11 Acts by The US Government That Proves White Affirmative Action Has Been The Status Quo Throughout U.S. History

Indentured Servitude (late 1600’s) Indentured servitude was the earliest form of white affirmative action. Established in the late 1600s, this system replaced white European indentured servants, the original source of no-wage labor, with enslaved Black people. An article entitled “A Long History of Affirmative Action - For Whites,” which was published by California Newsreel, states that “in exchange for their support and their policing of the growing slave population, lower-class Europeans won new rights, entitlements, and opportunities from the planter elite.” This phenomenon was only the beginning of the practice of white affirmative action in this country, an institution that is still very much a reality in today's society. Naturalization Act (1790) The article released by California Newsreel describes the Naturalization Act of 1790 as legislation that “ the doors to European immigrants but not others.” It did so by only allowing “free white persons” to be classified as “naturalized citizens.” As a result, only these white individuals were granted to right to vote, hold public office, and be part of a jury. In some cases, they were even permitted to own land. However, these rights would not be granted to those of Africa descent for hundreds of years. Indian Removal Act (1830) In 1830, the Indian Removal Act brought about the horrendous journey known as the Trail of Tears. The signing of the Treaty of New Echota, which resulted from a provision of the Indian Removal Act, led to the forced relocation of more than 16,000 Native Americans. Roughly one out of four travelers lost their lives to starvation, disease, or the cold weather along the way. According to the California Newsreel article, eastern Native Americans were forced to embark upon this journey to “make room for white settlers.” via blm.gov The Homestead Act (1862) Once the cruel act of “Indian removal” came to an end, the United States passed and enacted the Homestead Act. The California Newsreel article conveys that the act succeeding in “giving away millions of acres of what had been Indian Territory west of the Mississippi.” The recipients of this territory were white Americans. The Homestead Act provisions distributed “10% of the total land area of the United States.” via aclusandiego.org California Alien Land Law (1913) In the early 1900s, Alien Land Laws were passed in the state of California, as well as other states. According to California Newsreel, these laws “reserved farm land for white growers by preventing Asian immigrants, ineligible to become citizens, from owning or leasing land.” Legal limitations regarding immigration also created legalized obstacles for non-whites. The provisions of this act also gave way to the internment of more that 100,000 Japanese-Americans. Alien Land Laws served as a form of racial oppression for roughly 40 years. The McCarran-Walter Act brought this repressive phenomenon to an end in 1952. However, white racial preferences in immigration remained until 1965. The New Deal (1933 and 1938) In his book, When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America, Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia University, conveys that economic aid was withheld from Blacks during the New Deal. In fact, roughly 65 percent of the Black population was “denied access to social security benefits, government grants, elderly poor assistance, and unemployment insurance,” according to a 2006 book review published by Ohio State University. In addition, the California Newsreel article communicates that the Federal Housing Administration, a program resulting for The New Deal, “helped generate much of the wealth that so many white families enjoy today.” This is due to the fact that if “made it possible for millions of average white Americans - but not others - to own a home for the first time.” In fact, for the next 30 years following the implementation of the New Deal, more than 98 percent of $120 billion in home loans granted by the United States government went to white individuals. To this day, the racist financial setbacks put into place by the New Deal are affecting the financial affairs of Black families. (Source:Wikimedia Commons--public domain) The Wagner Act (1935) The Wagner Act of 1935 granted white labor unions permission to practice collective bargaining. According to California Newsreel, the acts “helped millions of white workers gain entry into the middle class over the next 30 years.” Furthermore, the Wagner Act also legalized the racist exclusion of Black people from labor unions. As a result, they were denied access to “better paid jobs and union protections and benefits such as health care, job security, and pensions.” The racist practice was the status quo amongst labor unions until the 1970s. via history.com the G.I. Bill of Rights (1944) According to Katznelson's book, Black American veterans were denied many liberties granted by the G.I. Bill. In fact, he argues that the law was “deliberately designed to accommodate Jim Crow.” This is due to the fact that Southern political officials ensured that the G.I. Bill of Rights was implemented by local white racist leaders, as opposed to the federal government. In doing so, thousands of Black veterans in the South -- and the North as well -- were denied housing and business loans, as well as admission to whites-only colleges and universities, according to an article released by The New York Times. In addition they were not allowed to participate in “job-training programs for careers in promising new fields like radio and electrical work, commercial photography and mechanics.” As a result, these Black veterans were subject to “low-paying ' jobs' and small colleges, which were pitifully underfinanced and ill equipped to meet the needs of a surging enrollment of returning soldiers.” via law.du.edu Labor Laws Regulating Unionizing (The National Labor Relations Act - Fair Labor Standards Act - Taft-Hartley Act) The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was passed in 1935, while the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938. Both acts contained provisions that purposely “exempted agricultural and domestic labor” from unionizing, according to the 2006 Ohio State University book review of When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. As a result, white workers were able to unify and make workforce advances while those who worked within the sectors of agriculture and domestic labor, which overwhelmingly consisted of Black workers, were “left to languish in further poverty." Furthermore, when Black workers began to make labor-related strides during the Second World War, the Taft-Hartley Act was passed by the Republican Party in 1947. Under the guidelines of this act, “the burgeoning connections between civil rights agitation and demands for economic equality” was severed. via answers.com The Fair Deal (1945 to 1953) According to the review released by Ohio States University, President Truman's Fair Deal, just as President Roosevelt's New Deal, “secured the social well-being of white ethnic groups.” In addition, the article released by The New York Times argues that, when compared to the white counterparts, Black Americans under the Fair Deal were worse off in regards to the “educational achievement, quality of jobs and housing, and attainment of higher income." Just like the New Deal, the Fair Deal served the purpose of “widening the gap between white and Americans.” via article-3.com Executive Order 10925 (1961) The legal policy of affirmative action for Blacks did not come into play until the early 1960s with an executive order issued by the late President John F. Kennedy. Yet, the years following the implementation of the policy showed that affirmative action benefited the minority group of white women more than it did Blacks. This reality was made possible by the 1967 amendment of Kennedy's executive order—the change added sex to the list of characteristics that were not to be discriminated against. As a result, “data and studies suggest women — white women in particular — have benefited disproportionately,” according to a 2013 article released by Time. In fact, a 1995 study confirms that “6 million women, the majority of whom were white, had jobs they wouldn’t have otherwise held but for affirmative action.”

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