Yesterday Oklahoma passed a ballot initiative banning preferences and discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, and sex in state and local government contracting, employment, and education (including public universities) — a.k.a. affirmative action — by an overwhelming margin, 59 to 41 percent. It joins California, Washington, Michigan, Nebraska, and Arizona — the other states that have passed these measures. In Oklahoma, as in the other states, Ward Connerly played the key role (with an assist from the Center for Equal Opportunity).
Much is being made today in the aftermath of the election of the nation’s changing demographics. Well, in an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic country, it is simply untenable for our governments and institutions to sort individuals by skin color and what country our ancestors came from, and to treat some better and others worse based on which silly little box is checked. Note that our fastest growing racial group — Asians — is frequently discriminated against in public university admissions by “affirmative action,” and that our largest ethnic minority group — Latinos — has recently been discriminated against in government contracting by such programs.