Affirmative Action is the Wrong Action The United States of America has long been a country divided by race. Hatred has pervaded its existence since its conception, and now today's society is forced to address these issues. Minorities have suffered for centuries at the hands of the white male majority as the social activities of the old war were brought to the new colonies, only to ferment and continue to impact the lives of all who lived within its borders. There is no doubt that this ongoing discrimination is a problem; however, the question arises of how to deal with it. Legislation was passed to remedy the situation, but it was apparently ineffective. Affirmative action has caused problems without achieving its purpose. The downside of affirmative action is that it is the wrong action; US society has problems, including an underlying strain of hatred, but they cannot be solved by government laws; they will be corrected when society changes how it views its members. Affirmative action was implemented with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Eastland 22). The goals of affirmative action are noble at best: in theory they would serve to end the discriminatory practices so rampant in American society. The goals were to repair or negate the effects of past discrimination, move toward diversity in both the private and public sectors, encourage representation in the workforce, and raise the economic levels of both women and minorities (Doverspike 3). affirmative action goals are what we need for this country. US society must change how it views and treats its citizens. The methods used by affirmative action, however, are not conducive to one prospect. Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 1982. Doverspike, Dennis, Mary Anne Taylor, and Winfried Arthur, Jr. Affirmative Action: A Psychological Perspective. Huntington: Nova Science Publishers, Inc, 2000.Eastland, Terry. End of affirmative action: The case for color-blind justice. New York: Harper Collins, 1996. Puddington, Arch. “Affirmative Actin Should Be Eliminated.” Affirmative action. Ed. Bruno Leone. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1996. 70-83. Rosenfeld, Michel. Affirmative action and justice: A philosophical and constitutional investigation. New Haven: Yale. 1991. Skrentny, John David. The Ironies of Affirmative Action: Politics, Culture, and Justice in America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Urofsky, Melvin I. Affirmative Action at Trial: Sex Discrimination in Johnson v. Holy. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1997.