Garin K. Hovannisian is most unimpressed with UCLA's student protest against California's proposed Proposition 54, aka the Racial Privacy Initiative, which would block the collection of race information on California’s students, contractors, and employees. There are many loopholes, of course, all of which have escaped the not-well-organized and fairly-clueless protestors:
The rally began when a student approached the microphone and yelled, “We don’t got the money like Ward Connerly and all the Republicans in Sacramento, but we’ve got the power of our voice.” Then, one of the leaders of the rally began, with a sizeable audience following, the extended chant, “We are what diversity look like! This is what diversity look like!”
..A one-page handout entitled “NO to the Information Ban” that was being distributed by my picketing peers better encapsulates the four main reasons given to reject the Racial Privacy Initiative.
The first reason is “Health”—“Information on healthcare is critical for healthcare professionals to understanding who is most affected by certain diseases”. True, but we must remember that Prop 54 is only against government’s use of race as a category, not a private hospital’s or a healthcare provider’s...
The second reason is “Education”—“Statistics show that the state falls short of providing a sound, quality education to all children without regard to race, color, or national origin.” Putting aside the valid case against a state-sponsored education system, this statement is also true. Nevertheless, its union with the anti-Prop 54 crowd is rooted in a blatant conceptual contradiction. If a student should be accepted to a college “without regard to race, color, or national origin” (as the flyer puts it) then “race, color, and national origin” should not be a factor in admission board judgments...
The third reason is “Safety”—“Statistics are essential to law enforcement and community groups in fighting hate crimes.”...[but]...Proposition 54 plainly states, “Exemptions include: law enforcement descriptions…”
And finally, the fourth reason is “Employment”—“In the year 2000 alone, more than 27,000 reports of employment discrimination were filed in California—race being the number one basis of discrimination.” Here, it is essential to note that the classification of a given person by race will lend no more credibility to the employment discrimination reports than they already have...
The opponents of Proposition 54 reflect a social vision in which color takes precedence over character; race over intelligence...Thirty minutes into the presentation, I noticed a lone student, standing toward the back of the stage, holding up a sign that read, “Yes on 54. No to bigotry.” Then, slowly, two demonstrators, carrying a bigger sign—prettier too, I admit—that read “Vote no on Prop 54” besieged and covered the lone student and his ordinary hand-made banner. It makes you wonder how they can claim, “This is what diversity looks like.”
Yes, it does make you wonder, because the only diversity these protestors value is that of race, and it seems that race is extremely important to them for employment purposes, college admissions, and the like. In other words, the mirror image of the segregated US in the early part of this century. These agitators want to turn back the clock and make sure that people are judged by the color of their skins, not the content of their character.
Posted by kswygert at October 7, 2003 10:50 AM