Discrimination

Discrimination is an element in society that occurs to people from all walks of life. There are a variety of types of discrimination, and to prevent personal prejudices from affecting the quality of life for persons who are subjected to this behavior, there have been laws enacted to protect the civil rights of individuals.

"The word discrimination comes from the Latin "discriminare", which means to "distinguish between". To discriminate socially is to make a distinction between people on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit. Examples of social discrimination include racial, religious, sexual, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic, height-related, and age-related discrimination. Whether a given example of discrimination is positive or negative is a subjective judgment (i.e., in the eye of the beholder).http:/ /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrim ination"

In the following pages I intend to focus on a significant civil rights issue; affirmative action. The government has intervened to protect civil liberties in conjunction with agencies in the private sector to help enforce the protection of citizens. Common problems arise in these areas such as employment, education and housing discrimination.

Affirmative action is best described as "The general designation for a wide range of programs designed to overcome the effects of past discrimination and to provide equal opportunity for historically discriminated against groups, especially African Americans and women. (www.civilrights.org)" First introduced by President Johnson in 1965, it was designed to safeguard minorities and provide the opportunity for promotions, salary increases, career advancement, school admissions, scholarships, and financial aid that had been virtually the exclusive domain of whites.

Designed as a means of protection, affirmative action began revealing flaws when establishments were now employing and accepting less qualified applicants to fulfill federal laws to meet the minimum requirements set by the government.

"Reverse discrimination became an issue, epitomized by the