Affirmative Action: Not a Four Letter Word!

Affirmative action, a set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The actual phrase "affirmative action" was first used in President John F. Kennedy's 1961 Executive Order 10925 which requires federal contractors 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." The same language was later used in Lyndon Johnson's 1965 Executive Order 11246. In 1967, Johnson expanded the Executive Order to include affirmative action requirements to benefit women. -- National Organization for Women

I am so sick of hearing people spit out the words "Affirmative Action". Especially women! Because if you don't think we are where we are today because of "Affirmative Action" please go back and do some research.

I spent a portion my career in HR and I can assure you, without Affirmative Action a lot of women, would still be sitting in the back of the Employment Bus and it would not make a difference, how well educated or qualified they were. Gender, not just your skin Color was reason enough to deny you a job or a promotion and "Affirmative Action" was the leveling tool that changed that.

I have seen what Affirmative Action has brought about. And it is far from the negative hype The Far Right promotes.

I was young mother, going to college and working part-time as a waitress for a major motel chain in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They hired me without any experience and my trainer was a middle aged Afro-American Woman. She was the best waitress I had ever seen before and to this day. The customers loved her and the management knew they had a gem. She must have coined the phrase "The Customer is King".

She and I would chat on our breaks, (when she took one) and I was surprised to find out that she had only been doing the job for about a year even though she had been there over twenty. She had spent those years in the kitchen, not serving the clientele because for some strange reasons that was a designated "White" job. I won't go into how racist America still was at that time. Even though this was America's Bi-Centennial year many states were years behind enforcing the equal opportunity laws in place . Anyone my age I am sure is quite aware of that and if you are younger maybe you learned about it in school, if not educate yourself, we should know about all of our history, maybe we won't be destined to repeat it.

Now some might think "big deal" she moved up to a waitress job! However, it was a big deal for her. With tips it doubled her salary and helped send her son to college. The only reason she got out of that Kitchen and got that job was because of Affirmative Action. I got it by walking in the door.

My first personal experience with Affirmative Action was a job as a Store Manager for a Discount Chain. I feel no shame that I used my Gender to get a foot up. I was the most qualified for the job I applied for. It was a promotion from Assistant Manager. They admitted I was the most qualified and openly said they had hesitations because I was a woman. The other 13 store managers were men.

I surprised them because, I did not go away quietly and cry in a corner and I also did not run and tell anyone. I went into battle armed with facts and the tenacity of someone young and determined and the fact was they were breaking the law and I knew it and so did they and I informed them I would not give up. I won that round but still wound up making the coffee at the Managers Meetings. You win some you lose some.

Later in my job as an HR Specialist for a major retailer I was responsible for doing the Affirmative Action Reports and to also make sure our store followed the Governmental Guidelines in place. In the eight years I was there I saw the impact it made and the opportunities it provided for many and Women especially reaped the benefits.

Ladies, if you think the world is now balanced when it comes to being treated fairly because of Race or Gender it may surprise you to know it is not so. People are still discriminated against and until Human beings can play fair and we will need leveling tools. Affirmative Action is one and only opens doors; we have to walk through them ourselves.

I wrote this not to try to convince anyone to change their mind, but I do invite you to do some research on this issue (and the many others facing us during this turbulent time) before making up your mind to support those who want to throw these policies out, because we may be throwing out the baby with the bath water.