Memo on Race/Class

October 26, 2009 by Dustin
Filed under: Uncategorized 

I have spent most of the weekend and some of last week working on a memo for my class. I wanted to share the introduction with you:

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Affirmative action policies began in 1961, through Executive Order 10925 by President John F. Kennedy. In it, Kennedy called affirmed that “discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national origin is contrary to the Constitutional principles and policies of the United States.” After his assassination, President Lyndon Johnson continued and strengthened his commitment to having a diverse federal workforce. In a commencement address given at Howard University, Johnson said the following:

Men and women of all races are born with the same range of abilities. But ability is not just the product of birth. Ability is stretched or stunted by the family that you live with, and the neighborhood you live in–by the school you go to and the poverty or the richness of your surroundings. It is the product of a hundred unseen forces playing upon the little infant, the child, and finally the man.

Johnson’s statement references the social conditions that breed inequality in today’s society. While affirmative action set out by the men was focused on achieving a goal of African American success in the federal work force, much has changed since the 1960’s. An increasing number of African Americans have joined the ranks of the middle and upper class. Family structure, neighborhoods, schools, and monetary value are less likely to signify one’s race, but instead their social class. As Athens-Clarke County continues to fight to end poverty in the county, it would serve the county well to adopt an affirmative action policy based on class. While no one initiative can solve the poverty challenges the county faces, an affirmative action policy based on class could help end the cycle of poverty many in the county face.
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So far so good?

It should be noted that ACC currently have no Affirmative Action policy, either for race or class?

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Comments

4 Comments on Memo on Race/Class

  1. Eric on Mon, 26th Oct 2009 10:24 AM

    2. I feel that AA prolly works better for race than Class. As for Class, I think it better to amend the system that causes gross inequities than to perform a perpetual patch-job by bringing low classes up.

  2. Michael Quirk on Mon, 26th Oct 2009 12:22 PM

    3. I believe class should be the main reason for all affirmative action programs. Why should poor caucasians be left out. Take a trip through appalachia and then tell me class doesn’t matter.

  3. Memo on Race/Class : Georgia Liberal | Class update today on Mon, 26th Oct 2009 6:02 PM

    4. [...] one’s race, but instead their ethnic collection . … Go here to feature the rest:  Memo on Race/Class : Colony Liberal Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: and-monetary, have-joined, joined-the-ranks, less-likely, [...]

  4. Tweets that mention Memo on Race/Class : Georgia Liberal -- Topsy.com on Tue, 27th Oct 2009 8:55 AM

    5. [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jim Pacelli, GALiberal. GALiberal said: New blog post: Memo on Race/Class http://galiberal.com/?p=4371 [...]

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