Fuzz has this thing exactly the way it is. It's a form of ownership. In the 30 years I worked for the City of Los Angeles fixing cars,trucks,and vans,I took the promotional exam and interviews half a dozen times or so. I read up on equal opportunities and affirmative action, came up with definitions for each,since in the interview session,they don't want textbook answers, they want you to phrase answers in your own words in order that they can see how you think.Affirmative action was not really a quota system, it was designed to make the workplace reflect the diversity of the city that it serves. EOE was designed to allow all employees the same access to promotions, trainings, job openings, etc. without regards to race, quotas, tokenism, etc. (Don't word it that way in any interviews you're going to, however!!)If you take the racial and cultural distinctions off of it, it makes more sense when you grasp the larger picture of it. I must have done OK, because the last two times I went through the whole game, I scored #1 on one list, tied with 2 other guys, we all had the same score, then the last time I tried it, I scored #3 on the list. I went to a LOT of further interviews from various departments, but the list expired every two years. My department didn't need to promote anybody until after the list was done for. Other departments tended to promote from within since their personnel seemed more familiar with that department's operations and ways of doing things. The early days of affirmative action weren't exactly carried out right, as the rush was on to staff departments with personnel reflective of the population at large in order to keep the feds off our case. That didn't exactly work, some positions couldn't be filled due to a lack of available applicants, after all, how many Latina journeyman jet engine mechanics are out there trying to work for the airport? Ans. None. That resulted in staffing shortages until the whole affirmative action details and goals got worked out.
I never let political correctness stand in my way ever. I went to work, stayed out of trouble as much as possible, did my job and had perfect attendance on several rating periods. When I left,I had the last laugh on a few detractors, as a lot of good friends showed up to my retirement lunch. My lifes' motto was always,"Success is the best revenge."