NAACP Chair Determined to Block Passage of California's Proposition 54
Feature Story by Ritu Kelotra - 8/14/2003
Taking a firm stand to protect Californians, Julian Bond, chair of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), declared this week that he is geared for the battle against Proposition 54, which aims to bar the California government’s collection of racial data in all but a few exempted areas.Joined by many prominent community leaders, including Los Angeles Mayor James Kuhn and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Bond emphasized the need for Californians to register to vote by the October 7, 2003, election. Originally scheduled to appear on the March 2004 ballot, Proposition 54 will appear on the same special election ballot for the recall of Gov. Gray Davis.
“In 60 days the public must be educated as to the profound negative ramifications of Proposition 54, individuals must be registered to vote, and the people must get to the polls,” Bond said.
Although supporters of the initiative bill it as a step toward a “colorblind society,” Proposition 54 would assist in hiding statistics that often show discrepancies in the treatment and living standards for people of different races. The inability to classify citizens by race would make it nearly impossible to monitor some activities, particularly racial discrimination in law enforcement, hiring practices, and hate crime monitoring. Further, lack of such data could hinder antidiscrimination legislation and public program improvements.
Leading the effort to pass Proposition 54 is University of California Regent Ward Connerly, who also headed the Proposition 209 campaign to ban affirmative action in the state. But Bond is confident that community efforts to stop Connerly will be successful.
“The NAACP and the NAACP National Voter Fund will lend its voice to the scores of organizations in California working to defeat this sinister plot to undermine the enforcement of civil rights in California, “ Bond said. “Working with our allies in labor, clergy and other community based groups, we are determined to show Ward Connerly and his forces that this will not be a repeat of Proposition 209.”
