Affirmative Action and Civil Rights Measure

In “Affirmative Action Fades as GOP Issue in California” (June 13) the California Civil Rights Initiative was referred to as “an anti-affirmative action measure.” This is seriously misleading. CCRI will not prohibit affirmative action in the original sense of those words. Indeed, the words “affirmative action” do not appear in its text. CCRI prohibits discrimination and its corollary, preferences--period. Specifically, the measures states, “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.”

The distinction is important. The term “affirmative action” means different things to different people. To many, perhaps most, “affirmative action” means not only preferences (which they may abhor), but also a wide variety of benign, nondiscriminatory programs (which they may support). For example, nondiscriminatory recruitment programs designed to ensure that all persons, regardless of race, sex, color, etc., are made aware of the opportunities available to them and are treated with equal dignity and respect are often classified as “affirmative action.” Yet such programs, so long as they are nondiscriminatory, will not be prohibited or discouraged in any way by CCRI.

GAIL HERIOT

Co-Chair, CCRI Campaign

Los Angeles

* It is good to know that saner heads in the Republican Party have come to see the folly--and the political costs--of pushing for the passage of CCRI.

Studies have shown again and again that affirmative action benefits all, not just some, Americans. It is good for the economy and has had salutary effects on a society long segregated by race and organized around gender inequalities.

The CCRI, by contrast, is a shameful piece of legislation. It willfully distorts the language of civil rights and obscures the continuing legacies of racism and sexism. It can only further divide the country. Its supporters are fraudulent populists who claim to be against “special preferences” while securing such preferences for themselves and their constituents.

VICENTE L. RAFAEL

San Diego