Affirmative Action and Hosea Martin Essay - 688 Words

Affirmative Action and Hosea Martin Hosea Martins article on affirmative action aims to defend the practice of hiring people not just on their qualifications but by their race as well. He does so by using his own experience in the work place along with some personal, unsupported opinions of his own regarding hiring practices and education. Martin also attempts to defend affirmative action programs as being fair and non-discriminatory by emphasizing that every single one of us...had been hired for reasons beyond our being able to do our jobs. (Martin qtd. in Hicks, 219). Martin begins by trying to explain how no one is actually hired on their qualifications in this meritocracy. Everyone has an unfair†¦show more content†¦He asserted that the officer did not receive a job on the basis of his qualifications but on the fact that he belonged to a certain fraternity. The implication here is that there was something wrong or even laughable about hiring him because ...he was a member of Phi-something fraternity.(220). Many people join fraternities and sororities not to engage in keg parties every Friday night, but to be able to network after graduating from college. There are also many fraternities that are academically based such a Phi Theta Kappa here at BCC, of which I am a member. Organizations such as this look good on a transcript and sometimes are even the deciding factor in admission to graduate school. To compare a persons race or circumstance of birth to being an active and voluntary member of an organization is patently absurd. Using this experience as a premise for argument is even more so. Lastly, Martin touches on the subject of education. In his article he presents only one statistic,~ the percentage of minorities enrolled in medical school in 1980 (10%) as compared to 1960 (5%). These statistics do not however show the percentage of those who actually graduate. It is a proven fact that students who are not properly prepared for postsecondary education and are admitted on the basis of race or gender do not fare as well as truly qualified white students. Robert M. ONeil,Show MoreRelatedLook How Far We ve Come : Dr. Martin Luther King1205 Words   |  5 PagesLook how far we’ve come†¦ Dr. Martin Luther King is most well known for his ‘I have a Dream speech’ well I too would one day like to live in the land of the free, free from persecution or discrimination due to race, gender, socioeconomic status or any other reasons. For my term paper I’ve chosen to reflect on two films â€Å"Dear White People† and â€Å"Selma† as well as ponder the state of race relations in the US currently in light of the protests and evident police brutality rampant across the nation.