Exactly.Affirmative action is a federal agenda initiated in the 1960s that’s designed to counteract historic discrimination faced by ethnic minorities, women and other underrepresented groups. To foster diversity and compensate for the ways such groups have historically been excluded, institutions with affirmative action programs prioritize the inclusion of minority groups in the employment, education and government sectors, among others.
http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/g/WhatIsAffirmativeAction.htm
It was wrong to discriminate in the past, so we've got to discriminate now to show that discrimination is wrong.