The Passage of Proposition 209 in California

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the content and intent of California's Proposition 209. Those who supported and those who opposed the proposition are discussed, as well as the arguments that supported their position. Also studied are the effects or lack of effects Proposition 209 had governmental, business, and educational services.

From the Paper:

"The language of the original Proposition #209 (public initiative) sounded like civil rights legislation from the 1960s, and was intended to sound that way; but according to detractors, the law sought to reverse civil rights gains from that era. The title, "Prohibition against Discrimination or Preferential Treatment by State and other Public Entities," had an anti-discrimination ring to it, and one of the #209 campaign themes, played heavily on television, was the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. line, that people should be judged by "the content of their character," not by "the color of their skin." But what all the slogans and even the title of the legislation actually meant was an end to many affirmative action programs in California."

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