10-24-16

Dear Mr. or Mrs. President,

As a result of your recent appointment, I am certain you are quite busy. However, I appreciate the precious moments of your time spent to read this letter. Amongst the many political platforms being debated, one particular issue stands out. It is the controversy of whether or not companies should be legally obligated to hire women and minorities. It has been long debated over whether minorities and women are underrepresented in the workforce, and many companies have affirmative actions plans to combat this discrimination. However, with affirmative action plans, the companies and hiring heads may instead end up contributing to reverse racism, which as i’m sure you are aware, is discrimination in hiring due to the urge to fill a racial quota, and contributes to the regression of the idea that everyone is created equal - and instead draws more attention to race.

I do recognize that there are some pros to having a diverse workforce, such as how having individuals from various backgrounds grants for more creative, fresh ideas. One idea though is that companies should be legally obligated to hire women and minorities because of the lack of these groups in certain job occupations. One could also argue that there is the need to reinforce anti-discrimination and equal pay requirements. These ideas all have great points. However, overall the cons would outweigh the pros.

A major con is reverse racism. The majority is discriminated against in favor of those previously discriminated against. This can be shown when companies implement affirmative action plans, which are plans meant to help diversify a workplace. In trying to fulfill a certain quota of minorities, employers may overlook better qualified applicants, thus possibly creating for large overturns later if the applicant doesn’t work out.

Another downfall of the affirmative action plan: it draws attention to race. The system attempts to make up for past regressions by creating a fair system. However, it’s simply not possible to create a completely diverse workplace without there being consideration into a potential candidate’s race, beforehand. Moreover, consideration into their race would be a type of discrimination, despite the good intentions.

By attempting to create a more diverse workforce, affirmative action plans discriminates against those who aren’t minorities. With it, society takes a large leap backwards. The need for diversity makes it so race is a more important factor than actual qualifications in some instances. Systems such as the affirmative action plan, reflect a vision of the type of inequalities in race and gender that would occur if companies were made to hire more women and minorities by law. So, while the idea is a fair one, it would regress society and the efforts put into eliminating the lines between people in terms of race or gender. So, because of these reasons, I urge you, now the President of this country, not to embark on any plans, or sign any laws that would require women and minorities to be hired by law. In avoiding a law such as that, it prevents further discrimination, and inequity in the workforce.

Sincerely,

A concerned individual