I have a dream

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

For one final tournament, I am debating Public Forum. And much to my chagrin, the topic is as follows.

Resolved: Affirmative Action to promote equal opportunity in the United States is justified.

Let's just get something straight at the get-go.

Affirmative Action: A policy or program providing advantages for people of a minority group who are seen to have traditionally been discriminated against, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society through preferential access to education, employment, health care, and social welfare (Princeton)

Equal opportunity: the right to equivalent opportunities for employment regardless of race or color or sex or national origin. (Princeton)

Look it up. These are legitimate definitions, and as you can see, they are in complete contradiction with each other. How can you be fair and balanced in employment giving preferential treatment to a certain group of people?

Oh. Hah. Right. You can't.

Affirmative action was introduced to end racism, but it’s actually serving to extend it. Thus, the original intent of the program is clearly not working, and we need to look to other options, because current options aren’t doing enough to promote equality.

One option may be extended off of popular Comedy Central parody news show host Stephen Colbert’s catch phrase. “I don’t see race. I am colorblind to race.”

According to Syracuse University, affirmative actions programs “are significant barriers to the establishment of a racially-blind meritocratic society. Justice for all requires the end of affirmative action.” Until we understand that affirmative action is just as racist as poll taxing and the court ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson, we cannot achieve the ambitious race-less viewpoint of Stephen Colbert.

And just to clear up any logical fallacies, affirmative action, while also being racist, doesn't actually help the minorities it was created for. According to Stanford Magazine, “Take, for instance, the claim that racial preferences help the "disadvantaged." In reality, as the Hoover Institution's Thomas Sowell has observed, preferences primarily benefit minority applicants from middle- and upper-class backgrounds. At the same time, because admissions are a zero-sum game, preferences hurt poor whites and even many Asians (who meet admissions standards in disproportionate numbers). If preferences were truly meant to remedy disadvantage, they would be given on the basis of disadvantage, not on the basis of race.”