Affirmative action works when there is an issue of people's color, race and ethnicity. Affirmative action comes to the rescue of those who were previously excluded from jobs or denied educational opportunities. When these policies received executive branch and judicial support, vast numbers of people of color, white women and men have gained access they would not contrarily have had. This advancement has led to very real alterations. Affirmative action programs have not dislodged racism, nor have they always been readied without issues. The implementation of affirmative action was America's foremost honest endeavor at resolving a problem, it had formerly chosen to overlook. Yet, to really understand the significance of affirmative action, one must look at America's past discrimination to see why, at this point in history, we must become more color conscious.