Affirmative Action Defeat Met With Deafening Silence

The deafening sounds of silence that announced the landslide passage of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 2) in Michigan indicate how the main stream media put their imprint on “news.” Each day I searched the San Francisco Chronicle for news of Ward Connerly’s attack on affirmative action in Michigan. Each day there was nothing. In fact, the latest interest the Chronicle appeared to have in the matter was October 30, a week before the election, when it reported a Michigan poll showed Proposition 2 was in a dead heat for passage.

Not surprisingly, the dead heat turned out to be a sixteen-point victory for Proposition 2, 58 percent for, 42 percent against. Mr. Connerly has already succeeded in having similar propositions passed in California and Washington.

The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative makes it unlawful for all public employers and public contractors, as well as public schools, to discriminate or grant preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, skin color, gender or national origin.

I don’t think the point has ever registered in the minds of Liberals that, in order to grant favors to one group, you have to discriminate against another. For those that think such discrimination is necessary for Blacks and Hispanics to progress, I would like to call their attention to the successes that Asian immigrants have had in America.

Naturally, Liberals are blind to minorities that don’t need their help, like the Asians. In fact, in California, Asians have done so well that they are now one of the groups that Liberals want to take from to give preferences to Blacks and Hispanics. To a Liberal, success means that you’re a target for discrimination.

Proposition 2 was opposed by Democrats, some Republican leaders, labor unions, the Catholic Church, major media outlets, the University of Michigan, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Against this formidable opposition, Ward Connelly only had the support of reason and fair treatment. It was no contest.

When a “blue” state like Michigan joins blue states like California and Washington, and gives an overwhelming defeat to affirmative action, Ward Connerly can proudly say that “affirmative action is dead.” The United States is well on its way to becoming the color-blind nation of Reverend King’s dreams.

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