogues on race. The author uses practical examples from her life to engage the reader in book. She talk about discussion she had with her children about racism as well as teaching activities she had used to involve her college students in identifying, accepting and embracing their racial identity.
Additional Assignment 7 Segregation has come a long way since the days of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. Shelby Steele addresses the minorities and their disapproval of benefits in his essay “The New Sovereignty”. Modern day blacks, Hispanics, women, and other minorities receive special grants and privileges from the government. Those minorities still believe that their original rights that where fought for decades ago, and the sacrifices made them eligible for benefits. Steele’s essay is an eye opener to those minorities who do not earn what they receive and how working equally will promote the standards of the modern way of life.
The book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? addresses the topics of racial identity, racism, and the phenomenon of self-segregation. This book is written by Beverly Daniel Tatum, a psychologist who has given presentations on “Talking to Children about Race”, “Interrupting the Cycle of Oppression”, and “Understanding Racial Identity Development”. Tatum wrote this book in hope that with the right education and willingness to understand that soon our world could change. Tantum defines racism as “a system of advantage based on race” (Tatum, 1997,pg. 22), after defining racism Tantum discusses how racism by her definition only applies to Whites.
1954, was a year that brought African Americans one step closer to claiming their rights. The event critical to sparking the civil rights along with other events is the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) case. Linda Brown, an African American minority, that of which was denied acceptance into Topeka’s all-white schools. Her father, Oliver Brown filed a lawsuit against the Board. In his lawsuit, Brown stated that the schools for minorities were unequal to the white schools.
The Civil Rights Act led to Affirmative actions in which it ensured that victims of past discrimination would have an advantage in finding jobs, job promotions, and special consideration for admission to college and universities (Mullane, 1993, p. 237). However,
The Equal Opportunity Act of 1964 was the most progressive act since the reconstruction. Although not intentionally, many blacks were intimidated after winning these new rights. They were intimidated not to go to the workplace, voting, or schools. In all, the law did succeed in it’s plan to integrate and eliminate segregations. It succeeded because it was a law that finally went in favor of the ones fighting for equality.
RESEARCH PAPER Affirmative action is a set of governmental policies which tend to give privileges to minorities who suffered from discrimination in the past by providing them with access to educational and employment opportunities. First nuanced by Franklin Roosevelt with war-related work, Affirmative action only became an executive order (10925) in 1961 under John F. Kennedy to ensure that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin, to which was later on added sex by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 (11246). From that day till now affirmative action has been a controversial issue in America, with some who find it fair and some other who consider it as a reverse discrimination.
The Supreme Court has not offered an opinion on affirmative action in higher education since its 1978 ruling in Regents of the Univ. Of California v. Bakke. In that determination, the Supreme Courts Justice Powell argued that a university could take race into account as one among a number of factors in student admissions for the purposed of achieving student body diversity. Since the time of this ruling, affirmative action programs with regard to student admissions, financial assistance, and even faculty employment have been founded mainly on achieving diversity. Since the Bakke decision, affirmative action has been an increasingly contentious issue between those in favor of its employment and those opposed to it.
It is exactly that mindset, she argues, that creates so many boundaries and limits for minorities. She believes that unconscious bias, or explicit prejudice, leads to a detrimental lack of diversity in the workforce. (Abdel-Magied, 1:37) The unconscious bias that we all have, she says, is harmful to society because there are people who are just as qualified to be in certain positions, but are sometimes held back merely because of race, religion, disability, class, or
Affirmative Action is any measure, beyond simple termination of a discriminatory practice, that permits the consideration of race, national origin, sex, or disability, along with other criteria, and which is adopted to provide opportunities to a class of qualified individuals who have either historically or actually been denied those opportunities and/or to prevent the recurrence of discrimination in the future. One reason I support Affirmative Action is because it is only right to treat everyone with equality. Another reason is because, as a citizen of the United States of America, I have the right to be treated fairly just as well as anybody
As far as morality and justice are concerned, if a school or business or government declines to practice affirmative action, that’s okay” – says the
This is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity––not legal equity but human ability––not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result” (Garrison-Wade & Lewis, 2003). That same year, President Johnson signed an executive order mandating government contractors “take affirmative action” in