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Lydia Chavez presents a remarkably even handed account of California's battle over Affirmative Action.

Non-Fiction

Color Blind

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Title:

The Color Bind

Subtitle:

California's Battle to End Affirmative Action

Author:

Lydia Chávez

Publisher:

University of California Press, 1998

ISBN

0-520-20687-8 (cloth)
0-520-21344-0 (pbk)

Affirmative Action is a USAn political hot potato, an issue which politicians avoid like poison. It is a policy started by Lyndon Johnson to remediate problems caused by segregation and prejudice. It can point to many successes, but over the years many stories have become part of USAn folklore that highly emphasize the failures of Affirmative Action.

In 1996 a citizen iniative called Proposition 209 was put on the ballot in California that effectively outlawed Affirmative Action in that state. The initiative used misleading language to confuse the voters, and supporters used political blackmail to prevent the opposition from mounting an effective campaign. Meanwhile the opposition was mired in infighting and betrayed by party politics. It was not one of the prouder moments of USAn democracy.

Lydia Chávez is an incredibly thorough journalist who has documented the events and people surrounding the Proposition 209 campaign. Even though it is clear that she personally had a lot to lose with the issue, she presents a remarkably even handed history. There are no saints in this story, nor demons; every participant's humanity is drawn in clear detail.

The political novice might be shocked to learn to what extent the foibles of individuals hold the fortunes of lofty ideals hostage, and how the winds of luck direct the sails of the ship of state. Chávez brings these things home to the reader as she deftly moves from one camp to the other, detailing the motivations and circumstances that lead to later events. The book is well organized and pleasant to read. Chávez takes great pains to present an impartial picture of the campaign, in spite of her very personal stake in it, and succeeds in satisfying her own goal of coming to understand - and helping her readers understand - "why a linchpin of the civil rights movement became unpopular and politically vulnerable."

More Information

Lydia Chávez is professor of journalism at Berkeley. At this time you can still see the spring 1997 issue of a webzine from the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism at this address, where Professor Chávez holds forth on international journalism, along with a Real Video clip of her talking.

There is a huge list of books on Affirmative Action posted by the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges. The American Association for Affirmative Action is one of many groups trying to promote Affirmative Action and the policy's goals.

One of the ironies of Affirmative Action is that, in order to combat the damage done by racism, it has to rely on the instutions created by racism, such as the socio-cultural construct of race. When opponents of Affirmative Action complain about this, they conveniently ignore the little problem that by making Affirmative Action go away, they don't make racism go away.