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A post by Maynard

One of the bright spots in an otherwise dismal election day was that the voters of Democrat-leaning Michigan passed Proposal 2, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, by a landslide margin of 58% to 42%. This ballot initiative prohibits the state from granting preferential treatment based on skin color or gender in public contracting, public employment, and public education.

This is similar to California’s Proposition 209, which was passed into law on the 1996 ballot. The essential text of the initiative reads simply, “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

Both projects were spearheaded by Ward Connerly and his American Civil Rights Institute.

We all know how a modern form of ‘enlightened’ discrimination has become entrenched and institutionalized in so many environments. For example, some state colleges have given substantial admissions points based upon skin pigmentation; also public hiring and contracting is often set aside for the benefit of those who meet certain racial/ethnic qualifications. Such programs are biased and counterproductive, but they’ve got so much political traction that they seem unstoppable. It’s hard to find a politician on either side of the aisle, or a business or community or religious leader, who will go on the record condemning the monstrosity that “affirmative action” has metastasized into. Anyone who dares question the morality or practical impact of these programs risks being run out of town on a rail.

Ward Connerly knows this. He’s been threatened and assaulted and called every name in the book. (For example, California Congresswoman Diane Watson criticized Connerly thusly: “He’s married to a white woman. He wants to be white. He wants a colorless society. He has no ethnic pride. He doesn’t want to be black.”) That’s the reward one gets for circumnavigating the dysfunctional political structures and bringing the battle to the people. But the vast majority of the electorate did the right thing when they finally got the chance. Thank you, Ward Connerly, for giving us this escape route when every one of our major institutions was dragging us deeper into the pit.

As man of multiracial heritage, Connerly is not indifferent to fate of minorities. He’s led the University of California Board of Regents, and he understands entirely that there is more to evaluating students than looking at select grades and test scores. He is open to innovative ideas to uplift those who have been kept down or left behind. But he draws the line at handing out jobs and positions based upon racial and ethnic profiles.

Connerly’s book: Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences. Again, his website is ACRI.

(Afterthought: The idea of affirmative action made a certain amount of sense when applied to blacks, who had been forcefully kept at the very bottom of the pile for so long. A special boost for these people seemed only fair. But over time, the programs drifted away from targeted redress, and “diversity” became the primary goal; hence modern affirmative action embraces a rainbow of races and ethnicities that did not share the unique historical horror of involuntary transport and slavery. In other words, the original noble goal has been diluted away; meanwhile the methodology has become itself discriminatory. Thus the civil rights establishment has transformed itself into the very monster that it once battled. How sad.)