Why I’m Voting “Yes” on the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative
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Shawn Coleman, Denver Post, October 7, 2008
As a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, I pledged my support for Barack Obama, and when I go to vote on Election Day, I’m also voting “yes” on Amendment 46, known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative. It’s the right thing to do.
I came to this position after months of deep thought and personal reflection. As a person of color, I had concerns about the unintended consequences that the opponents of this measure claim.
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Amendment 46 specifically prohibits our government from using race or gender as factors in public hiring, public contracting or public education. Similar initiatives, met with overwhelming voter support in other states, have seen minorities and women thrive.
In California, minority students enrolled in the University of California system are much less likely to drop out. Black and Latino student enrollment is up at seven of nine UC campuses and women now constitute nearly 60 percent of the systemwide student population.
Race and gender-based affirmative action sets low expectations for minorities and women. Do we really want to continue policy that allows us to as a society say, “No, we can’t do better”?
{snip} Good parents, including my mother, know that the only way to break the cycle of inequity would be for her children to do something comparatively extraordinary. {snip}
In return, she expected excellence from us, teaching us that reliance on assistance programs is not the same as success, and that to be truly free you must be judged worthy exclusively on your merits absent of pity. {snip}
The assumption that a person who is a minority can only achieve greatness with accommodations breeds a culture that expects us to fail. Policy cannot cure bias; the only treatment for this social disease is the example of successful, undeniably qualified women and people of color.
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Good public policy is forged when we begin with where we agree. We all agree that the biggest obstacle to educational and employment opportunities is a person’s economic status. This is true in urban and rural Colorado and is consistent regardless of race or gender.
Affirmative action also allows us to take the easy way out by focusing on race and gender rather than the real and more serious and challenging problem of economic inequity. The biggest barrier to higher education is money. And the biggest barrier to long-term employment success is education.
To be clear, Amendment 46 prohibits only state institutions from employing preferential treatment programs. Targeted affirmative action programs will still be allowed by private and non-profit organizations provided they are not using public money to implement them.
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Join me in supporting Amendment 46, a true civil rights initiative that makes our state government treat us all equally.
Shawn Coleman is a Boulder County Democratic Party precinct captain.
(Posted on October 8, 2008)