California voters will face the question of affirmative action once again

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

The California Senate Wednesday voted to send the question of affirmative action to the voters in November.

The two Asian American members of California's state Senate voted on opposite sides Wednesday when the Senate voted 30-10 to put ACA 5 on the November ballot.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5 (ACA5) would allow for consideration of race and gender in public education and public hiring and contracting by overturning Proposition 209, which banned the use of affirmative action and was passed by voters in 1996.

Diamond Bar Republican Sen. Ling Ling Chang said that ACA 5 amounted to legalized racism, and drew parallels with Legislature's support of the Chinese Exclusion Act which discriminated against Chinese immigrants into the 20th century.

"The problem with ACA 5 is that it takes the position that we must fight discrimination with more discrimination," Chang said.

Voting for ACA 5, state Sen. Richard Pan, a Democrat, said: "Why do we support ACA 5? Because we understand that by the time you get to the college application process, structural racism ensured that people are not at the same starting point, no matter what your talent is."

Pan said the current ban on affirmative action is “blindness towards structural racism… This is an issue of fairness and equal opportunity for all Californians.”

Pan is vice chair of the the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, which formally endorsed the measure on Monday.

In the California State Assembly, Asian Americans were clearly split along partisan lines earlier this month. Eight Democrats supported the measure, while three Republicans opposed it. Two Democrats and one Republican sat out the vote.

Since the implementation of Prop. 209, enrollment of Blacks and Latino students at the state's colleges dropped while the number of Asian American students rose.

Since 1995, the number of black and Latino students admitted to UCLA and UC Berkeley dropped by 70% to 75% at the UCLA and UC Berkeley, compared to just 35% and 40% for Asian and white applicants, according to Patricia Gándara, a research professor of education at UCLA and co-director its Civil Rights Project.

According to Market Watch, Asians account for 33% of the undergrad and graduate student body, followed by Latinos at 22%, Whites at 21% and Blacks at 4%.

These figures do not reflect California’s population, where Latinos account for 39% – the largest ethnic group – and Asians account for 15%.

The University of California Board of Regents recently endorsed their support for ACA 5.

Despite the loud protests against ACA 5 by some Asian Americans, mostly first-generation immigrants, the vast majority of AAPI support affirmative action, according to AAPI Data.

The vote that would repeal Prop. 209 comes at a time when the nation is coming to grips and gaining the realization of the extent of systemic racism in the country's institutions, including education spurred by the death of George Floyd and other unarmed Blacks at the hands of police and vigilantes.

The senators debated the measure for two hours before the emotional vote. 

"I know about discrimination. I live it every day. We live it in this building," said state Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, who is Black. "Quit lying to yourselves and saying race is not a factor … the bedrock of who we are in this country is based on race."

Asian Americans in center of brewing affirmative action fight in Calfornia; Assembly passes ACA 5

SCREEN CAPTURE / YOUTUBE

California Assemblymember Evan Low voted to approve ACA 6,

UPDATED Jun 13, 12:20 p.m. to correct the vote of AAPI legislators.

George Floyd's death hung over the California Assembly Wednesday as the legislative body voted on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5, a measure that would repeal Prop. 209 that banned affirmative action.

“I’m so grateful I didn’t have to convince you that racism is real, because George Floyd did that,” Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego and the author of the proposal, told her colleagues before a vote was taken.

In the end, the Assembly voted along party lines, 58-9, to let voters decide whether to repeal the amendment. The state Senate must vote on the measure before June 25 if the question is to make on the November ballot.

The partisan vote also exposed the rift within the Asian American community over the issue of affirmative action.

Most of the Assembly's AAPI members voted for the measure. Two Democrats — Ed Chau of Monterey Park and Kansen Chu of San Jose — sat out the vote.

Meanwhile, Republicans Phil Chen, Steven Choi and Vince Fong voted no. Republican Tyler Diep did not vote.

“I do not want to live in a state where the color of my skin or my race or my sex or my national origin determines my qualifications for a position, a job or entering to a college,” Choi told the L.A. Times. “I came here to this country to get away from ideologies like that.”

A similar attempt to overturn Prop. 209 via an amendment died in the Legislature in 2014 after a small, but well-organized opposition in the Chinese American community pressured some Chinese American lawmakers to vote against it.

Although studies show that the overwhelming majority of Asian Americans favor affirmative action, the small, but vocal Chinese American opponents made it appear to the mainstream media that they represented the majority of Asian American.

ACA 5 is supported by members of the API, Black, Latino and Women’s Caucuses, as well as leading business and civil rights organizations across California, including Equal Justice Society, the California Black Chamber of Commerce, Chinese for Affirmative Action and scores of faith-based organizations. 

Some Asian Americans fear ACA5 would make it harder for them to gain admission to the state's prestigious public universities — where students of Asian descent are overrepresented.

Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Silicon Valley, who is of Chinese descent said his office received more than 3,000 emails and phone calls opposing the repeal compared to just nine in support. Despite the opposition in his district, Low voted in favor of ACA 5.

"It’s about fear. It’s about race. It’s about the loss of power. Asian-Pacific Islanders, particularly the Chinese community, fear the loss," Low said, adding that he didn't run for office for "self-preservation."

“Some of the opposition want you to believe Asian Americans unilaterally oppose affirmative action. That is simply not true,” said Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco.

A national survey by AAPI Data found that a majority of respondents supported affirmative action programs designed to increase the number of underrepresented black and minority students on college campuses,” compared to 32% who did not. Of the six national origin groups surveyed — Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese — only a majority of Chinese-American respondents opposed the policy.

“We know that there is some intense mobilization in some parts of the Chinese community but we try hard to help explain that actually the Asian American community is quite diverse,” said Vincent Pan of Chinese for Affirmative Action. Pan is also the co-chair of Opportunity for All, an umbrella advocacy group pushing to repeal Prop. 209.

The political climate and the Asian American community has changed since 2014. Because of Donald Trump, Asian American voters have shifted decidedly towards Democrats and progressive issues. 

The state has grown even more diverse. As of 2019, Hispanics make up 39% of the state’s population while whites account for 36.8%, according to the US Census. Asians have grown to 15.3%.  African Americans have held steady with 6.5% of the state’s population.

Many Asian Americans and organizations have expressed their support for Black Lives Matter and the hundreds of thousands who demonstrated for equal justice in the death of Floyd.