Anti-affirmative action ad targets ex-Obama pastor

Journalstar.com
By ANNA JO BRATTON / The Associated Press
Tuesday, Jun 03, 2008 - 08:53:03 pm CDT

OMAHA — A California group is running a radio ad that uses Barack Obama’s former minister and Nebraska’s only black state senator to take aim at affirmative action in the state.The ad, which includes a clip of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright saying “God damn America,’’ says Wright and Nebraska Sen. Ernie Chambers believe in race preferences, but most Nebraskans don’t. Wright, a Chicago pastor who has been used in negative attacks against the Democratic presidential candidate, has no affiliation with Chambers.The American Civil Rights Initiative, which is sponsoring the ad, is pushing measures in several states, including Nebraska, that oppose affirmative action, which the group says gives preferential treatment on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.The Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, which is collecting signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the state’s November ballot, needs to have about 114,000 signatures — 10 percent of the state’s registered voters — by July 4.Chambers, who’s spoken out against an anti-affirmative action bill in the Legislature, blasted the ad Tuesday, saying it’s meant to frighten people.“It indicates the depth of racism that those who put out the ad believe exists in Nebraska,’’ said Chambers. “I think those people must believe that I am more hated in Nebraska than I am.’’The campaign is “one of most the insidious, deceptive activities that I witnessed in a long time,’’ he said.A message left for Wright Tuesday afternoon wasn’t immediately returned.Supporters of the measure say it levels the playing field, giving everyone an equal chance at every job.Opponents say it plays to people’s fears that unqualified minorities are being picked over qualified non-minorities. Affirmative action doesn’t mean giving preferences to minorities, they say, it’s about ensuring good-faith efforts to recruit minority candidates and keeping people accountable for their hiring decisions.Nebraska is one of five states targeted this year by the American Civil Rights Initiative’s Super Tuesday for Equal Rights Fund, founded by California businessman and activist Ward Connerly.Connerly has prevailed three times in past elections, with voters in California, Michigan and Washington approving proposals banning government-sponsored race and gender preferences in public education, state hiring and public contracts.This year, organizers in Missouri have conceded that too few signatures would be gathered by the deadline, and they bowed out in Oklahoma in the face of challenges to the signatures gathered there. Efforts continue in Colorado and Arizona. [To read the entire article, go to: http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/06/03/news/nebraska/doc48459858b3065744487876.txt ]