Affirmative action unnecessary, improper

Last week the United States Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in Meredith v. Jefferson County Board and Community Schools v. Seattle School District. The court’s ruling limits the use of race in assigning students to public schools. The purpose of affirmative action in the United States was to create government programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. There is no question that past societal discrimination occurred in the United States, and perhaps the only appropriate remedy at the time was affirmative action. However, this policy has outlived its purpose. \nAnywhere you look in the United States, minorities are well-represented. Besides, there is a limit to punishing people for the sins of their forefathers. It is unfair to award preference based on race when all other qualifications are equal. This not only undermines the means to determining the best candidates but also serves to de-legitimize the accomplishments of someone who was given preference based on race. Those opposed to affirmative action look to section one of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States:\n“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”\nThe minorities of this country have been given enough time to allow for the “cream to rise to the top” and now must take their equal position alongside of the majority. The time is long overdue to stop rewarding underachieving individuals because of their race and start rewarding overachieving individuals because of their accomplishments. To do otherwise would mean denying the very principles set forth in the Fourteenth Amendment.