INSTANT ACTION FREEP! A Message From Ward Connerly

or call 916-444-2278 to get a petition and pledge your support to getting the Racial Privacy Initiative on California's November ballot.

This historic effort will end government-sponsored racial classifications and bring us all together as Americans.

So time is of the essence. I really need your help now. RPI is attracting support from all across the political spectrum, including the unanimous endorsement of the American Conservative Union, the California Congress of Republicans, the Republican Women's Federated, the California Libertarian Party, The Interracial Voice and The Multiracial Activist, and many moderate Democrats.

HEDGECOCK LIKES IT
As talk show host Roger Hedgecock said recently when he was hosting the Rush Limbaugh show: "This initiative is about going on offense to end officially-sanctioned racial divisions that prevent us from being seen as equals in the eyes of our government."

He is right! RPI is about tipping over the trough of useless racial data that feeds the power of organizations such as the ACLU, the NAACP and MALDEF as well as shakedown artists such as Jesse Jackson and race-mongers such as Al Sharpton.

Our final turn-in date of April 10, 2002 looms closer and closer, and we need as many petitions in by March 31 as possible to allow us enough time to process, sort and validate the signatures.

VOLUNTEER
Not only do we need pledges; we need volunteers who will go the extra mile and get 100 signatures each and ask some of their friends and family members to do the same. 100 signatures will earn recognition in our Century Club. Century Club members will receive a custom T shirt and signed photograph of Ward Connerly, Shelby Steele, and Tom Sowell, the icons of this movement to end racial preference schemes. As conservatives, we cannot achieve needed changes in public policy by relying on the liberal California Legislature to do what is right, or the media to help us get our message out. No, we have to take matters into our own hands now and then and demonstrate our strength through self-government techniques such as the initiative process. Getting 100 signatures only takes a few hours of your time, but the reward of doing so can affect the course of history.

Making changes such as RPI can be a lonely endeavor, but we can do it if we work together, as we learned with Proposition 209. Personally, I will spend whatever time it takes and endure whatever attacks are made against me by those who want Americans to remain divided by race to ensure our success.

But, I cannot do this by myself. I need you to put forth a little extra effort to gather signatures from California family members, friends and neighbors and to send these signatures in by March 31 if we are going to make our April 10 goal of 1,100,000 total signatures.

Together, let's send the race-mongers a strong message that we are tired of them using our government to peddle their nonsense.

Prohibition Against Classifying by Race by State and Other Public Entities

Section 32 is added to Article I of the California Constitution as follows:

Sec. 32. (a) The state shall not classify any individual by race, ethnicity, color or national origin in the operation of public education, public contracting or public employment.

(b) The state shall not classify any individual by race, ethnicity, color or national origin in the operation of any other state operations, unless the legislature specifically determines that said classification serves a compelling state interest and approves said classification by a 2/3 majority in both houses of the legislature, and said classification is subsequently approved by the governor.

(c) For purposes of this section, “classifying” by race, ethnicity, color or national origin shall be defined as the act of separating, sorting or organizing by race, ethnicity, color or national origin including, but not limited to, inquiring, profiling, or collecting such data on government forms.

(d) For purposes of subsection (a), “individual” refers to current or prospective students, contractors or employees. For purposes of subsection (b), “individual” refers to persons subject to the state operations referred to in subsection (b).

(e) The Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) shall be exempt from this section with respect to DFEH-conducted classifications in place as of March 5, 2002.

(1) Unless specifically extended by the legislature, this exemption shall expire ten years after the effective date of this measure.

(2) Notwithstanding DFEH’s exemption from this section, DFEH shall not impute a race, color, ethnicity or national origin to any individual.

(f) Otherwise lawful classification of medical research subjects and patients shall be exempt from this section.

(g) Nothing in this section shall prevent law enforcement officers, while carrying out their law enforcement duties, from describing particular persons in otherwise lawful ways. Neither the governor, the legislature nor any statewide agency shall require law enforcement officers to maintain records that track individuals on the basis of said classifications, nor shall the governor, the legislature or any statewide agency withhold funding to law enforcement agencies on the basis of the failure to maintain such records.

(h) Otherwise lawful assignment of prisoners and undercover law enforcement officers shall be exempt from this section.

(i) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting action which must be taken to comply with federal law, or establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, where ineligibility would result in a loss of federal funds to the state.

(j) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as invalidating any valid consent decree or court order which is in force as of the effective date of this section.

(k) For the purposes of this section, “state” shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the state itself, any city, county, city and county, public university system, including the University of California, California State University, community college district, school district, special district, or any other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within the state.

(l) This section shall become effective January 1, 2005.

(m) This section shall be self-executing. If any part or parts of this section are found to be in conflict with federal law or the United States Constitution, the section shall be implemented to the maximum extent that federal law and the United States Constitution permit. Any provision held invalid shall be severable from the remaining portions of this section.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.