Affirmative action is one tool to provide individuals with access to equal opportunities and to remedy the present day and historic effects of discrimination. Anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives were approved by voters in California (Proposition 209 in 1996), Washington State (Initiative 200 in 1998), and Michigan (Proposal 2 in 2006), and have significantly set back efforts to expand access to higher education, employment, and contracting for women and people of color.
Now opponents of affirmative action are seeking to end equal opportunity programs and policies in Colorado, Nebraska and Arizona. Such a ban would put numerous inclusive business programs at risk, and dismantle widely supported programs aimed to increase diversity in public education.
Nebraska, Colorado and Arizona need your help! Please help support local efforts to preserve equal opportunity by 1) contributing directly to ballot initiative opposition campaigns; 2) signing up to receive national e-updates on efforts to preserve equal opportunity, and 3) educating your friends and colleagues on the importance of standing up for equal opportunity. Please visit the following sites to learn more about and support local coalition efforts:
Colorado – http://www.coloradounity.org/
Nebraska – http://www.nebraskansunited.org/
Arizona – http://www.protectarizonafreedom.org/
To stay informed about efforts to counter anti-Equal Opportunity initiatives, visit the Americans for a Fair Chance Project’s website at www.fairchance.org. You can sign up there for the weekly newsletter Affirmative Action in the News.
For additional information, please contact:
Sara Jackson
EJS/Impact 209 National Affirmative Action Coordinator
Equal Justice Society
220 Sansome Street, Suite 1400
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 288-8717
sjackson@equaljusticesociety.org