From The New Leadership Blog: By Christopher Arps I wrote several days ago that the American Civil Rights Coalition headed by Ward Connerly - a national leader striving for a "color blind society" - would be making an important announcement regarding ballot initiatives in several states next year. Yesterday in Kansas City, I attended and spoke at the press conference announcing the formation of the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative. It was the second stop on the five state tour of Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arizona, and South Dakota. The ballot measure will seek to ban government-sponsored race and gender preferences in public employment, public education and public contracting. Here is the actual proposed language: “The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting." Recent ballot initiative victories in Michigan, Washington, and California, have shown that that these measures passed with strong grassroots support. The internet has become a logical extension of the power of grassroots organizing; with its advantages of quick and cost effective communication. No doubt, the opponents of the measure will use scare tactics and blatant mistruths to distort the purpose of the initiative, but fortuntiately, the blogosphere will be able to counter them. Read more... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday April 25, 2007 Contact: Ryan Steusloff at 405-286-6500 Or, Jennifer Gratz at (517) 281-6738 or (916) 444-2278 OKLAHOMA CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE LAUNCHES ANTI-PREFERENCES CAMPAIGN Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - The Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative is moving ahead with plans for a November, 2008 ballot measure banning government-sponsored race and gender preferences in the state. The Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative will be part of a 'Super Tuesday for Equal Rights' campaign that will offer citizens of several states the chance to end such practices in public employment, public education and public contracting. Similar measures have already passed in three other states, all by overwhelming margins. "We believe the people of Oklahoma are fair and believe in equal treatment under the law," said Rep. Randy Terrill. "Ward Connerly and his organizations have done excellent work exposing policies that divide us and now we are delighted to have his support in pursuing the Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative," Rep. Terrill continued. Connerly, chairman of the Sacramento-based American Civil Rights Institute and longtime crusader for a colorblind America, will also be speaking at the event. "Getting our nation to the point of applying a single standard to all Americans is one of the most crucial issues of our time," says Connerly, who helped lead the earlier successful anti-preferences campaigns in California, Washington state and, most recently, Michigan. "Racial preferences are nothing but state-sponsored discrimination. How can we look the other way when Americans are being deprived of their right to full and equal treatment under the law? If events of the past couple of weeks have taught us anything at all, it is that race will continue to divide our nation as long as long as we insist on treating people differently based on nothing more than the color of their skin or the origin of their ancestors,” said Connerly. “Both Don Imus, in his appalling comments on the Rutgers women's basketball team, and those who rushed to judgment in the Duke lacrosse case made the same mistake: they looked at individuals and saw only skin color. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we have to get past that kind of thinking - and we must start by getting our government out of the business of privileging some citizens because of their race or gender and penalizing others," said Connerly. The operative clause of the proposed ballot initiative reads as follows: "The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting."

Labels: Decision '08

Posted at 4/25/2007 10:26:00 AM