The End of Affirmative Action, State By State

Do you think it's time to end affirmative action?

Well, your answer may not matter much because Ward Connerly thinks it is and he's leading the crusade to end all government race and gender based preferences. Guess what? He's winning.

Moving state by state by state, Connerly and his peculiarly named American Civil Rights Institute, have already led successful statewide campaigns that ended affirmative action in California, Washington and Michigan.

But Connerly and his supporters have their sights set on the next victories. ...

While many of us focused on the Democratic presidential primary dramas, Connerly (pictured to the right) and crew were hard at work pushing to get affirmative action ending initiatives on the ballots in four states.

If you live in one of these key states, take note. Your vote may be deciding even more in November than the next President of the United States.

Connerly is aiming to put deceptively named "civil rights initiatives" on ballots in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska. Connerly hails the vote in November as the "Super Tuesday for Equal Rights," and says that Barack Obama's political ascent proves that there is "no place for race in American life"

To be candid, the Obama candidacy gives me a great sense of pride, not because he and I are brown-skinned and multiracial. I am proud because we live in a nation that is demonstrating that the color of a person's skin is of little significance to us. For over a decade, I have been telling black people that they have it wrong when they characterize our nation as an "institutionally racist" one. I've argued that the American people are essentially fair and yearn to move beyond race into an era of "color blindness." The Obama candidacy validates that point.

Clearly Connerly and I live in two different America's. But now that his name's been brought into this, it's true that Barack Obama has yet to fully explain his position on affirmative action and has smacked down the idea that his girls should qualify for it:

In an interview last May on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," the senator was asked whether his own daughters should someday receive preferences. His response was startling: "I think that my daughters should probably be treated by any admissions officer as folks who are pretty advantaged." He added, "I think that we should take into account white kids who have been disadvantaged and have grown up in poverty and shown themselves to have what it takes to succeed." His comments lit up the blogosphere with speculation that as president he might spearhead a major policy change, shifting the basis of affirmative action from race to class disparities.

I believe a move toward class based affirmative action policy is overdue. I don't see why rich black children of Alpine, New Jersey should get more favorable consideration for college admission than poor white kids from Appalachia. But in the meantime, the transition should be handled carefully. Beyond the college front, there is a whole lot of money at stake in terms of how government contracts are doled out in business. Like so many aspects of American society, what this comes down to is less about black or white and more about green.

U.S. Job Woes

U.S. Job Woes
Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve, says the country is "in the throes of recession." His remark comes as he defends his chairmanship of the U.S. central bank, rejecting suggestions that his policies contributed to the current rough times. (Photo by Lauren Victoria Burke/ABC NEWS via Getty Images)
U.S. Job Woes
Graphic charts monthly unemployment rate for the past 13 months.
U.S. Job Woes
Commuters climb the stairs from a train station as they head to jobs in New York's financial district on Thursday, April 3, 2008. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the national unemployment rate rose from 4.8 percent to 5.1 percent, the clearest signal yet that the economy might already be shrinking. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
U.S. Job Woes
Job seekers use computers to search for jobs at the Marin Employment Connection April 4, 2008 in San Rafael, California. The Labor Department announced Friday that the national unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent and nearly 80,000 jobs were cut in March as worries of a recession grow. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
U.S. Job Woes
SAN RAFAEL, CA - APRIL 04: Copies of the California Job Journal are displayed for people to browse at the Marin Employment Connection April 4, 2008 in San Rafael, California. The Labor Department announced Friday that the national unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent and nearly 80,000 jobs were cut in March as worries of a recession grow. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)