In terms of getting the things they need, yes. If you give no additional "perks" to either side, the majority ends up winning anyway because being white comes with white privilege, which many people aren't even aware that they have. Do you think that without diversity quotas a racist business owner would hire minorities at all? Of course not, they'd fill all those spots with white people and look over all of the perfectly qualified people of color.
Just like the parking lot would be full of able-bodied people people taking all of the best spots unless facilities are built to accommodate people with a handicap.
But if you're not aware of your privilege, you don't notice this at all. Everything is fine for you so why should you? You don't see anyone struggling or facing hardship around you. On the surface, it looks like everyone gets the same opportunities and consideration. Except they don't. And until you're aware of all the little ways other people are biased to favor you instead of minorities, you won't understand why these opportunities are necessary.
Those things may or may not be true, or might happen some places much more than others. But, let's not put a band-aid on a bullet wound, here. We need to attack the problem, culturally, and perhaps in other ways. It seems fair to me and several other posters here that race and gender shouldn't even be required on a job application to begin with if they won't affect the position being considered. That might be a problem if you have to go to an in-person interview with a racist...but the current system isn't really a great solution. If a business owner is that rabidly racist he's probably going to make working there pretty terrible for them even if they are hired. I don't think that so many people, especially business owners, are discriminating against people of other races or the opposite sex that a diversity quota is necessary. Certainly not any place I've lived.
IIN I'm Tired of 'Equal Opportunity' and Reverse Discrimination
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In terms of getting the things they need, yes. If you give no additional "perks" to either side, the majority ends up winning anyway because being white comes with white privilege, which many people aren't even aware that they have. Do you think that without diversity quotas a racist business owner would hire minorities at all? Of course not, they'd fill all those spots with white people and look over all of the perfectly qualified people of color.
Just like the parking lot would be full of able-bodied people people taking all of the best spots unless facilities are built to accommodate people with a handicap.
But if you're not aware of your privilege, you don't notice this at all. Everything is fine for you so why should you? You don't see anyone struggling or facing hardship around you. On the surface, it looks like everyone gets the same opportunities and consideration. Except they don't. And until you're aware of all the little ways other people are biased to favor you instead of minorities, you won't understand why these opportunities are necessary.
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Those things may or may not be true, or might happen some places much more than others. But, let's not put a band-aid on a bullet wound, here. We need to attack the problem, culturally, and perhaps in other ways. It seems fair to me and several other posters here that race and gender shouldn't even be required on a job application to begin with if they won't affect the position being considered. That might be a problem if you have to go to an in-person interview with a racist...but the current system isn't really a great solution. If a business owner is that rabidly racist he's probably going to make working there pretty terrible for them even if they are hired. I don't think that so many people, especially business owners, are discriminating against people of other races or the opposite sex that a diversity quota is necessary. Certainly not any place I've lived.