Affirmative action is not the brother of Jim Crow. It's the antithesis of it.
It certainly did not benefit me. In the early 1960's, there was a shortage of Spanish teachers in the US.
Two events then occurred: practically the entire Cuban middle class was given entry to the US, and someone decided that because Mexican-Americans were mistreated for blue collar work in the 1940's and 50's, Hispanics (not just Mexicans) were to be given preference in hiring.
Many blue-collar employers didn't pay any attention to this, but schools, most of which were government controlled or governmentally financed did. The best place to put a Hispanic in the school was as a Spanish teacher or professor. So by the time I get my MA degree, I apply for jobs and they hire some guy who just arrived from Peru, Chile, or Costa Rica. (But, so far as I know, never Mexico).
So I get a job with a minority college that pays about 25% less per year for the next 32 years.
The thing is that the Mexicans that were discriminated against did not and most still do not have college degrees, so they could not be given jobs as Spanish teachers and professors.