Read the quotation from booker t. washington's 1895 atlanta compromise speech. “[p]rogress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.” in this quotation, washington is expressing his view that

The government cannot legislate equality.

The "Atlanta Compromise Speech" was the name given by W. E. B. DuBois to a speech given by Booker T. Washington in 1895. The speech addressed the topic of race relations and laid the foundation for the Atlanta Compromise, an agreement between African American leaders and Southern white leaders. The compromise was that black people would submit to white rule in exchange for basic education and due process of law.

In this line, Booker T. Washington is arguing that the government artificially legislating equality cannot result in equality in practice. Effective equality can only come through constant struggle.

affirmative action refers to the policies that take gender, race, or ethnicity into account in order to promote equal opportunity.

employers subject to title vii are prohibited from taking race or sex into account in any employment decisions. aa is a penalty for having any job group substantially statistically "underutilized" in any race or either sex. the employer must take steps to eliminate the underutilization, then stop, ending its aa efforts