Affirmative action is discriminatory but unfortunately is also needed. An industry like aviation provides perhaps the best illustration for why its needed. Nearly every major airline will openly admit that internal company recommendations are needed in order to gain employment. The mins for getting on to a major carrier are so high that if you meet them then you are qualified to fly their mission. I can have 5000 hrs PIC and you can have 1000 but we are both qualified and skilled to fly an airplane. No airline ranks all applicants by number of hours and then hires from the top. Instead once you are qualified some other factor will determine if you get hired (i.e. internal recs or some other connection). Internal recommendations are basically support for one of your buddies who has the mins. Well guess what. The average buddy for a white male is another white male just as the average buddy for a black male is another black male. Sure everyone has one or two friends of another race but for the most part we a friends with people similar to ourselves. Its not because we are racist but simply because you tend to be friends with people you have the most in common with. Unfortunately, that fact leaves minorities at a disadvantage because they are much less likely to have a "buddy" working at the company. Now you may argue that there are a lot of white guys without contacts and thats true but the company (governement) doesnt care about that because chances are they are pretty much filled with white guys anyway. If they want to get minorities in then they have to actively recruit them because if the hiring process is left on cruise control then they will definitely be left out. Not b/c of some conspiracy but simply b/c of the natural flow of things. As someone stated before the pool of minorities is often smaller so the company cant be as picky. Therefore a minority who meets the mins (and therefore is qualified) can in some cases get hired over a higher time white guy. The white guy feels understandably screwed but its the only way for minorities to get their foot in the door. Hopefully in the near future companies can get their minority numbers to a point that somewhat reflects the general population so that there isnt a need to seek out minorities. The natural flow should take of that and then affirmative action can die....