Students were encouraged to lead a fight against the Racial
Privacy Initiative Wednesday night at an information session
organized by initiative opponents.
Coordinated by the Undergraduate Students Association Council
Academic Affairs Commission and the Affirmative Action Coalition,
the session informed students about the possible damage of the
measure. If made law in the March 2004 elections, the RPI would ban
the collecting of race-based data by the state.
Many students at the session said they had heard the measure
would create a colorblind society, get rid of biases and end
racism.
The joint efforts of student government, student groups and the
American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California were devoted
to explain why the RPI would do the exact opposite.
The measure ““ copies of which were distributed to all the
meeting-goers ““ calls for the ban of the
“(classification) of any individual by race, ethnicity, color
or national origin in the operation of public education, public
contracting or public employment.”
However, the RPI includes exemptions for medical research, law
enforcement and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
The language, beginning with the initiative title itself, is
deceiving, said guest speaker Malek Moazzam-Doulat of the ACLU-SC
to the approximately 40 students filling the Math Sciences lecture
hall.
The Information Ban ““ a term Moazzam-Doulat said was more
indicative for the content of the initiative ““ would result
in detrimental effects especially in public health and public
education, he said.
Moazzam-Doulat explained that target funding for education of
underrepresented ethnic groups would be prevented.
“Hate crimes would go on in darkness,”
Moazzam-Doulat added.
Campaign leader of the RPI and University of California Regent
Ward Connerly has contested that private organizations can conduct
their own race-based research without depending on the state.
Additionally, racial categorization is outmoded now, when people
often marry across race lines, Connerly says.
Initiative opponents are facing a challenge in the fight against
the Connerly camp, Moazzam-Doulat said.
Moazzam-Doulat added that Connerly, who has been leading the
battle to end affirmative action since the mid-1990s by
spearheading UC policies SP-1 and 2 and statewide initiative
Proposition 209, is wrong to believe ignoring the race problem will
make it go away.
“There is no magic, one-pop solution to the race
problem,” Moazzam-Doulat said. “The initiative
won’t change people overnight.”
But supporters of the measure argue that race shouldn’t
even be an issue in the public arena.
“I feel (the RPI) will be a significant step forward, away
from people always using the race card … especially in university
admissions process, race should not be an issue,” said Chris
Riha, a third-year business economics student and member of the
Bruin Republicans.
Addressing concerns that programs ““ such as university
outreach efforts ““ designed to attract people from
underrepresented communities may suffer under the RPI, Riha said if
people want to target certain groups, “they should target the
neighborhoods, not the race.”
Students attending the forum felt otherwise, saying
colorblindness will not cure societies race ills.
“We have to eliminate racism, but not by eliminating
race,” said Emerson Lego, fifth-year biology-chemistry
student and president of Samahang Pilipino.
Forum coordinators closed by stressing the impact of the student
vote.
“Students play a big role when it comes to social justice
issues with their ability to organize, educate and contribute to
the community,” said USAC Academic Affairs Commissioner Chris
Diaz.