THE WRONG THING TO DO!
A generation ago, Rosa Parks launched the Civil Rights movement, which opened the door to equal opportunity for women and minorities in this country. Parks is against this deceptive initiative. Proposition 209 highjacks civil rights language and uses legal lingo to gut protections against discrimination.
Proposition 209 says it eliminates quotas, but in fact, the U.S. Supreme Court already decided--twice--that they are illegal. Proposition 209's real purpose is to eliminate affirmative action equal opportunity programs for qualified women and minorities including tutoring, outreach, and mentoring.
PROPOSITION 209 PERMITS DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN.
209 changes the California Constitution to permit state and local governments to discriminate against women, excluding them from job categories.
STOP THE POLITICS OF DIVISION
Newt Gingrich, Pete Wilson, and Pat Buchanan support 209. Why? They are playing the politics of division for their own political gain. We should not allow their ambitions to sacrifice equal opportunity for political opportunism.
209 MEANS OPPORTUNITY BASED SOLELY ON FAVORITISM.
Ward Connerly has already used his influence to get children of his rich and powerful friends into the University of California. 209 reinforces the ''who you know" system that favors cronies of the powerful.
''There are those who say, we can stop now, America is a color-blind society. But it isn't yet, there are those who say we have a level playing field, but we don't yet." Retired General Colin Powell [5/25/96].
VOTE NO ON 209!!!
KAREN MANELIS
President, California American Association
of University Women
WADE HENDERSON
Executive Director, Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights