No, it's not racist. It's not discriminating
against a race or age or gender to block them out of a company or school. Most companies and schools are primarily white, anyway.
It was a law passed to try to prevent companies and schools from
continuing to block blacks and other minorities from companies and schools. It doesn't force companies to hire anyone. If a company is over a certain size, or works w/the fed govt, it merely requires a report to show data about people who have applied, who the co. hired, and certain stats about education and skills of each applicant, so the govt can see that the company didn't intentionally discriminate against minorities or certain ages or females. The report is done with special software that spits out the results, so the govt doesn't have to read the data; the software does the calculations.
If a company or school chooses to hire or admit unqualified minorities, that's their decision. Aff. action does not require them to hire anyone not qualified, or even a qualified minority over a white person.
The law exists because companies and schools did block minorities from being hired or admitted in the past. After integration was required, some companies and of course schools refused to obey the law of integration. So quotas were installed, to force integration, since the institutions, particularly in the south, weren't following the law. Then it was changed to this affirmative action plan.
I think the quotas and the aff. action plan were instrumental in integrating the business and school worlds. But at this stage of the game, i think they've accomplished what they were trying to do. These were not racist laws, though, even though it resulted in companies and schools
looking at minority status of applicants as one data to consider.
Racism: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
The affirmative action plan is not racism, since it wasn't prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that the minority is superior.
It's sad that these plans had to be passed, but they did, because of what our businesses and schools were continuing to do to minorities...block them from good jobs and schools because of their minority.
I knew of an engineering company that wouldn't hire any female, period. I worked at a law firm where a black temp secretary came in to work at our all white firm and an attorney stood behind her and made big lips faces to make fun of her. I've had men tell me that a man should get a job over a woman because he deserved it more and likely had a family to support. I've had bosses admit that they paid women less because they're women.
It's a better country because of affirmative action. But I think the work force and schools are integrated now, that I know of. But if businesses and schools revert to a lack of diversity, the plan may need to be put in place again.