Hope in Supreme Court Ruling

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 stated that it was now illegal to discriminate in employment decisions based on gender or race. The 14th Amendment took care of this issue legally, but our country required the passing of the Civil Rights Act to put the 14th Amendment into practice. The Civil Rights Act focused on preventing race from being used to hire, fire, or promote. The issue of sex was added at the last minute. The main focus was a racial one. Thus, we have the Equal Opportunity Clause you will find on every employment application and in every human resource handbook.
Pretty simple, right? Race cannot, legally, be used as a basis for any hiring, firing or promoting of a person.
But, then, we have Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action, or “positive action”, are policies that are designed to give opportunities to minorities.
In affirmative action policies, race and gender are taken into account, and companies are encouraged to hire and promote racial minorities and women in order to create a more diverse working environment, and according to NOW, to overcome past discrimination. That’s a whole other issue that I will hopefully deal with later.
Right now, though, the question is why does the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 say one thing, but Affirmative Action says something contradictory, and we uphold the affirmative action policies over the Civil Rights Act?
If race shouldn’t be considered, then it SHOULDN’T be considered, at all.
Obama’s election to the highest elected office in this country proves that even if Affirmative Action policies were once necessary, they certainly are not any longer.
The Ricci case (Connecticut Firefighters) also shows that using race rather than merit is RACIST and illegal, and unconstitutional.
So, if the goal is be treated fairly under the law, to not be discriminated against in hiring, firing, or promoting, then race cannot be a factor any longer.
The playing field is level.
The decisions on whether or not to hire someone, fire them, or promote them should be merit based only.