Hidden agenda behind ‘civil rights initiative’

On Aug. 17, banners hanging from freeway bridges and messages chalked on downtown sidewalks pointed the way to the federal court in downtown Detroit. That’s where affirmative action supporters picketed and packed the courtroom in the latest battle to remove Proposal 2 from Michigan’s November ballot.

On August 18, in another packed courtroom, U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow said he would issue a written ruling before Sept. 8, the deadline for printing ballots for the Nov. 7 election.

Proposal 2, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, is an attempt to amend the Michigan Constitution to make it illegal for the state and its universities to “discriminate against, or give preferential treatment to” any individual or group on the basis of race, gender, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (www.oneunitedmichigan.org)

On the surface, this may sound good. However, this deceptively worded and named initiative would not expand but instead weaken civil rights. It will eliminate one of the primary tools for redressing the bloody legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and racism in education and employment for African Americans: affirmative action.

If passed, this initiative will also set back civil rights for Latin@s and women of all races and nationalities.

Today’s battle has its roots in the June 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the general affirmative action admissions policy at the University of Michigan Law School while striking down the university’s undergraduate admissions formula for awarding admission points if one belonged to an oppressed grouping.

Ward Connerly instigated the challenge to U. of M. admissions policies. Connerly, backed by the ultra right wing, authored the 1998 ban on affirmative action in admissions at the University of California schools causing a 61 percent drop in admissions of African American, Latin@, and Native American students at U.C. Berkeley, and a 36 percent decline at UCLA.

Not content with a partial erosion of affirmative action policies at U. of M., Connerly initiated the statewide petition initiative resulting in Proposal 2.

But this racist move is being fought every step of the way with mobilizations and demonstrations organized by the By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) student coalition.

The Michigan State Board of Can vas sers, persuaded by a militant crowd packing their meeting, refused to approve the ballot language and was overridden by the courts. The Michigan Civil Rights Com mission found widespread and systematic racially-targeted fraud in the petitioning.

Hundreds of people who signed the petitions or even circulated the petitions based on the intentionally deceptive language have joined the fight to stop Proposal 2 before Election Day.

A very broad-based educational campaign opposing Proposal 2 is underway by One United Michigan and supported by lesbian, gay and transgender organizations, labor, African American, Arab, Asian-Pacific, Latin@ and women’s organizations as well as city councils, elected officials and some corporations.

This massive campaign along with the militant mobilizations like the one at the federal court this week will eventually push back the growing tactic by the right wing to advance their agenda by intention ally turning terminology on its head.