World

Reverse discrimination suits flourish

by generaldecay | May 3, 2009 at 01:31 pm

80 views | 0 Recommendations | 1 comment

The issue of reverse discrimination first reached the nation's highest court in the 1970s, when a student with good grades named Allan Bakke accused a University of California medical school of twice denying him admission because he was white.

Reverse discrimination (sometimes called "reverse racism") is, in its simplest form, the practice of favoring members of a historically disadvantaged group at the expense of members of a historically advantaged group.

I'm divided on the idea of 'reverse discrimination'. Examples of 'reverse discrimination' include reverse sexism and reverse racism. A common argument is that power and privilege are involved in the oppression of a group (women or non-whites) and that there is, as such, no such thing as reverse sexism or reverse racism because neither women nor non-whites possess power and privilege over men and whites respectively. This stance is by no means the only one, of course.

Central to the issue of reverse discrimination and affirmative action is the following question.

Does protecting minorities discriminate against the majority?

This piece describes the increase in lawsuits in the US which are focused on reverse discrimination.

More than 30 years, and scores of lawsuits later, the question remains unanswered. Meanwhile, more Americans came to believe that affirmation action is no longer necessary, and that instead of leveling the playfield for minorities, it unfairly punishes whites. Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case filed by white firefighters who claimed they were denied promotion because of the color of their skin.