I don’t see quite how you go from “As an equal opportunity employer, the City of Little Rock is seeking qualified black and female applicants” to the job being ‘specifically open to only blacks and women’.
Are you currently a job seeker? I’m guessing not (purely a guess) based on my own superficial reading of your comments. An active job seeker has seen so many of the affirmative action disclaimers that they become nearly invisible.
But instinctively, you do understand affirmative action. But kind of in reverse. Your comment that companies are not in control of who applies is part of what makes affirmative action affirmative. As in reaching out proactively to the groups that are under represented in your applicant pool. Taking specific steps to engage those that are under represented.
By way of example, let’s say I post job ads in only one of a town’s major newspapers, and it happens to be the one that has a largely white audience. An affirmative action program might have the organization also post the job ad in the paper that is primarily read by a minority audience as well, so as not to exclude them. In other words, the organization can attempt to control, or to increase the reach of its recruiting efforts.
Burdensome on the organization ... you betcha. But a lot cheaper than the fines and back pay companies routinely pay for NOT hiring the most qualified applicant.
Our constitution and bill of rights already guarantee equal opportunity under the law. What it does not guarantee is equal outcomes. It is not the federal government’s role to provide jobs,homes and health care to every citizen.
The pursuit of happiness(and jobs) are open to all who work hard and develop their skills. It is not the federal government’s role to dictate much of anything to the states that are not set out in the constitution.
That is my point. It is not a company or government’s job to see to it that every citizen reads about their job openings. It is the responsibility of the job seeker to SEEK out a job and qualify for said job.