By Antonio D. French
Filed Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 4:39 PM
Last week, I sat down with Ward Connerly, the controversial founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization created to oppose racial and gender preference, commonly known as affirmative action.
In 1996, Connerly was instrumental in getting Proposition 209 passed in California. The controversial initiative amended the state's constitution to prohibit public institutions, such as universities, from taking race or gender into consideration in hiring or admissions.
Connerly has now come to Missouri. He has been brought in to be the spokesman for a group based out of Grain Valley, Missouri which is organizing to get an initiative passed next year which is very similar to the one passed in California.
The California initiative passed by 54%. In this much more conservative Midwestern state, supporters of affirmative action are up for a fight — one that will likely be settled on the very same ballot that decides who will be the next President of the United States.
And now, part 1 of my interview with Ward Connerly...
Check back tomorrow for Part 2 of my interview.
Labels: Initiatives, Interviews, Race
7 Comments:
Ironically he wants to remove the system which benefited him and helped him get to his position.
Of course he is being used. He is being used by white elites who need a black front for their political goals. Similarly, Bryson was used by Slay to fire George.
African Americans have been underdeveloped by the racist hegemony. Socioeconomically based affirmative action is not enough. Poor white kids in unincorporated St. Charles County have many more opportunities, given environmental factors like schools and lower crime, than African American kids in St. Louis City. African Americans should get preference because the system which they live in limits their ability to maximize their merit. If all things were equal in terms of environment then racially based affirmative action wouldn't be needed, but they are not equal and probably won't be for a long time.
10/23/2007 7:28 PM
Good interview. You were fair even though I know you wanted to rip his head off.
10/23/2007 9:15 PM
If this initiative is on the November 2008 ballot, all Democrats, and especially Hillary Clinton, should send Connerly a thank you gift, because the initiative will dramatically increase the turnout of reliably Democrat-voting African American voters.
The dynamics of ballot measures is that they often stimulate higher turnout among the opponents of the measure. Back in 1978, it was a strong anti-Carter Republican year in every state except Missouri, where the "right to work" ballot measure drew Democrat-voting union families to the polls in droves. 30 years later, you can still occasionally see those old "Right to Work is a RIPOFF" bumper stickers from that campaign on old cars.
10/24/2007 12:56 PM
Democrats wouldn't need this measure on the ballot to inspire African American turnout if Barack Obama were on the national ticket, but that's not going to happen. Hillary's momentum is now unstoppable, and Obama's (justified and accurate) attacks on Hillary will only serve to create animosity with Hillary that will assure that Mexican-American Bill Richardson will be the minority she chooses as her running mate instead of Obama.
10/24/2007 1:04 PM
My audio is messed up on my pc, and my apologies if this was covered in the interview. Two states that don't have affirmative action in education, Washington state and California, whites did not benefit much from the lack of affirmative action. Asians, however, did. So , the whites are wasting their money/time with Mr. Connerly. Asians are getting the benefit.
Missouri doesn't have that many Asians, though.
I have read that Connerly would be in favor of a system that benefits poor kids of any race. At elite schools, poor kids no breaks in the admission process.
10/24/2007 1:44 PM
If we are to truly judge people on the "content of their character and not the color of their skin," then how can one support affirmative action.The promotional fiasco in the St Louis Fire Department is a direct result of the failures of affirmative action.This country has disgraced the legacy of Martin Luther King by refusing to hold people accountable for thier own actions. Dr. King demmanded equal treatment regardless of race, not special treatment because of race.
10/24/2007 7:07 PM
If Latinos actually finally realize that Richardson is Latino, then the Hillary/Richardson combination would be unstoppable. I wonder how his polling numbers changed after his incident on the Univision debate?
10/24/2007 11:47 PM
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