Affirmative-action proposal for Missouri ballot is deceptive

Kansas City Star Editorial
Posted on Mon, Oct. 01, 2007 10:15 PM

Late this month a Cole County judge is to begin hearing arguments in two lawsuits concerning a harmful measure that claims to be a “civil rights initiative.”
Supporters of the proposed amendment to the Missouri Constitution say it would simply ensure fairness. But it would torpedo state-supported affirmative action programs in hiring, contracting and education.
From opposite perspectives, the lawsuits challenge the ballot wording approved by Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. Supporters of the proposed amendment must obtain 139,181 signatures to get it on the November 2008 ballot.
In their lawsuit, they want Carnahan to use ballot language they originally proposed. That language, however, is deceptive. It steals the words of the 1960s civil rights movement and turns them upside down.
On the other hand, affirmative-action supporters argue in their lawsuit that Carnahan’s ballot language fails to specify all of the victims of past discrimination who would be hurt.
This would include those who have been discriminated against on the basis of religion, disability, age or veteran status. That is a legitimate concern.
Supporters of the initiative point to similar measures that were approved in California and Michigan. Yet they are careful to hide the harm those initiatives have done to African-American and Hispanic communities.
Consider: Since California passed Proposition 209 in 1996, the number of black and Hispanic students annually enrolled in the University of California-Berkeley’s law school has never reached the levels it attained under affirmative action programs.
Ellis Cose, in his book Killing Affirmative Action, argues that affirmative action was never meant to carry the weight society has thrown on its shoulders. It was never meant, he argues, to solve the glaring inequities in education, income or health care in American society.
Affirmative action isn’t perfect. But if the goal is a more equitable society, Missourians and the rest of the country are going to need it for years to come.
http://www.kansascity.com/340/story/298966.html