Affirmative Action

[Hina Muqadas]

Affirmative action is a policy to increase the opportunities provided to underrepresented parts of society.

[Agnes]

In America, [Affirmative Action] was a product of the Great Society policies of President Lyndon [Baines] Johnson. It was first codified into law under a series of Executive Orders (not approved by Congress, in other words), which stated that munitions manufacturers including private firms doing business with the federal government should take [affirmative action] in hiring minorities - at the time defined almost solely as African Americans.
As the Vietnam War dragged on under President Richard Milhous Nixon, Affirmative Action became part of a wider government program to bribe inner city blacks to get with the program and support their government. Of course, Affirmative Action, welfare (started under FDR in the 1930s) and other government handouts did nothing to increase the love that black people had for the federal government.
By 1978 liberal activism was under attack. President Jimmy Carter had expanded Johnsons liberal social programs to their ultimate extreme, and white, middle class Americans began to look toward the Republican Party and their [rising star], Ronald Reagan, for new political direction. That same year, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against [quotas] for the first time in the landmark California Board of [Regents] vs. Allan [Bakke] decision. However, Affirmative Action was far from dead and buried.
Today Affirmative Action remains rooted in American policy, although most Americans including many African-Americans find Affirmative Action [outmoded] for the much less racist atmosphere of the 21st Century.
Inexplicably Affirmative Action still exists, even after the election of Barack Obama.

[Lizzy Liz]

The term [affirmative action] comes from legislation like the [Equal Opportunity] Act which basically says that minorities (including the disabled and war [vets]) cannot be discriminated against for employment or enrollment in college.
Thats it.

[Little_Girl]

A [life-line] for racists who dont approve of [societal] [integration], especially in what has historically remained white-people sports in recent decades (i.e. hockey, gymnastics).

[Jason Yan]

A program in place to attempt to reverse 500 years of [mediocre white] men stealing [labor], ideas and jobs from women and minorities worldwide. It also attempts to [counteract] the networks that kept really stupid, but white men in power.

[Justin Bieber]

If a government or an organization takes affirmative action, it gives preference to women, black people, or other groups that are often treated unfairly, when it is choosing people for a job.