Center for Equal Opportunity Supports AZ Civil Rights Initiative
Proposition 107, which would bar the government from discriminating against or granting preferences to individuals or groups on the basis on race in government employment, contracting, and education, will appear on the November 2010 ballot in Arizona.
The Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) will submit a formal statement to the Arizona secretary of state in support of Proposition 107. An excerpt:
“The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative will simply ban preferences and other discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and sex for state and local programs in education, employment, and contracting.
“ACRI will not end all ‘affirmative action’ programs. The original meaning of that term was taking positive steps to make sure there isn’t discrimination; that’s still fine. It’s also fine to ‘cast a wide net’–advertising and recruiting far and wide to get the best applicants possible. But affirmative action programs that actually discriminate will be made illegal, as they should be. And if a program is for disadvantaged people, it should be open to disadvantaged people of all colors.
“Opponents will say there is no need for ACRI because such discrimination isn’t happening in Arizona. But the Goldwater Institute in Phoenix has documented that there is plenty of such discrimination. See http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/Common/Img/preferencebrief.pdf . So have our studies of admissions to the two state law schools. See http://www.ceousa.org/content/view/623/119/ .
“Opponents will make other untrue claims–for instance, that ACRI will ban breast-cancer screening programs. Such claims are simply false; remember, California, Washington, Michigan, and Nebraska have passed such initiatives, and there are obviously still breast-cancer screening programs there.”
