Is affirmative action the counterpart to equality?

Affirmative Action was just a ploy to put people of color into positions to meet a quota set by the government.

Whew!!!  That even hurt my heart to type.  Now that I have your attention, let me clarify.  I do not believe that statement, but there are some people who do believe it. Let’s look at the history of affirmative action and what it means now. 

I recently had a conversation with someone we will call “Jimmy.”  Now, let me pause and set the stage.  Jimmy is a white male in his late 50’s or early 60’s.  He has had government positions for over 30 years.  He is now self-employed helping organizations and individuals see things from a different perspective while helping them improve both their leaders and their businesses.  Jimmy and I were talking about what diversity, equity, and inclusion should look like in an organization.  I have asked his input on several occasions because his background is so different from mine.

As we talked and “affirmative action” was mentioned, I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  From his perspective, affirmative action and activities like it were a way to put people of color into positions for an organization to be able to say, “we have a diverse workforce.”  I realized the more we talked, the more angst I was feeling in my gut. 

So what was my angst about?  It was about differing perspectives when discussing how to actively improve diversity in the workforce. 

Let’s first look at the definition of affirmative action from Britannica.  “An effort in the United States to improve employment or education opportunities for members of minority groups and for women.  It began…to remedy the effects of long-standing discrimination.”

From Jimmy’s perspective, affirmative action did not totally make sense.  From MY perspective, it made, and still makes perfect sense.  Having many times, from childhood to now, been the only person of color or the only female in the room, I have been on a quest to encourage diversity from the front door to the c-suite.

As a child, my parents instilled in us, “you will have to work twice as hard to go half as far.”  Interestingly enough, we still excelled and were not allowed to slack off.  We still encountered racism but were not allowed to use it as an excuse for not achieving our goals.  That parental foundation has given me the courage, the incentive, and the perseverance to ensure diversity is considered in every organizational decision.  Mind you, not for a “quota,” but to pull various opinions into decision-making at all levels.

One of my favorite diversity subject matter experts has a saying that I love.  “Do nothing for me without me.”  THAT to me is the very essence of not only diversity, but also includes every aspect of equity, and inclusion.  THAT my friends, is putting clarification and ACTION to the original intent of affirmative action. 

How can you use your influence to change YOUR department in a manner that helps the intent of affirmative action to be realized?  I would love to hear your ideas.