“I have a dream,” said Dr. Martin Luther King, “that one day…” Every American child discovers that dream in school. We remember his dream every year by celebrating his life and legacy, and yet the big question is how do we make that dream come true? Because maintaining segregation is against the law, some argue that we have already achieved a “level playing field.” This was not Dr. King's opinion; he understood and tried to teach us about the lasting scars of race in this society. The history of African Americans began with two hundred and fifty years of slavery, followed by one hundred years of legal apartheid – separate and unequal “public housing.” July 2014 will mark the legal end of this era, only fifty years ago. It took a civil rights movement, at the cost of many sacrificed lives and the heroism of many ordinary people, to end legal apartheid in this country. What remedy for 350 years of legal injustice? President Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon believed the answer was affirmative action. Affirmative action would open doors – to access college, jobs, mortgages, loans, et cetera. Instituting affirmative action would not remedy the ills of the past, but it would at least create opportunities for future generations. However, affirmative action immediately sparked backlash – and particularly in college admissions. For what? Admissions are limited in number and are considered extremely important: they open the doors to success in life. If positive actions benefit minorities, then members of the majority will be discriminated against. The college and university admissions process should be reevaluated and redefined to benefit all members of society. years at degree-granting institutions, by gender and race/ethnicity: 1967 to 2006. [Compendium of Education Statistics] Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_195 .aspRedhead, J. (1997, April 17). Jesse Jackson on prop. 209. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1997-04-17/local/me-49584_1_affirmative-action-whites-and-males-judge-thelton-henderson United States History (nd). Positive action. Retrieved April 21 from http://www.us-history.com/pages/h1970.htmlWikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. (2014, April 19). FL: Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Retrieved April 22, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action Yuill, KL (2006). Richard Nixon and the Rise of Affirmative Action: The Pursuit of Racial Equality in an Age of Limits. Oxford, United Kingdom: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc..