Jermaine R. McCrossin
Intro to Criminal Justice
Professor Odem
Final

Should Affirmative Action be used to eliminate injustice?

I believe that Affirmative Action can be used to eliminate injustices; it all depends on how it’s used. First to speak about Affirmative Action I’d like to explain what it is, how it came about, what it’s like in other parts of the world, and how “Affirmative Action” is viewed today in society. Lastly, I’d like to explain my point of view and how I came to it. Affirmative Action refers to policies that take factors including race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group in areas of employment, education, and business usually justified as countering the effects of a history of discrimination. Affirmative action is intended to promote equal opportunity. It is often instituted in government and educational settings to ensure that minority groups within a society are included in all programs. The justification for affirmative action is that it helps to compensate for past discrimination, persecution or exploitation by the ruling class of a culture, and to address existing discrimination. The term "affirmative action" was first used in the United States. It first appeared in Executive Order 10925, which was signed by President John F. Kennedy on March 6, 1961, and it required government contractors to "not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin" as well as to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin". In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246 which required federal contractors to take "Affirmative Action" to hire