Equal Opportunity for Minorities Options

[DoubleJ]

I am sure a topic like this already exists, but I really don't give a f**k. I will layout the background of the story for you and then the question.

So I am on a forum at my other forum site and I am really shocked at what I am reading. In the northeastern states, they have a practice of hiring more minorities because they have a quota to fill. Nowhere does it exist more than in my state of New Jersey. They actually have a law, that says that fire departments have to hire a certain amount of minorities every year. My beef is that there are alot of whites who feel as though the law is stupid because it can take a white guy who is very qualified and put him behind a black or hispanic guy who is less qualified like me. People are really upset over this because they think that minorities should not get special treatment just because they are minorities. They feel as though they should have to go through the same type of treatment that the whites should. Some think that it is an unfair system and should be changed. Others, like me, think that it is fair especially when the white guys who don't live in the city come in and steal jobs. I guess my question would be this, do you guys think that it is fair for not only state employers, but employers in general to hire minorities over whites even if they are less qualified?

[*paperplane*]

In most areas, racial quotas have been ruled unconstitutional.
Now, I don't think racial quotas are fair. But I do think they're justified. There are still large inequalities between races, and especially as racism still exist, affirmative action programs are needed to reach a relative level of equality. As Justice O'Connor said in a court case (that I really need to go learn more about before Tuesday), they are needed and acceptable now, but should not still be in place in a few years. At that point, affirmative action should need to be gotten rid of because either it would actually be unfair to the majority, or if things are not more equal, the measures obviously aren't working and need to be gotten rid of in favor of a new plan.