but nothing changed overnight (Dovidio 60). Adults remember water fountains being labeled white and colored, they never sat next to members of another race in a movie theater or a restaurant. Even after the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 was passed, during the climax of the civil rights movement, most blacks were still confined to servile and undesirable jobs. They worked as unskilled laborers and most black women worked as low-level service maids. The continuous series of presidential orders, policies, and court decisions were not enough to give blacks a fair start after years of enslavement (Steinburg 17).During a ceremony at Howard University in June 1965, President Lyndon Johnson stressed that freedom is not enough by explaining, You cannot take a person who for years has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him to the starting line and say You are free to compete with the others and still justly believe that you have been completely fair (Steinburg 18). It is societys duty to reconstruct the situation so that fairness will prevail; this can be done through affirmative action.There are concerns in all ethnic categories about the times when affirmative action doesnt work. There are times when employers treat a flexible goal as a quota, but affirmative action does not include quotas. Quotas, in reference to affirmative action, would be setting a certain number of each ethnic or gender category that is to receive a job or college admission. The US Supreme Court outlawed setting fixed quotas for hiring and school enrollment during the Bakke decision in 1978 (Affirmative Action 1). Some employers may give opportunities to people who are unqualified instead of to those who deserve it, but affirmative action does not select or reject employees without regard to merit (Samuelson 53). These concerns are real, but not legal and not part of affirmative action. When the administration finds these kinds of illegal cases, they wil...
