White is the new black.

[bu villain]

There is no institutional discrimination against people that arent white in the US. Anyone that thinks there is is just making excuses for non achievers.

I agree that it is no longer institutionalized really but it certainly still exists.

We dont live in a true meritocracy, but our society is the closest this world has ever seen to one. There will ALWAYS be the hiring manager that selects the white guy, the straight guy, Harvard grad, or the cute girl over the black guy, the gay gay, the Princeton grad, or the ugly girl. Nothing will ever change about those things no matter what law is passed. In some arenas of life, your family name alone will get you further in life than your education or other identifying factor will.

Absolutely true but just because we are better than ever, doesn't mean there is no reason to stop fighting injustice. You are right there will always be a certain amount of unwarranted discrimination. The question is, have we reached that minimum yet or not. Intelligent people can disagree because this is not a simple question to answer.

So you do think its a crutch? It is a blunt instrument and it does lead to racial tension. I know someone who is a midlevel executive in a large firm and he is black. According to him, he had less education and went to a lower tier school than most of the people that interned and the ones that hired in with him. He was always wondering if he only got the job because of his race. Over the last decade he has moved up quite a ways and earned the respect he gets, but early on every time he screwed up he got a lot of static about being the AA quota for the year. He would tell you himself, he just might have been. He was not as qualified as others that he interned with that were not offered a full time position.

I agree it CAN be a crutch but isn't always. Maybe he got the job because of his race. Maybe another guy at another firm didn't get a job because of his race. Affirmative action helps to correct the latter situation but can have the downside of puttin an unqualified person in a position too. Therefore, affirmative action is not categorically a crutch. It depends on the circumstances. It is a blunt instrument because it may help the problem in aggregate but will be the wrong thing in some situations.