Woman Alleging Voter Fraud a Prominent Diversity Activist
| AR Articles on Racial Preferences in Education |
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| The Hollow Debate on Race Preferences (Jun. 2003) |
| The Cost of Affirmative Action (Dec. 1996) |
| More Blows to Affirmative Action (Jun. 1997) |
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| More news stories on Racial Preferences in Education |
A Face The State investigation has revealed that one of the individuals alleging voter fraud against a campaign devoted to ending racial and gender preferences is a longtime liberal activist with ties to multiple organizations promoting such policies.
On April Fool’s Day, Dara Burwell spoke at a widely covered Capitol press conference, alleging that she was misled into signing a petition in support of Amendment 46, the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, an effort certified for the November general election ballot by Secretary of State Mike Coffman, and one that seeks to abolish the use of gender and race preferences in government, education, and public hiring decisions.
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Burwell is alleging fraud based on the fact that the young black man who approached her for support of the initiative said it would help minorities. She maintains that he was being deceitful because he didn’t indicate that the initiative would explicitly ban race and gender preferences in state government.
“Given what he said, the language of the petition and also our shared experience as black people in this country, I believed myself to be signing a pro-affirmative action measure,” she told the Rocky Mountain News. “I signed the petition, handed it back to him and in turn he gave me a flier to a hip-hop event—which I felt was further confirmation of that recognition of shared experience.”
As FTS has learned, however, Burwell is very knowledgeable about diversity issues in Colorado, having been a leader in the state’s pro-Affirmative Action movement. A 2004 “Focus on Diversity” newsletter, published by the University of Colorado’s Office of Diversity and Equity, recognized Burwell as “an advocate of underrepresented communities, and for her work with the WRC [Women’s Resource Center] and the University of Colorado Student Union.” In 2003, she was named a CU “Equity & Excellence Award” recipient.
In 2006, Burwell served as a spokeswoman for 9to5, the “National Association of Working Women,” advocating a raise to Colorado’s minimum wage. She is now employed by Sixth Sun Consulting, a Denver firm that specializes in diversity training, according to its web site. The firm has a motto of “Internal Revolution. Organization Evolution.” Specific services advertised include “anti-oppression consulting and training,” “Reiki Energy Work,” “Transformative Coaching,” and “Enneagram Instruction.”
When asked by FTS how someone so knowledgeable about race and gender-related issues could be tricked into signing the initiative, Burwell said she “didn’t associate that [ballot] language with terminating any equal opportunity programs.” Burwell believes programs specifically designed for women and minorities are desirable because “we’re dealing with a lot of inequity in this society … that ‘non-discrimination’ clause would only work if we lived in an equal society.”
According to CCRI’s backers, its language would not abolish race-neutral outreach programs, and they maintain that programs promoting opportunity and access to state services would not be affected by Amendment 46’s passage. Only those programs granting an advantage based on race, sex, or other immutable characteristics would be prohibited.
“Any equal opportunity or Affirmative Action program that doesn’t include race or gender preferences will continue, as they have in all other states where similar initiatives have been passed by voters,” said Jennifer Gratz, director of state initiatives for the American Civil Rights Coalition. ACRI has successfully pursued voter-backed initiatives to abolish race and gender preferences in California, Washington, and Michigan. In addition, former Gov. Jeb Bush’s “One Florida” executive order had the same effect on state law, there.
Still, Burwell maintains that “eliminating race-preference programs is discriminatory because we people of color, women, etc., are not on an equal playing level with the people most privileged in society.”
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(Posted on April 18, 2008)
Comments
“Given what he said, the language of the petition and also our shared experience as black people in this country, I believed myself to be signing a pro-affirmative action measure,” she told the Rocky Mountain News. “I signed the petition, handed it back to him and in turn he gave me a flier to a hip-hop event—which I felt was further confirmation of that recognition of shared experience.”
Cry me a river. Notice the key phrase: this guy believe in “the language of the petition”. Yet now that he realizes the logical implications of his belief in these words - i.e. no more affirmative action - he feels he has been “duped”.
Posted by at 5:37 PM on April 18
The left in Missouri is making the same allegations.
C’mon, a dyed in the wool liberal egalitarian diversity activist is somehow “fooled” by CCRI petitioners? The answer is that she deliberately signed it just to be able to claim fraud later on and perhaps challenge a successful CCRI adoption by voters in the courts.
Honestly, the Connerly organization is making a big mistake by trying to push these measures as a means of “civil rights.” I think that’s a big reason why a lot of white people won’t sign them. “Civil rights” — they think pro-minority. The pro-affirmative action forces better hope that the Connerly people keep this mistaken tactic up.
Posted by Question Diversity at 5:54 PM on April 18
Absolutely RICH!! A black gittin’ flim-flammed by a homie for the price of a “hi-hop event” flier!! And then the spectacle of hearing her address the issue and her language and logic confusion issues on April Fool’s day! A priceless Mastercard Moment to say the least.
Posted by Flaxen-headed Strumpet at 6:15 PM on April 18
I would give anything to be the lawyer who gets to tear her apart on cross-examination if she ends up testifying to this…
Posted by Fletcher at 6:21 PM on April 18
“Burwell is alleging fraud based on the fact that the young black man who approached her for support of the initiative said it would help minorities. She maintains that he was being deceitful because he didn’t indicate that the initiative would explicitly ban race and gender preferences in state government.”
The unearned gravy train is nearing it’s final destination before permanent shut down. No wonder this “equal if White men didn’t exist” woman is trying to stop it from happening.
“Still, Burwell maintains that “eliminating race-preference programs is discriminatory because we people of color, women, etc., are not on an equal playing level with the people most privileged in society.””
I don’t believe that women are ever going to be equal to men just as I believe blacks are never going to be equal to Whites.
Men are vastly much more agressive than women. Also, Whites are vastly much more intelligent, disciplined and orderly than Blacks. I believe that this is why Whites outshine Blacks.
If Intelligence + Agression + Discipline = Result X.
Then Superior Intelligence + Superior Agression + Superior Discipline = Superior Result X.
If you take the view that Blacks are more aggressive than Whites you still will be hard pressed to show how that makes up for a lack of discipline and intelligence. Remember, Whites are not entirely passive as history has shown before and will likely soon show again.
Posted by True Resistance at 7:58 PM on April 18
In PC speak: “we people of color, women, etc., are not on an equal playing level with the people most privileged in society”
In English: “we lazy people are not on an equal playing field with those people who have real jobs and work really hard”
Maybe someone should apply for a job at her consulting company, Sixth Sun Consulting. When you don’t get hired, sue for discrimination.
Posted by Josh at 8:08 PM on April 18
When asked by FTS how someone so knowledgeable about race and
gender-related issues could be tricked into signing the
initiative …
Well, she could always claim a low IQ because she’s black. That way, the proposition is specifically descriminatory.
Posted by White Gene at 8:31 PM on April 18
I agree with poster ‘Question Diversity’ who says that this is a pretext for challenging the initiative in court.
Fortunately, when this line of argument was used in the Michigan courts, it failed.
Posted by Reader-1 at 12:06 AM on April 19
I fail to see where this woman was duped at all. The paper she signed to end racial preferences, had it been enacted, would have helped minorities by making them have to be self sufficient, naturally only according to the law.
Posted by The Old Sage at 12:17 AM on April 19
We, at Amren, should start our own petition demanding an end to the 15 point average difference between blacks and whites. The petition would be to God and our rational would be “people of color… are not on an equal playing level with the people most privileged in society” and “we’re dealing with a lot of inequity in this society”. The heading would simply say something like “to put an end to inequality”. You’d have to read further down, in the fine print, to find out the petition is to God and that it’s about the one standard deviation difference.
Posted by jewamongyou at 1:04 AM on April 19
same thing happened in michigan. “bamn” and the likes tried the same stunt, thank god the courts shot them down.
Posted by michigander at 7:38 AM on April 19
Years ago a jerk like this wouldn’t say a thing. They’d be too embarassed that they’d been hoodwinked. Not so today, theey’re proud of their stupidity and want everyone to know about it.
Tom Iron…
Posted by Tom Iron... at 8:47 AM on April 19
Ok heres my question. The article states that Dara Burwell is alleging fraud based on the fact that the young black man who approached her for support of the initiative said it would help minorities.
alleging fraud based on the fact
What fact? Referring to an ALLEGATION as a FACT does not make it a fact. Anyone can make anything up about what someone else said when not in the prsence of any witnesses and refer to it as a fact. I did not see anything in the article about where the young black man had been interviewed or questioned and the allegation made by Dara Burwell had been corroborated. I don’t know though maybe something was left out of the article. I kinda doubt it though. These people have a “by any means” mentality just like their martyr Malcolom X. Lie, cheat, or committ fraud themselves, the end really justifies the means.
Posted by ChiefofClanFearghus at 1:09 PM on April 19
And the moral of this story children: read before you sign.
Posted by at 1:34 PM on April 19
This kind of reminds me of an episode of The Man Show (old vehicle for Adam Corolla and Jimmy Kimmel) where the hosts set up a street-side stand asking people to sign a petition to “End the Suffrage fo Women in America.”
Within a few hours, they had dozens of women who had no clue that “suffrage” did not mean “suffering” but rather their right to vote, signing the petition, and some even waving flags and holding up signs and chanting things like “End the suffrage now! End the suffrage now!”
Posted by BW Sam at 3:09 PM on April 19
“The firm has a motto of “Internal Revolution. Organization Evolution.” Specific services advertised include “anti-oppression consulting and training,” “Reiki Energy Work,” “Transformative Coaching,” and “Enneagram Instruction.”
> This means that it is a New Age nonsense company, selling everything from “human dignity” via “diversity consueling/training to baseless, New Age health hokum. Their membership and public are usually high recreational drug users, neurotic, and conspiracy theory paranoids. No wonder she was fooled, she is used to responding to appearances reactively.
Posted by Whiteplight at 4:07 PM on April 19
This is what happens after you’ve worked hard to make language mean exactly the opposite of what it really means - sometimes your verbal dishonesty comes back to haunt you. Blacks who think “discrimination” means “not giving Black people preferential treatement” are likely to be fooled by an honestly-worded petition.
Posted by Doppelgangbanger at 4:10 PM on April 19
They run this scam in every state in an effort to get the pro-civil rights measure thrown out. Our enemies are some evil people. All they can do is hate.
Posted by Bernie at 9:22 PM on April 19
This is doubtless the same sort of dope who signed up in droves for subprime mortages.
Tom Iron has hit the nail squarely on the head here. Most of us would be ashamed of being blithering idiots, but some folks today actually seem *proud* of it.
The other Colorado ballot iniative I recently signed was the one that would ban “closed-shop” workplaces, in which a prospective employee is required to join a labor union as a condition of employment. We all know exactly what political party benefits from the union dues extorted from workers, so this one was also a no-brainer.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 4:54 PM on April 20
“Years ago a jerk like this wouldn’t say a thing. They’d be too embarassed that they’d been hoodwinked.”
That quote reminds me of a quote I read recently about ‘Earth Day’ attributed to Daughters of the American Revolution, “Subversive elements plan to make American children live in an environment that is good for them.”
With friends like that you don’t need enemies.
Posted by Dr. Smith at 3:19 PM on April 21
I was a resident of California when Prop 209 was on the ballot. It was purportedly to end affirmative action in state hiring and contracting. On election day, several Hispanic secretaries in my office said they went out at noon to vote for Prop 209 “to save affirmative action”!
It didn’t matter that it passed; Leftist administrators just ignored the law, even after the courts said it was constitutional. In fact, the University of California system even said it was a mandate to continue its diversity initiatives:
“The enactment of Proposition 209 in 1996 raised many questions about the status of faculty diversity efforts at the University of California. However, the UC President’s Task Force on Faculty Diversity found that the non-discrimination requirement in Proposition 209 can be understood as supporting the University’s commitment to provide equal opportunity in hiring, compensation, and all other employment programs. Where there is under-representation, the University must take steps to address the barriers that prevent full participation of minorities in academic careers. Further, schools and departments in every field can identify the academic values that are enhanced by a diverse teaching and research environment. Strategies to select and advance scholars with the expertise to foster those academic values are essential if UC is to maintain its excellence as a premier public institution.”
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/facultydiversity/executive-summary.pdf
Posted by sedonaman at 2:01 PM on April 25