Le, C.N. "Where Affirmative Action Stands Today". 4 May 2009. The Society Pages. Web. 20 Mar 2012. Retrieved from http://thesocietypages.org/colorline/2009/05/04/where-affirmative-action-stands-today/
This article takes a clear stance that "despite Barack Obama's election as President, affirmative action remains one of the most controversial and divisive issues in American society today." While some think this is a problem of the past, this article places affirmative action's emphasis on today's times and even goes as far by saying that this issue will not be resolved in (the author's) lifetime. Furthermore, Le references an article by MSNBC that notions how affirmative action is acted on too much in a case to case manner as opposed to having clearly defined laws. He goes on by reiterating that everyone is entitled to protection from racial discrimination, including whites. Finally, Le argues against the claim that Blacks and Latino's are paid significantly less than whites for the same job with the same educational background by stating that Whites are likely to have seniority because they have been in the workforce longer, therefore increasing their pay. When it comes down to it, racism is an ongoing problem in this country, but giving Blacks and Latino's admission into a school where they academically don't belong will only diminish their later success, both in school and in the workforce.
Pojman, Louis P. "The Case Against Affirmative Action." Web. 20 Mar 2012. Retrieved from http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/business_computer_ethics/the%20case%20against%20affirmative%20action.htm
This essay written by Louis Pojman goes into great detail arguing against strong affirmative action. Pojman describes strong affirmative action as "preferential treatment, discriminating in favor of members of unrepresented groups, which have been treated unjustly in the past, against innocent people." He distinguishes this from weak affirmative action, which he claims "simply seeks to promote equal opportunity to the goods and offices of society." It is important to see the difference between the two in order to see that he, similar to myself, is not against equal opportunity and access to all things this great country has to offer. He uses the "two wrongs don't make a right" argument to get his point across that penalizing whites (and even Asians) does not make up for the hardship that African-Americans and Hispanics have suffered through in the past. In total, he compiles a list of nine arguments together that he utilizes to get his point across by addressing the counterarguments, and making new arguments out of them. Without a doubt, this wealth of information will be to my advantage when I make my stance against (strong) affirmative action.
Good summaries of these two articles. The next step is to think about when in your paper you want to talk about these articles (what is there function within your argument). Parts of the articles may be relevant at different points in your argument rather than discussing the article all together. For instance, the first article addresses both legal and economic claims. The wishy-washy legal stance may be a great place to start, so as to situate affirmative action as a pressing and controversial issue.
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