Last month, the National Urban League, a community-based movement working to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and political mainstream, released a ten page report looking examining myths and facts of affirmative action policies and the impacts that the passage of Proposal 2 (the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI)) will have on the state of Michigan, as the proposal will amend the state constitution to outlaw affirmative action programs. The proposal, which was placed on the ballot by a systematic campaign of fraud, has been funded and organized primarily by Ward Connerly, a California businessman who has sponsored similar initiatives in California and Washington. As the report addresses, there has been a considerable amount of misinformation and misrepresentation in the debate over affirmative action. Rather than looking at what affirmative action really is—a set of policies and initiatives that redress past and present discrimination and promote diversity in college admissions, employment and the awarding of government contracts giving qualified individuals equal access and equal opportunity to contribute and participate in these areas (according to the Urban League report)—the debate has been shifted by Connerly and the supporters of Proposal 2 have shifted the debate towards one of “racial preferences,” “preferential treatment,” and “reverse discrimination.” This language ignores the realities of racism and sexism in the United States and in Michigan while cultivating the notion that the confusingly named Michigan Civil Rights Initiative will enhance civil rights.
Central to this argument among those supporting Proposal 2 is the idea that the playing field has been leveled and that affirmative action is no longer needed as the society is more or less equal. While a simple look around Grand Rapids should make this clear, the Urban League’s report provides a number of statistics to back up their claim that “the playing field remains far from level.” The report cites the fact that the median income of black households ($30,858) is 61% of whites, that Blacks experience poverty at three times the rates of whites (24.7% compared to 8.4%), that the black unemployment rate is more than twice that of whites (9.2% compared to 4.1%), and that women make only 76 cents for every dollar made by men. With regard to education, employment, and government, there have been major advances made, especially by women, although disparities persist. The report cites that since 1976 the minority population at degree-granting institutions has gone from 14.5% to 30.4% and that women have become the majority of students enrolled at degree-granting institutions. The percentage of whites employed in management, professional, and related occupations exceeds that of blacks by nearly 10 times, while the median annual earnings of full-time, full-year women workers with a bachelor’s degree is $42,172 compared to $60,020 for men. In contracts the situation is similar, with minority-owned businesses receiving fewer government contract dollars than would be expected given the availability of their businesses.
The report makes a number of predictions about how Proposal 2 will affect the state of Michigan. These include a decrease in the college enrollment of underrepresented students, reducing access to health care and leadership development in communities of color, diminishing access by minority and women owned to government contracts, reducing women and minority faculty in the state’s universities, eliminating outreach programs to minorities and women to increase attendance in college or recruit in other areas, and prohibit efforts to ensure adequate representation of women and minorities on boards and commissions. Far from being a set of potentialities, these predictions are based on precedent set by California’s Proposition 209. According to the report, a former admissions director at the University of California Berkley, the passage of Proposition 209 caused the enrollment of blacks, Latinos, and Native American to plummet at the Berkley and UCLA campuses. This year, the UCLA freshmen class of 4,800 had only 90 blacks while Berkeley’s had 108 out of 3,600. In business, the results have been similar, with contracts held by women and minority owned businesses decreasing by 51% overall and 61% among black business owners.
As part of the effort to increase awareness about the impacts of Proposal 2 on the state of Michigan, longtime civil rights activist Jesse Jackson will be speaking in Grand Rapids tomorrow (November 2nd). Jackson will speak at 4:00pm rally in the parking lot of the Divine Grace Church, located at 755 Fuller. Other speakers at the rally will include 75th District Michigan House candidate Robert Dean and Democratic Attorney General candidate Amos Williams. It is worth noting that the Republican candidate for Attorney General, Mike Cox, is one of the only elected officials and major party candidates to openly support Proposal 2.
