Do not be fooled by the name Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, proposal number 2 on this November's ballot. First off the amendment is being
Financed by out of state entrepreneurs who are interested in the destruction of Affirmative Action. These individuals were successful in passing a nearly identical bill in California called Prop. 209. A report on
The Potential Impact of MCRIis worth reading. Here is a list of some of the detrimental effects of Prop. 209 and what we can expect to see if MCRI should pass.
• Ongoing legal challenges–including litigation, administrative complaints
and threats of legal action–against the state, counties, municipalities and
school districts that are perceived, rightly or wrongly, as operating
educational, employment or contracting programs that consider race,
gender, ethnicity or national origin
• Diminished access by minority- and women-owned businesses to
government contracts
• Drops in hiring of faculty of color and women faculty in the state’s public
universities
• Nullification of the Grutter v. Bollinger decision in Michigan, because that
decision permitted, but did not require, consideration of race and ethnicity
in college admissions
• Decreases in college enrollment of underrepresented students of color,
particularly in the state’s more selective institutions, that are likely to
worsen over time, making it very difficult to maintain a diverse student
body, provide significant access to opportunity, or prepare students for
life and work in the 21st century
• An accompanying decrease in diversity among the public college and
university graduates that businesses in Michigan and throughout the
country seek to hire, quite possibly causing businesses to look elsewhere
for employees
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• A resulting decrease in the number of doctors, lawyers and other
professionals willing to serve the state’s and nation’s underserved
communities, with serious implications for health status and leadership
development in communities of color
• Elimination or amendment of targeted programs and services designed to
increase access and opportunity, including:
College outreach programs that take place using public
facilities or funding and that target participants based on
race, gender, ethnicity or national origin, such as pre-college
preparation programs or summer science programs
designed to increase the participation of girls or minorities in
science and math
Recruitment or apprenticeship programs designed to
increase opportunity for minorities and women in the skilled
trades—fields in which their access has historically been
very low
Higher education funding for minority health professionals,
who are more likely to practice in under-served
communities
Outreach and funding for minority and female math, science
and technology teachers
Government outreach programs that ensure that women-
and minority-owned businesses have a fair chance to secure
government contracts
Scholarships, fellowships and grants at all levels of
education that take gender, race, ethnicity or national origin
into account, including those designated for students
descended from various European nationalities
Review systems designed to monitor and address barriers to
achieving full participation, such as discrimination based on
race, gender, ethnicity or national origin
Efforts to ensure adequate representation of women and
minorities on boards and commissions, including advisory
boards dealing with corrections, education and public
health.66
Please Read the Reoprt. And Please Vote NO on Prop. 2 this November 7th.
