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MI GOP OPPOSES CONNERLY "CIVIL RIGHTS" BALLOT INITIATIVE

This past spring perhaps you were approached by someone with a petition telling a tale of someone's "deserving" child being denied admission to a university because of reverse discrimination. I would counter them by saying that even with their petitions there would still be discrimination in college admissions just not racial discrimination. Most deans would still be able to give extra points to friends. Students would still be preferred because of the part of the country they lived in. In fact there is no way of knowing who "bumped" someone from a particular freshman class. It could be a music major with less than sterling math grades or an athlete with only average grades overall. Universities admit a universe of students so that there will be an atmosphere of diversity and creativity on campus. That is the meaning of university.

This spring Ward Connerly brought his dog and pony show to Michigan. Cynically titled the Civil Rights Initiative it is like the Proposition 209 he started in California. The telling clause from that proposition reads: " The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethinicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."

"Women are the most frequent beneficiaries of and will lose most if affirmative action is lost." remarked Jennifer Shoub of the Michigan Council of YWCAs at the 2004 Women's Equality Day meeting of women's organizations in Lansing.

At this year's Michigan NOW state conference, Mary Pollock of One United Michigan reported that following the passage of Prop. 209, California courts were defining the law very strictly. Programs at risk included nutrition programs, women's shelters, and apprenticeship programs for women and minorities. She called for a liaison from every chapter to work to oppose the ballot initiative in Michigan.

Connerly who is funded by wealthy conservative foundations, has since introduced a second initiative in California which shows the larger plan of his backers. This would stop the collection of all race and ethnicity based data by the state. Foundations like the Bradley, Scaife and Olin foundations that have backed Connerly to the tune of over $2.1 million just since 2002 would then step in to gather the data for a hefty price and to report it in their own fashion.

"If it passes, it will hide racial differences in health care, education and disease, making it harder to file discrimination complaints and to hold discriminating organizations and institutions responsible for their deeds," opined Julian Bond at an NAACP conference .
Fortunately, the second proposition did not pass.

In a May 30,2002 article for The Nation, Patricia J. Williams said of this second initiative, " It is actually about privatizing racially-biased behavior. And privatized racism has been a dream of the far right since the first whites-only private schools sprang up "
[following Brown v. Bd. of Ed. Topeka].

Michigan Republicans are opposing Connerly's Civil Rights Initiative. According to Betsy DeVos,"...the ballot initiative would only serve to further divide people along racial lines". It would also bring blacks out to the polls next year which would probably hurt Republican plans for that election.

Since the petitions were turned in for verification, there has been a battle over the tactics used by some petitioners. Some have been accused of misrepresenting the true purpose of the initiative. With the strong Republican opposition to the ballot proposal, voters should definitely keep an eye on it not just in 2006 but in subsequent years.