OCT. 7 UPDATE: We may see the end of the Ward Connerly anti-opportunity initiatives.
The Rocky Mountain News reported yesterday that voters in Colorado have rejected Amendment 46, Ward Connerly’s ballot initiative to destroy equal opportunity programs and policies in that state.
Coloradans soundly defeated this attack on equal opportunity because they know that thriving cities and states are built on strong and diverse communities and equal opportunity helps make that possible.
The Equal Justice Society was part of a broad coalition of groups supporting our allies on the ground in Colorado working to defeat the initiative. The defeat of Colorado’s Amendment 46 is the second time that a state’s electorate has rejected Ward Connerly’s deceptive and misleading anti-opportunity movement, and offers hope that Proposition 209 in California may be living on borrowed time.
The election of Sen. Barack Obama as our nation’s first Black president shows that we’ve made tremendous progress as a country. But to have that type of gain at the national level only to suffer setbacks to equal opportunity at the state level (as we’ve seen in Nebraska) shows that we’ve still got a long way to go.
This is a huge victory for Coloradans and for the country. Ward Connerly planned to bring anti-opportunity initiatives to five states with his dishonest tactics, but working with our allies in Colorado and across the country we kept him off three state ballots. And we’ve now defeated him in Colorado, one of the final two.
With victory in Colorado and a setback in Nebraska, we must continue our battle for equal opportunity everywhere.
Ward Connerly won’t stop. And we won’t either.
Support the Equal Justice Society’s efforts to continue our collective struggle for equal opportunty.
Join us at our 2008 EJS Annual Gala on Friday, December 5, from 6 p.m. to Midnight at The Regency Center, 1290 Sutter Street, San Francisco (click here for more details) or make a contribution today. Your support for our event or your donation will enable us to continue our work in expanding opportunity.