Remember California in the mid-90s? Tupac
was the king of West Coast rap. California’s
governor supported denying public services
to undocumented immigrants. And voters decided
to end affirmative action. California has
changed a lot since then. Now, voters are
being asked to rewind the clock, and make
affirmative action legal again, something
that’s the case in 42 states. And it boils
down to this: Do equal rights mean no group
can have an advantage over another? Or is
it about recognizing that forces informed
by centuries of oppression make a colorblind
legal framework impossible? Enter the heated
debate over Proposition 16. Hi, I’m CalMatters
higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn,
and this is what you need to know about Prop
16 in under a minute. Prop 16 would allow
public agencies such as local governments
and state universities to consider race, gender
and ethnicity as factors in hiring, contracting
and admissions.
At UC Berkeley and UCLA, the state's most
competitive public universities, enrollment
declined for Black, Latino and Native American
freshmen once affirmative action was forbidden.
There’s long been a push to reinstate affirmative
action, but 2020 forced many Californians
to rethink systemic racism and how it keeps
the playing field unequal, helping to put
Prop 16 before voters. Supporters say reinstating
affirmative action can help to undo generations
of racism and discrimination. It would also
let state agencies directly target groups
of people who are under-represented, like
Black and women academics in university job
openings. Opponents say California is already
making strides that benefit people of color
and women in college enrollment and public
employment. So, vote yes if you believe California
should again allow for affirmative action.
vote no if you don’t. For more information
on Prop 16 and everything on the November
ballot, visit calmatters.org.
