The Color Bind: California's Battle to End Affirmative Action

Portada
University of California Press, 1998 M04 17 - 320 páginas
The Color Bind tells the story of how Glynn Custred and Thomas Wood, two unknown academics, decided to write Proposition 209 in 1992 and thereby set in motion a series of events, far beyond their control, destined to transform the legal, political, and everyday meaning of civil rights for the next generation. Going behind the mass media coverage of the initiative, Lydia Chávez narrates the complex underlying motivations and maneuvering of the people, organizations, and political parties involved in the campaign to end affirmative action in California.

For the first time, the role of University of California regent Ward Connerly in the campaign—one largely assigned to public relations—is put into perspective. In the course of the book Chávez also provides a rare behind-the-scenes journalistic account of the complex and fascinating workings of the initiative process. Chávez recreates the post-election climate of 1994, when the California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) appeared to be the right-time, right-place vehicle for Governor Pete Wilson and other Republican presidential prospects. President Clinton and the state Democratic Party thought the CCRI would splinter the party and jeopardize the upcoming presidential election. The Republicans, who saw the CCRI as a "wedge issue" to use against the Democrats, found to their surprise that the initiative was much more divisive in their own party.

Updating her text to include the most current material, Chávez deftly delineates the interplay of competing interests around the CCRI, and explains why the opposition was unsuccessful in its strategy to fight the initiative. Her analysis probes the momentous—and national—implications of this state initiative in shaping the future of affirmative action in this country.

Dentro del libro

Páginas seleccionadas

Contenido

Origins Canon and Culture Wars on Campus
1
Hitting a Nerve The Angry White Males of 1994
39
The Opposition The Split between Northern and Southern California
77
The Republican Party and Affirmative Action How a Wedge Issue Cuts Many Ways
109
Feminists Minorities and the Democratic Party Democrats Search for a New Identity Politics
133
The Ground War at Ground Zero An Attempt to Revive the Grassroots
163
Countdown A Defining Moment or the Color Bind
186
Stumbling to the Finish Line Dole Grasps for Proposition 209 and the Opposition Reaches for David Duke
211
Afterword
243
Cast of Characters
255
Time Line
261
Notes
269
Suggested Reading
293
Index
299
Derechos de autor

Otras ediciones - Ver todas

Términos y frases comunes

Pasajes populares

Página 12 - It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Página 218 - where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! The
Página 20 - Neither the State of California nor any of its political subdivisions or agents shall use race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as a criterion for either discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group in the operation of the State's system of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
Página 20 - or agents shall use race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin as a criterion for either discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group in the operation of the State's system of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
Página 15 - race or ethnic background may be deemed a ‘plus' in a particular applicant's file, yet it does not insulate the individual from comparison with all other candidates for the available seats.
Página 55 - Any person, of whatever race, has the right to demand that any governmental actor subject to the Constitution justify any racial classification subjecting that person to unequal treatment under the strictest judicial scrutiny. The
Página 80 - discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group” on the basis of race or gender.
Página 112 - And you were the best qualified. But they had to give It to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is....
Página 55 - Amendments to the Constitution protect persons, not groups. It follows from that principle that all governmental action based on race... should be subjected to detailed judicial inquiry to ensure that the personal right to

Acerca del autor (1998)

Lydia Chávez is Associate Professor at the School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

Información bibliográfica