Brandon Davis says the battle to protect affirmative action programs in Missouri isn’t about race, but “inequity.”
Davis, SEIU Missouri/Kansas state council political director, and his organization have linked arms with other local racial justice and civil liberties groups throughout the state to strike down an effort to ban race and gender-based policies in Missouri.
The WE CAN (Working to Empower Community Action Now) coalition is scheduling a public hearing in February to educate the public on the positive impact of affirmative action and the effort to keep a proposed ban off the Nov. 5 ballot.
Ward Connerly, leader of the American Civil Rights Institute, has successfully run similar anti-affirmative action campaigns in California, Washington and Michigan. Davis says Connerly and his followers use race to exploit some voters’ intolerance of inclusion.
“We see a general rift that these campaigns have created on race relations because they try to make it an issue of race,” Davis said. “It’s not an issue of race, but an issue of inequity.”
Lara Granich, executive director for Jobs with Justice, said, “We just don’t want to sit back and count on the courts on the issue. We’re taking the issue to the public.”
The hearing will discuss the potential damage that the initiative could have on the state. Goals of the hearing include a “decline to sign” effort aimed at educating voters on what they’re really being asked to sign, testimonies from an array of minority groups impacted by affirmative action, testimonies from states who have already banned affirmative action programs, and a sound foundation of facts about affirmative action.
The coalition consists of FOCUS St. Louis, ACLU of Eastern Missouri, Jobs with Justice, SEIU Missouri/Kansas and a number of other grassroots organizations in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas.
“We are acting as a conduit to ensure that voters and people in the community are armed with the information on how detrimental this initiative would be if passed,” Davis said. “It’s about organizations and people coming together to ensure that Missouri workplaces and education systems remain diverse.”
If passed, the amendment would eliminate a large number of affirmative action programs, such as scholarships earmarked for minority students and requirements for a minimum amount of participation in development projects by minority-owned and women-owned businesses.
“We still haven’t achieved equity where race or gender is concerned in many job markets,” Davis said. “Affirmative action is key if we are to achieve that equity.”
Missouri is one of five states – the others are Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska and Oklahoma – that Connerly, who is black, and his supporters are targeting as part of a concerted effort to put an end to affirmative action laws.
In California, minority enrollment rates for medical schools and law schools have declined significantly since race preferences in college admissions were banned in 1996. The percent of minorities entering UCLA’s law schools was 1.4 percent in 2000 compared to 10 percent in 1996. If Connerly and his minions are successful, similar outcomes could be store for Missouri and the City of St. Louis.
“The bottom line is it’s going to affect programs here and it’s going to have millions of dollars of impact,” said Charles Hatfield, attorney for Stinson, Morrison and Hecker Law Firm.
According to a state report, the total costs or savings to local government entities are unknown. But the City of St. Louis has indicated that it would result in a “significant fiscal impact to the City,” where more than 50 percent of its population is composed of minorities.
In the report, the City said evidence shows that minorities have lower incomes and net worth than non-minorities, minority group owners are underrepresented in the regional business community, and that minority-owned businesses have lower earnings than those owned by non-minorities. The City said, “unless prompted to do so by some sort of government encouragement, non-minorities in a position to offer opportunities to businesses do not typically offer these opportunities to minority businesses.”
If the ballot passes, it would also no longer be possible for the City to use narrowly tailored race-based preferences to address the income disparity, the report said.
At the time of the 2000 Census, the average income of a White household in the City of St. Louis was approximately $33,500, whereas the average income for a Black household was around $21,000.
To get the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative on the November 2008 ballot, supporters must collect roughly 150,000 signatures from registered voters in the state.
Before that can happen, Judge Richard Callahan must approve final wording for the summary, which was challenged by the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative last month. The group sued to have the summary Carnahan drafted reworded, claiming the summary language and title for the initiative provided by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan was inaccurate and unfair.
Davis said, “We’re going to win. We’re going to be the first state to turn Ward Connerly back.”
For more information on affirmative action or to participate in the WE CAN coalition go to www.wecanmo.org.