> affirmative action cuts both ways ... and that also happens in a different way than I think the parent refers to: When American Major League Baseball, the t

> affirmative action cuts both ways ... and that also happens in a different way than I think the parent refers to: When American Major League Baseball, the top professional leagues, began (very gradually) hiring black and Latino players in 1947, it was not affirmative action. In fact it was the end of an affirmative action program for white guys - they had all these jobs specially reserved for them based on their skin color. Many of them were minor-league quality players, who only had their jobs because their skin was white. Generations of black and Latino players simply couldn't get a decent job (the Negro Leagues paid relatively poorly), including some of the best players ever. (Incidentally, this also helped the statistics of the best players, who regularly batted/pitched against minor leaguers - how many home runs could a modern star hit if maybe a third of the pitchers he faced were minor leaguers?). The same happens still in other fields - lots of people with jobs that they wouldn't have if they weren't white, male, coming from wealth, etc.