Affirmative action has two meanings: to affirm equal individual opportunity and to ensure equal group representation. The former meaning predominated until 1969, when the Nixon administration introduced numerical quotas or goals in hiring. Subsequently, Republicans opposed and Democrats endorsed group goals. As polls show that most Americans, including blacks, oppose such policies, the Democratic Party has been hurt by supporting them. Despite the strength of American egalitarianism, blacks have been an oppressed caste for most of the nation's history of statutory slavery and segregation. How best to resolve this contradiction between our egalitarian creed and the legacy of slavery remains the American dilemma.
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