California Voters Reject Pro-Affirmative Action Ballot Measure Prop 16
“had it been approved, would have overturned Proposition 209, a 1996 amendment to the California Constitution that prohibited considering race, sex or ethnicity in public employment, public contracting and public education”
California had a measure on its ballot this year called Prop 16, which was designed to basically undo civil rights in the name of social justice.
Voters rejected the measure, pretty soundly.
Alexander Nieves reports at Politico:
California voters reject affirmative action measure despite summer of activism
California voters rejected Proposition 16, a major blow to Democrats and social justice advocates who hoped a national reckoning on racial inequality following the police killing of George Floyd would translate into a long-sought repeal of the state’s affirmative action ban.
The measure placed on the ballot by state lawmakers was losing 44-56 after nearly 12 million votes were counted overnight.
Background: Public entities have been barred from taking race, gender or other personal identifications into consideration during admissions, hiring and awarding of contracts since 1996. That year, voters passed Proposition 209, a measure supported by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and former University of California Regent Ward Connerly.
The law is a holdover of conservative policy in a state that has since elected a Democratic supermajority, and it has been blamed for racial enrollment disparities at the UC and California State University systems and a decline in public contracts awarded to businesses owned by women and people of color.
State lawmakers placed Prop. 16 on the ballot, believing they had a unique window of opportunity to repeal Prop. 209. A strong majority of California residents said they backed the Black Lives Matter movement after a summer of racial justice activism in response to the police killing of Floyd in Minneapolis.
In other words, the left wants things like gender, race, and other identity aspects to be a consideration in hiring and admissions. The exact opposite of what the Civil Rights Movement wanted.
The College Fix has more:
As of Wednesday morning, Prop. 16 was being rejected by a margin of 56.1 percent to 43.9 percent with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to the California Secretary of State’s online election results. Over 11 million votes were cast.
The measure, had it been approved, would have overturned Proposition 209, a 1996 amendment to the California Constitution that prohibited considering race, sex or ethnicity in public employment, public contracting and public education.
“The measure failed despite the fact that supporters of Prop 16 outraised their opponents by a margin of nearly 20-1 and enjoyed support from some of the most prominent names in Silicon Valley,” the Foundation for Economic Freedom noted in reporting on the vote outcome.
Proponents of the measure had argued it aimed to address systemic racism. The opponents’ slogan was: “Equal rights and opportunity regardless of race or national origin!”
Congratulations, California. At least you got this one right.
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Comments
Affirmative discrimination… uh, affirmative “action” is not viable, away from the obfuscating cover of the Twilight fringe of the Progressive Church, when observed clear of the darkness of diversity dogma (i.e. color judgments), not limited to racism. That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one. Men and women are equal in rights and complementary in Nature. #HateLovesAbortion
I guess a broken clock is right twice a day, and all that.
Californians can demonstrate a modicum of common sense on this issue, but, they still can’t demonstrate enough common sense to put an end to the Dhimmi-crats’ destructive, one-party dictatorship in the state.
Unfortunately they ALSO voted to allow felons to vote, and refused to remove early parole eligibility for a number of violent crimes.
But at least the morons came to their senses and voted to make sure Uber and Lyft drivers are NOT employees, which would have literally ended their operations in the state.
I’m happy to hear that Uber and Lyft and their drivers defeated this ballot initiative. The Dhimmi-crat apparatchiks’ callous and arrogant efforts to restrict citizens’ means of making money in part-time jobs represented the quintessence of obnoxious despotism and interference with individual economic choice.
I wouldn’t be dancing in the streets about this. Like “sanctuary cities”, universities and woke companies in the People’s Democratic Republic of California will probably just decide to ignore the law and do as they please.
And as long as the PDRC satraps refuse to enforce the law, it is meaningless.
It is a paradox that the voters solidly rejected a core belief of virtually the entire state Democratic establishment, yet the Republican Party barely survives in California at the state level. There is a fundamental disconnect between the people and their state leaders, but the opposition party can’t seem to capitalize on that.