Keep OCRI Off the Ballot!
Defend Affirmative Action & Desegregation!
No Voter Fraud in Oklahoma!

Supporters of the deceptively named “Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative,” the referendum to ban affirmative action programs, used trickery and racially-targeted voter fraud to gather the signatures required to secure a place on the ballot. They consistently lied and misrepresented OCRI as being “for affirmative action” when approaching minority voters with their petition. (Find out about the voter fraud they perpetrated which was confirmed by state officials and a federal judge in Michigan.)

In addition, according to the Oklahoma Secretary of State, OCRI’s petitions contain countless garden-variety irregularities, such as whole pages of signatures in the same handwriting, and 92 signatures listed as residing at the same address—which is NOT an apartment building. With barely enough signatures to qualify—even counting those that are fraudulent—it is obvious that OCRI can be stopped. It is also clear that the only way to defeat OCRI is to keep it off the ballot.

Proponents of OCRI promote four myths:

1) that racial discrimination is no longer a significant factor in our society;
2) that admissions criteria of colleges and universities are racially neutral;
3) that because of 1 and 2, any special consideration of race is a “preference”;
4) that a ballot referendum, because it relies on “majority rule,” is democratic.

The first myth, that racial discrimination in our society has been dramatically reduced, if not ended, is patently untrue. Racial disparities exist in every aspect of our society, independent of class. Inequalities are present in the criminal justice system (white and minority first-time offenders are given vastly differently sentences for the same crime); in healthcare (white patients are more frequently referred for life-saving medical procedures than minority patients with the same healthcare coverage); in the job market (applicants who have “white sounding” names get called for interviews at much higher rates than applicants with black, Latino or Native American-identified names when the resume is identical)—and the list goes on in the areas of housing, lending and almost every other aspect of life.

The second myth, that the main admissions criteria used by colleges and universities—GPA and standardized test scores—are neutral measures of merit, is also a lie. GPA is not a neutral standard because the vast majority of black, Latino and Native American students attend K-12 schools that are separate and unequal. Their schools have much higher concentrations of poverty, fewer certified teachers, greater turnover and instability of both teachers and students, a weaker curriculum (fewer honors and AP courses, etc.); more overcrowding and fewer overall resources.

Those minority students who attend predominantly white schools still face racial stereotyping, tracking, hostile climate and the burden of representing their entire race in the classroom.

Standardized tests are not neutral criteria because they are normed (made statistically consistent) using a method that advantages white students. White students have average combined scores that are respectively 125, 208 and 292 points higher than those of Native American, Chicano and African-American backgrounds. These disparities are independent of income—in fact, as Ward Connerly himself admits, black students from the highest income levels score lower than whites in the lowest income levels.

More importantly, test scores provide admissions officers with no additional information regarding the academic performance or potential of applicants. Even the manufacturers of the tests have been forced to give up any claim that the tests measure “aptitude,” “intelligence” or any similar quality. In fact, in a study of thousands of applicants to UC-Berkeley’s famous Boalt Hall Law School, researchers found that black students with the same grade point average in the same major in the same college scored 9 points less on the LSAT than their white counterparts—a gap wide enough to bar them from any law school if the test scores are not evaluated in the context of the applicant’s race.

Given the racial bias inherent in both GPA and tests scores, consideration of an applicant’s race is not a “preference”, but merely a modest measure to offset the bias that would otherwise exist in the admissions process.

The last myth—that ballot referendums are the most democratic form of legislation—is also false. “Let the people decide” is just a populist way of saying white voters should be empowered to use their numerical advantage to protect white privilege and to take away the rights of minorities. This is not democracy—it is tyranny by the majority over a minority.

The votes on identical referendums in California, Washington and Michigan were overwhelmingly racially polarized: in Michigan for example, over two thirds of white voters voted for the initiative, but nine out of 10 black voters voted against it. Even if EVERY black, Latina/o, Asian and Native American voter had voted NO, they could not have overcome their numerical disadvantage.

The 14th Amendment was passed by the post-civil war Congress to protect freed slaves from this exact situation. A ballot referendum that seeks a constitutional amendment to outlaw the consideration of race to overcome institutional racism doubly injures minorities. It both outlaws the measures minorities need to progress towards equal standing in society and it cements those laws in the constitution through a political process that the minority has absolutely no chance of overturning. Such a law in unquestionably unconstitutional.

OCRI is no different from the poll tax or the grandfather clause of the Jim Crow South. It is a law that on the surface may appear “racially neutral,” but in practice denies only blacks, Latinos and Native Americans the right to equal access to higher education and the ability to seek and secure social measures to overcome discrimination.

OCRI is nothing less than an effort to give a white majority electorate the opportunity to permanently enshrine its racial privilege in the State Constitution, deceitfully cloaking its attack on racial minorities in a language of “fairness” and “civil rights.” OCRI can be stopped. If we act today, Oklahoma can be the model for Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona and Missouri and the forces of progress and civil rights will prevail.

OCRI CAN BE DEFEATED!
Join the Challenge To Keep OCRI Off the Ballot!
Call a BAMN organizer today:
Heather Miller: 313-645-9360
Tristan Taylor: 313-445-1479
Candice Young: 313-445-1480