Affirmative Action Essays (2754 words) - Social Inequality

Affirmative Action Matchmaker.com: Sign up now for a free trial. Date Smarter! Affirmative Action Affirmative action works. There are thousands of examples of situations where people of color, white women, and working class women and men of all races who were previously excluded from jobs or educational opportunities, or were denied opportunities once admitted, have gained access through affirmative action. When these policies received executive branch and judicial support, vast numbers of people of color, white women and men have gained access they would not otherwise have had. These gains have led to very real changes. Affirmative action programs have not eliminated racism, nor have they always been implemented without problems. However, there would be no struggle to roll back the gains achieved if affirmative action policies were ineffective. The implementation of affirmative action was America's first honest attempt at solving a problem, it had previously chosen to ignore. In a variety of areas, from the quality of health care to the rate of employment, blacks still remain far behind whites. Their representation in the more prestigious professions is still almost insignificant. Comparable imbalances exist for other racial and ethnic minorities as well as for women. Yet, to truly understand the importance of affirmative action, one must look at America's past discrimination to see why, at this point in history, we must become more "color conscious". History Of Discrimination In America: Events Leading To Affirmative Action. The Declaration of Independence asserts that "all men are created equal." Yet America is scarred by a long history of legally imposed inequality. Snatched from their native land, transported thousands of miles-in a nightmare of disease and death-and sold into slavery, blacks in America were reduced to the legal status of farm animals. A Supreme Court opinion, Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), made this official by classifying slaves as a species of "private property." Even after slavery was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865, American blacks, other minorities, and women continued to be deprived of some of the most elementary right of citizenship. During the Reconstruction, after the end of the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868, making blacks citizens and promised them the "equal protection of the laws." In 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment was passed, which gave blacks the right to vote. Congress also passed a number of civil rights laws barring discrimination against blacks in hotels, theaters, and other places. However, the South reacted by passing the "Black Codes, " which severely limited the rights of the newly freed slaves, preventing them in most states from testifying in courts against whites, limiting their opportunities to find work, and generally assigning them to the status of second or third class citizen. White vigilante groups like the Klu Klux Klan began to appear, by murdering and terrorizing blacks who tried to exercise their new rights. "Legal" ways were also found for circumventing the new laws; these included "grandfather clauses", poll taxes, white only primary elections, and constant social discrimination against and intimidation of blacks, who were excluded form education and from any job except the most menial. In 1883, the Supreme Court declared a key civil rights statute, one that prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, unconstitutional. And in 1896, Plessy v. Ferguson (163 U.S. 537 [1896]), the Court declared that the state of Louisiana had the right to segregate their races in every public facility. Thus began the heyday of "Jim Crow" legislation. In Justice John Marshall Harlan's lone dissent, he realized it was a mockery. He wrote, " We boast of the freedom enjoyed by our peoples above all other peoples. But it is difficult to reconcile that boast with a state of the law which, practically, puts a brand of servitude and degregation upon a large class of our fellow citizens, our equals before the law. This thin disguise of 'equal' accommodations for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead anyone, or atone for the wrong this day done." Not until sixty years later, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (347 U.S. 483 [1954]), was Plessy overturned. Chief Justice earl Warren declared the unanimous opinion of the court by saying: "We cannot turn the clock back to 1868, when the Amendment was adopted, or even to 1896, when Plessy v. Ferguson was written." In today's world, "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." This decision sparked racial tensions all across America. in 1957, President Eisenhower had to call federal troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, after the state's governor forcibly barred black children from entering white schools. In 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested and fined, for not moving to the back

Learn English Essays

Learn English Essays Learn English Essay Learn English Essay A place where a child grows up is very important as it might have a great influence on it when it become older. Some people would agree that growing up in the countyside might be better for children as it is much healthier: the air is clean and the food is fresh. However, some people think it is better for a child to grow up in a big city as it makes a child more confident person and provides a child with better education. So, there are many differences between raising children in a big city to a mall town. Such as: the infrastructure, education and the health. First of all, the infrastructure in big city is much better than in the countryside. There are many highways and long, big bridges which make transportation ester. With so may transport means such as taxi, bus it is very easy for you to go anywhere at any time. Big schools, big hospitals equiped with modern facilities make the study and treating disease more effective. Living in big cities, children have good opportunities to learn n good schools and examine in good hospitals. Secondly, in a countryside a child do not really have a chance to get a good education. All qualified teachers and professors live and work in big cities because of better prospectives and Job opportunities. If children grow up in a countryside they might never be able to get a good education and thus they will have less chances to get a qualified Job in future. For example I have got a friend who grew up in the countryside and moved to HCM fter graduating from a countryside University. He had to enter University again because nobody was willing to accept his diploma. Good education may provide a person with a good qualified Job which is very important for personal development of any person. Finally, as a result of these pollutions, the health of most children in city is weak which leads to the various kinds of illnesses. Also crime and different kinds of accidents are making their life in the cities very dangerous , while the life in the ountryside is quiet and peaceful. Moreover, in the big cities it is very hard to find the natural meals, such as milk, without any chemical additions. In this way children who live outside of the big cities are luckier, as they have more opportunities to eat healthy and natural food. In conclusion, choosing the place where a child grows up is very important. And there are many differences between raising children in a big city to a small town. Such as: the infrastructure, education and the health.

Evolution of International Monetary System Essay

Evolution of International Monetary System - Essay Example Moreover, there was no mechanism to consolidate an orderly return to inflation-adjusted exchange rates. â€Å"When countries, such as the United Kingdom in 1925, tried to return to the gold standard at overvalued parities, they were forced to endure painful deflation of wages and prices in order to restore competitiveness† (Check against Delivery, 2009). â€Å"During the Great Depression, the united states stay with strict norms of the gold-exchange standard, but gradually could not use monetary policy to offset the economic contraction† (Eichengreen & Franklin, 1992). Bretton Woods: In the 1940s, British and American policy makers decided to work jointly to design a new post war international monetary system, which would combine the benefits of a liberal international system along with the freedom for government to pursue domestic policies aimed at promoting social well being and employment to all. â€Å"The principal architects of the new system, John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White, created a plan which was endorsed by the 42 countries attending the 1944 Bretton Woods conference. The plan involved nations agreeing to a system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates where the currencies were pegged against the dollar, with the dollar itself convertible into gold. So in effect this was gold – dollar exchange standard† (International Monetary Systems, 2010). The main feature of Bretton Woods’s system was: Simplicity and adjustability to the rates as well as the exchange rates was a real reflection of the instability of inter-war period. â€Å"It was more administered than market-based; also exchange rates adjustment was... This essay presents a comprehensive review of the stages of the development of the international monetary systems. Possible reform measures to make the monetary system more fair and stable are discussed in the paper. International monetary systems are sets of internationally agreed rules, conventions and supporting institutions that facilitate international trade, cross boarder investment and basically the reallocation of capital between different nations. Over the past century, different international monetary regimes have struggled to adjust to structural changes, including the integration of emerging economies into the global economy. Systemic countries failed to adapt domestic policies in a manner consistent with the monetary system of the day. Adjustment was delayed, vulnerabilities grew, and the reckoning was disruptive for all. All the developing as well as the developed economies, should accept their responsibilities for open, strong and effective management of International Monetary System. Main function would be the timely recognition of any negative effects regarding a particular monetary decision on global economies and financial systems, as well as working to mitigate those before it amplifies adverse dynamics. So countries adopting a new policy should make sure that they submit it for peer review internally and then have the IMF do an external review Globalized economy with market-based exchange rates and effective utilization of reserves will lead to proper and harmonious external balance over time.