(September 6, 2009 at 10:13 am)bozo Wrote: Re. affirmative action, let's take an occupation like the police. A very small percentage indeed of the police is anything other than British white. Considering our multi-cultural society, don't you think there should me more differently-coloured coppers? Why aren't there? How can we ensure there are?Our census of 2001 says that 85.67% of the population are White (British), and a further 5.27% are White (Other). Given this information, I would expect a "very small" percentage of the police to have "coloured coppers".
As to your question "don't you think there should be more?", I say no; I don't think we should hire on the basis of race. As for why there aren't more, I think the demographics of the country possibly come into consideration, but there may be other reasons. Perhaps there are a higher number of black people who don't want to work in law enforcement. I also see no reason why we should ensure that there are more. If black people aren't coming to a police job interview, that is their own business. If black people are coming to a police job interview and are being outdone by a white candidate, give the job to the white candidate (the more qualified). I want my police force to be the best, not a shambles of people from different ethnic cultures that are only there because of affirmative action.
Hire the best candidate, regardless of skin colour.
