Date: Monday, July 15, 2002 1:43 PM
From: Kevin Nguyen
Subject: Elections officials put Racial Privacy Initiative before voters
Racial Privacy Initiative
P.O. Box 189113
Sacramento, CA 95818-8113
(916) 444-2278
FPPC #1237969
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, July 15, 2002
Contact: Kevin Nguyen, 916/444-2278
Elections officials put Racial Privacy Initiative before voters
(SACRAMENTO) – California’s Secretary of State today reported full-count verification of 694,586 valid signatures (670,816 were required) submitted by proponents of the Racial Privacy Initiative (RPI), and campaign supporters hailed the official completion of the qualification phase of the measure, the first of its kind in the country.
“We’re pleased that the initiative is now qualified,” said Ward Connerly, Chair of the American Civil Rights Coalition. “This gives the people of California – and indeed, the nation, since this is the start of a national revolution – a chance to decide our future with regard to ‘race.’ We will give our society a chance to move forward, beyond restrictive and arbitrary racial boxes.”
The proposed constitutional amendment would largely end the governmental practice of classifying and tracking individuals by race, ethnicity, color or national origin. Upon qualification and passage, racial check-off boxes would be phased out in state and local government forms by 2005, with explicit exemptions for such areas as medical research and treatment, law enforcement and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
“This initiative will trim millions of dollars of racial snooping out of the bureaucratic budget,” said Ted Costa, CEO of People’s Advocate, Inc., a leading taxpayers group.
“No one chooses the color of his or her skin or any of several other categories used to place boundaries between Americans. Rather than artificially dividing us and establishing dependency programs that dilute our competitive spirit, it’s time to focus on that which unites us: namely, we’re all Americans” stated Valery Pech, a RPI steering committee member who was a plaintiff along with her husband in the landmark Adarand lawsuit. “The true measure of an American is not a category – it’s not an artificial box – we’ve been placed in for the sake of highlighting our differences. We don’t ask people about religion or sexual orientation – race should be accorded the same privacy protection.”
“State and local government should not have to foot the bill for the seemingly insatiable appetite of those who are obsessed over racial data collection,” Kevin Nguyen, RPI’s Official Proponent, pointed out. “The racialists’ curiosity is fed by a crumbling classification system that lacks standards, consistency and scientific legitimacy.”
The Racial Privacy Initiative is certified for the next possible statewide election, the primary election scheduled for March 2004.