Affirmative Action: Arcane or Required

Affirmative Action had it time in the sun and now it is time for American’s to be judged by their merits and not by their sex, creed, or sexual orientation. In New Haven, Connecticut a group of firefighters saw their hopes for promotion scuttled because the test they took resulted in no minorities eligible for promotion. The Supreme Court will hear the case of reverse discrimination brought forth by 20 New Haven firefighters (19 white and 1 Hispanic).

Chief Justice John Roberts posed the question to Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler that if the results had been reversed “can you assure me that the government’s position would be the same?” Although Kneedler retorted with “Yes”; I highly doubt it. Affirmative Action, as stated above, was needed and now is no longer required. With the historic election of the first black President, are we, as a society, still staying that minorities are second class citizens and are in need of protection?

It is time for the Supreme Court and others to stop playing politics with Affirmative Action and promote those based on merit. To use the firefighter test as an example, as long as the test is not biased then the results should never be questioned. The trouble with New Haven is they were worried that minorities would sue because no blacks were considered for promotion based on the test scores.

The new minority on the 21st Century is the white heterosexual male. It is time for America to grow up and to judge/promote people on their merit. Affirmative Action is an arcane program. The sad thing about the New Haven firefighter case is that the future hangs in the fate of justices that wield their political power versus the legal candor.