Ward Connerly, a leader in the passage of Proposition 209 to end affirmative action, now has gathered enough signatures to put another proposition on the October recall ballot. .
Proposition 54, the Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Color, or National Origin (CRECNO) Initiative will appear on the October 7, 2003 ballot. CRECNO amends the California Constitution to ban the state or local government from categorizing individuals by race, ethnicity, or national origin for any reason. If passed, Proposition 54 would prohibit public agencies, schools and employers from maintaining records on race or ethnic origin, and will make it difficult for both the public and watchdog agencies to confirm that these public actors are complying with anti-discrimination laws. State agencies and private sectors are a primary source of the kind of data public health officials and professionals use to monitor and improve the public's interests. In addition, it would have a major impact on state sectors such as, healthcare, education and housing.
There is a rebuttal to why Proposition 54 might actually help Californians. This initiative could help California government from consuming itself about racial issues and to face the real problems that our state faces. This could create a colorblind state so that we can see people and organization for what they stand for and not what they are on the exterior. Throughout California and all of our American history, federal and state governments have separated Americans into various racial and ethnic groups. Our civil rights laws were adopted to end prejudice and discrimination and this is one step further into this process. While these laws tore down many of the barricades between the races, many states continue to see its constituents based on their race and ethnicity. Given the remarkable obscurity of racial ties in California, the number of people who decline to state their race and ethnicity has increased considerably.