The Color Bind: California's Battle to End Affirmative Action

By Lydia Chávez

Book Overview

The Color Bind tells the story of how Glynn Custred and Thomas Wood, two unknown academics, decided to write Proposition 209 in 1992 and thereby set in motion a series of events, far beyond their control, destined to transform the legal, political, and everyday meaning of civil rights for the next generation. Going behind the mass media coverage of the initiative, Lydia Ch vez narrates the complex underlying motivations and maneuvering of the people, organizations, and political parties involved in the campaign to end affirmative action in California.

For the first time, the role of University of California regent Ward Connerly in the campaign--one largely assigned to public relations--is put into perspective. In the course of the book Ch vez also provides a rare behind-the-scenes journalistic account of the complex and fascinating workings of the initiative process. Ch vez recreates the post-election climate of 1994, when the California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) appeared to be the right-time, right-place vehicle for Governor Pete Wilson and other Republican presidential prospects. President Clinton and the state Democratic Party thought the CCRI would splinter the party and jeopardize the upcoming presidential election. The Republicans, who saw the CCRI as a "wedge issue" to use against the Democrats, found to their surprise that the initiative was much more divisive in their own party.

Updating her text to include the most current material, Ch vez deftly delineates the interplay of competing interests around the CCRI, and explains why the opposition was unsuccessful in its strategy to fight the initiative. Her analysis probes the momentous--and national--implications of this state initiative in shaping the future of affirmative action in this country.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520213440
• ISBN13: 9780520213449
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

An even-handed first-rate account of Prop 209

Although many books have been written about the pros and cons of affirmative action, The Color Bind by Lydia Chávez is the first to trace a state initiative to do away with preferences in state hiring. Focusing on the bellwether state of California, Chávez follows Proposition 209 from its origins in the San Francisco Bay area--it was the brainchild of two obscure academics-- through the 1996 election.The journey is filled with enough dramatic moments, setbacks, and unpredictable turn-of-events on both sides to make the book read like a fast-paced novel. Chávez, an assistant professor at University of California-Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, interviewed hundreds of sources in California, Washington, D. C. and elsewhere. We are privy to strategy sessions, fund-raising meetings, and internal debates on both sides. On the pro-side, state political heavies seized the initiative for their own purposes-- Pete Wilson for an ill-advised run for the U.S. presidency, California Board of Regents member Ward Connerly for exposure and political advancement. Connerly, who is black, became the poster boy for the pro-209 camp. The irony was perfect: an up-by-the bootstraps African American Republican in favor of doing away with affirmative action.The effort to construct a cogent opposition fell apart amid turf battles that pitted feminists against civil rights advocates, northern California against southern California. In a brilliant strategic coup, the pro-209 camp was successful in controlling the wording of the initiative, which Chávez singles out as a key to their success. Dan Lungren, then Republican attorney general (now failed California gubernatorial candidate) was responsible for the title and wording that went on the ballot--the sum total of what most voters would read about the initiative. Though both sides agreed the initiative would end most of the state's affirmative action programs, the words "affirmative action" did not appear in the title or summary. Despite a law suit, Lungren prevailed, and the mom-and-apple-pie version made it illegal to "discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." Who could be against that? The stealth wording confused voters. Grass roots workers in the wasteland of South Central Los Angeles found, to their dismay, that minorities in the area supported the initiative, until it was explained to them. The Color Bind contains ample lessons for both sides of Prop 209--and not just about affirmative action, because, in the final analysis, the subject of the book is politics. In the 1998 midterm election, the Republicans, who ran ads reminding voters of Monica Lewinsky, would have done well to heed the mistake the Democrats made in the last days of the Prop 209 television advertisi

A unique and superbly written campaign book

Although there have been a ton of campaign books since Theodore White's Making of the President 1960, few have reached White's standard (even White's sequels grew tiresome) and none dealt with the referendum or initiative campaigns. Chavez' book does both. She has an eye and an ear for both the personalities and the drama of political campaigns. Not only is the book an entertaining read, it is also highly educational, an excellent study of the pitfalls of American "direct democracy." I highly recommend the book for the classroom or people who want to read the best of what American journalism has to offer.