Clinton, Bill. "Clinton: Mend, Don't End, Affirmative Action." CQ (July 22, 1995), 2206-2207.In some areas, the situation is particularly poor. The battle in California has been framed by those opposing affirmative action as a case of restoring fairness. Black entrepreneurs in California fear that they will not be able to continue to exist if California outlaws affirmative action in next year's election. The claims that affirmative action has been unfair to whites does not ring true given that the program in California has failed to meet even modest goals, meaning not that many blacks are being helped, certainly not so many as to be taking places from whites ("The Golden State War" 134). In a city like Los Angeles, blacks have been excluded from all types of employment opportunity ("The L.A. Reality" 143-144). Advances have been made, of course. In 1989, nearly 5 percent of all managers were black, and this was a fivefold increase since 1966 and a 30 percent increase since 1978. At the same time, nearly 97 percent of senior executives in the biggest U.S. companies are white. Blacks make up 12.7 percent of the private-sector workforce, but only 5 percent of all professionals are black. A number of reasons are noted for this, including the longstanding old-boy network in business and a slowing of progress through affirmative action ("Race in the Workplace" 53-54). Steele, S. "Affirmative action hurts minorities." In Racism in America: Opposing Viewpoints, D.L. Bender and B. Leone (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1991). 135-138. Other critics of these programs accept that they were once necessary but find that they no longer are. They believe that while affirmative action may have been a good idea and a necessary action to redress past grievances, it has accomplished its goal and should be abandoned because now it is becoming counter-productive. This idea is expressed in Congress, as when Jesse Helms asked on the Senate floor in March 1995, "Isn't |
