Our
View: Proposition 54, where are you?
From
the politician who crafted Proposition 187
and Proposition 209 comes the newest straw
on the camels back of race and immigration
politics in California. Proposition 54,
which would make asking race and ethnicity
questions illegal from government sources,
schools and employers.
Also
called the Racial Privacy Initiative, it
is represented as creating a level playing
field for state dealings, schools and employment.
But is that what it is really about?
The
proposition would go into effect beginning
in 2005 and would supposedly "unite"
all citizens by getting rid of the "hyphenated-American"
and creating unity among all groups. But
coming from Ward Connerly, author of the
two other propositions makes those amicable
ideals just a little suspect.
Supported
by recall candidate state Sen. Tom McClintock
and opposed by both Bustamante and Swarzenegger,
the proposition could easily be categorized
as guilt by association. On the other hand,
Swarzenegger condemned as a threat to national
security the legislation Davis recently
signed allowing illegal immigrants to have
drivers license so maybe he's not sure what
he thinks.
For
better or for worse, that seems to be a
problem in sorting out Proposition 54. What
would society be like with an institutionally,
if not a personally, color blind system.
And what would really be accomplished by
wiping away a large proportion of the state
population's heritage.
The
proponents of the proposition claim that
not only would this create unity and racial
equality, but would also save the state
several million dollars. How, you ask. Maybe
Connerly knows. I can't see that eliminating
one question on applications could save
millions of dollars, so perhaps he's talking
about classification of this data after
the fact.
A
huge amount of sociological data would be
lost if this proposition were to be passed.
And although not a huge concern for the
general population of California, losing
the ability to track certain statistics
could mean losing much of the research that
helps to prove that certain races or ethnicities
are more commonly unemployed or underemployed
or undereducated. Without this information
how could the necessary changes be made
to maintain this supposedly united new society?
Connerly
maintains that his goal is not devious;
it is simply to create a California that
is not separated between people of color
and white people. That goal may be honorable,
but there has got to be a better way to
do it than by eliminating the only way we
have to know if certain nationalities are
turned down for jobs more often or if certain
ethnic groups attend college in record low
numbers.
On
the other hand, what do I know?
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