The problem with affirmative action is that it is based on race. It is racist. There are several definitions of racism, one is essentially "making references t

The problem with affirmative action is that it is based on race. It is racist. There are several definitions of racism, one is essentially "making references to someone's race and implying everyone in that group is the same (in some attribute)", or more simply "anything based on race". Lots of people like this definition because it's a nice, simple and objective defintion and it means black people in the USA can be racist to white people, or that affirmative action is racist. I think this is the definition you're using. There's another definition, which is that racist actions are actions that's designed to maintain & reinforce the institutionalised power structure among races. Right now, if modern USA life was a video game, "white male" would be an easier difficulty level than "black male". There are statistically less problems for the "white male" group. Racist actions is talk that re-enforced that imbalance, and attempts to undo the power imbalance is not racist. This definition is harder for some people to accept because it means that you need to look at yourself and think about what power imbalances you might be benefiting from, and it means that affirmative action is not racist, and attempts to stop is could be construed as racist (since stopping affirmative action can re-enforce power imbalances). This is the definition I use. So no, affirmative action isn't racist. America needs to put race on the sidelines and start thinking in terms of class. Totally agree. Classism is a real and big problem.