By Chidimma Obioha, 16, Beverly Hills HS

“”I’m against affirmative action because I had this friend who didn’t get in to the school he wanted because some black person took his place.”

“Yeah, I had a friend who really wanted to go to Berkeley but he didn’t get in because someone who was less qualified got in over him.”

“I’m against affirmative action because I want to get in based on merit. I don’t want to go to college and have everybody thinking that I got there because of affirmative action.”

Sitting in class that day, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. As one of two African-American students in a class full of whites, Asians, and Persians, I was ready to explode. I wanted to speak out and defend minorities in a calm and educated manner, to say that all of us aren’t dumb and that we do belong in college because we are qualified, but I was afraid that if I did I would either curse them all out or break down and cry. I just sat there and said nothing.
That night I talked to a friend in the class about my feelings. I had so much bottled up inside, by the end of the conversation I had her in favor of affirmative action. But that didn’t take away the guilt I felt for not saying anything to my classmates, a class of about 30, who walked away when the bell rang, still believing the myths about affirmative action.
That’s why I’m upset about this new initiative called the California Civil Rights Initiative or Proposition 209, that’s on the November ’96 ballot. (An initiative is a proposal for a new law. Like the anti-immigrant initiative Prop. 187, if this initiative is passed, it probably won’t go into effect because opponents will challenge it in court.)

Prop. 209 would ban affirmative action
A few months after last year’s vote to ban affirmative action from all University of California (UC) campuses, UC Regent Ward Connerly decided to manage a campaign to ban affirmative action statewide, resulting in Prop. 209. Connerly is one of many Regents who oversee the UC system.
The crucial vote last year banned the UCs from using race, sex, color, ethnicity or religion for admitting, hiring and contracting. Prop. 209 only wants to end the use of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, or sex, clearly making it a racial and sexist issue. If it weren’t about race, the initiative would want to put an end to discrimination based on religion and sexual orientation as well.
If you’re a college-bound female, African-American, or Latino student, you should be aware of what’s going on. The fate of the initiative could determine your future and the future of your sisters and brothers in terms of college and job opportunities.
There are many groups who oppose Prop. 209. Two are the Joint Bar Coalition and Agenda. The joint bar coalition is made up of 11 different bar associations who are determined to defeat the initiative. They teach people ranging from lawyers to inner-city residents about what the initiative really means. One of the law firms that is working on this issue is the Working People’s Law Center which tries to educate the working class on these issues.
Jessica Graham, 21, of UCLA gave up the opportunity to get a paying job this summer to do something active in the community. With the help of Libby Cooper, who coordinates the volunteer corps of the National Lawyers Guild, Graham has helped coordinate programs and fundraisers to defeat the proposition.
She said that in the middle-class neighborhood where she grew up, she saw people getting ahead because of the people they knew. “Eighty-six percent of all jobs are gotten through word of mouth. A lot of minorities don’t have connections because they’re not as wealthy as whites… No one says anything about jobs that people get by word of mouth—they always try to make it a race issue.” She feels that without affirmative action this “who you know, not what you know” situation is going to get worse.

Many youth are taking action
Agenda is a program which promotes action among youth. They are trying to educate young people about the issues through voter registration education and presentations. In voter registration, Agenda explains to the youth what’s going on and students fill out a card so that Agenda can send them updates. Agenda also gives presentations in high schools and malls and sometimes they walk door-to-door in South Los Angeles to spread the word about the initiative.
Akila Murphy, 19, of Occidental College has given her time to working with Agenda to defeat this initiative. “If it passes,” she said, “it will eliminate the opportunity that women and people of color have to get into higher education.”
A battle has been waged in court over the wording of the explanation of the initiative that is sent to voters. Opponents of Proposition 209 feel that the words “affirmative action” should be included, but an appeals panel ruled otherwise. “The electorate can hardly be deceived by this essentially verbatim recital of the straightforward text of the measure itself,” the appeals panel wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times.
But take a look at part of the initiative for yourself:

“Neither the state of California nor any of its political subdivisions or agents shall use race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin as a criterion for either discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group operating of the state’s system of public employment, public education or public contracting.”

Now when you read it, did the words “affirmative action” immediately pop up into your head or did you think that this was something good meant to end racism and discrimination? Most of you probably thought the latter, but don’t be fooled. The initiative is worded to confuse people so they don’t know exactly what they’re voting for. The omission of those two words will definitely have a significant effect on the outcome.
“They are implying that we’re stupid enough to vote for it because the words ‘discriminating against’ will trick us. Some people are going to look at it and think that it’s doing something to end prejudice and racism and they’ll vote for it without thinking,” Graham said.
“The use of the words ‘civil rights initiative’ is scary… If no one had any knowledge on it, everyone would probably vote for it,” Graham stated. “If it’s passed, it adds a lot to racial tension. It will set civil rights back 30 years.”

Affirmative action
is a good thing
Affirmative action addresses historic barriers that have prevented minorities from being successful. Affirmative action is not a hand-out. It does not guarantee college admission or a job. It simply gives underrepresented minorities, including women, opportunities they may not have had before. Some people seem to have gotten the idea that masses of unqualified students are being admitted into universities only because of their race, but that is untrue.
According to Ward Connerly, 75 percent of blacks in the UC system are there without the help of affirmative action.
For the UC system overall, 60 percent of incoming freshmen get in based on the quality of their classes, grades and test scores. The other 40 percent, who must be among the top 12.5 percent of their graduating class, get in based on their grades and other factors like family income, special talents, whether they’re being raised by a single parent, and race. These statistics show that there are no unqualified people getting in to college because of affirmative action.
Universities take into consideration that there are some students who have not had the same resources as others while growing up. While students in Beverly Hills may have their own rooms completely furnished with their own computers and desks, other students living in the inner city, who are equally qualified, may have to share a room with their siblings and work in the dining room while their parents are watching TV, and their brothers and sisters are running around the house. It’s not that they can’t do well, it’s just harder. With so many distractions they have to put in more effort to accomplish their goals, even if it’s just to finish a night’s homework.
What sense does it make to accept an unqualified student into the university when they would just drop out anyway? Any student who is unprepared to attend a university would not be able to succeed in getting good grades or survive in a world in which he or she is surrounded by highly competitive students. Sure, some students get in based on athletic ability but, contrary to what many people believe, that has nothing to do with affirmative action. That depends on the school and how important athletics is to them.
It seems as if some people don’t take into consideration that there is an abundance of whites and Asians in universities already. These two groups don’t have to worry about being discriminated against when they are applying for a job or to a university. In fact, these groups are more likely to get a job based on the color of their skin. The same thing doesn’t work for blacks and Latinos. Some white and Asian students are against affirmative action because of their fears that they won’t get into college, but “they have to look at the facts,” Murphy said. “Not many people of color are in college and if they are, what is the retention rate? It’s about opportunity. What a white student might have in their high school, a black student may not.”
Some black and Latino students are against affirmative action because they feel that they should be accepted into college based on merit only. Murphy agrees. “Everyone should be allowed into college based on merit, but racism and discrimination do still exist. Someone could deny them [blacks and Latinos] admission to college based on the color of their skin,” said Murphy.

Minorities still have to prove themselves
Even if you weren’t admitted with the help of affirmative action, you still have to prove yourself to others. Graham declared, “No matter how much money you have as a minority, you always have that monkey on your back to prove that you’re smart and that you should be there [in college and the work place].”
So what can you do to help? If you’re not of voting age, you can spread the word about Prop. 209 to all the people that you know who are 18 and older such as your parents and relatives, teachers and your bus driver. Talk it over with your friends and tell them to tell their parents, and their parents will tell their friends and co-workers who will in turn tell others. If you’re a registered voter, vote no on Prop. 209!”