Racial Privacy Initiative Is a Needed Step Toward Equality

Add the state Commission on Aging to the list of groups attempting to fool Californians into voting against one of the best initiatives ever to reach the ballot.

The commission recently voted to oppose Proposition 54, the measure that would ban the state and local governments from classifying people by race, ethnicity, color or national origin when making decisions regarding education, hiring or public contracting.

In simpler terms, the initiative would put an end to the ridiculous ethnicity “check boxes” on many government forms.

As proponents of the Racial Privacy Initiative say in their ballot argument:

“The unrelenting, daily racial categorization of people by the government is one of the most divisive forces in American society. It is constantly emphasizing our minor differences, in opposition to our better instincts that tell us to seek our common interests and common values.”

Proponents, including Ward Connerly, this country’s most vocal and tenacious proponent of racial equality, note that even if a person refuses to categorize himself, some government workers have the authority to take a guess and check a box on his behalf, without his knowledge or consent.

Why on earth would the Commission on Aging oppose this attempt to stop the government’s game of color-coding all residents?

“We believe that the Proposition would have an adverse effect on both the ability to develop sound policy on issues affecting older Californians and on equitably delivering needed services,” the commission says in a letter signed by chairwoman Nancy Dolton.

“The Proposition’s prohibition on collecting, using or analyzing data on race, ethnicity, or national origin would create major obstacles to the research and analysis that are the foundation of effective planning,” the letter continues.

Not true. Proposition 54 deals with ethnicity, not age, and would have no impact on the government’s ability to determine where senior services are needed.

To “equitably deliver needed services,” the government simply needs to know what areas have the highest concentrations of low-income seniors. That can be done quite easily with existing statistics, without considering ethnicity.

To plan senior services, the only “research and analysis” should be to determine whether a person is a senior and whether he or she needs public assistance because of a lack of personal assets. Again, ethnicity shouldn’t matter.

The letter from the Commission on Aging is addressed to two directors of the American Civil Liberties Union, so you can bet that during the campaign, the ACLU will use the missive as evidence that “California’s seniors oppose Proposition 54.”

Opponents also will try to convince voters that the Racial Privacy Initiative would hinder medical research, especially into diseases like sickle cell anemia and diabetes which impact some ethnic groups more than others. That claim is shocking to voters, but again, it’s untrue.

The text of Proposition 54 specifically states that “classification of medical research subjects and patients shall be exempt from this section [of law created by the initiative].”

The initiative also exempts law enforcement, since ethnicity comes into play in areas such as assigning undercover officers to cases and avoiding race riots in prisons.

Seniors who are still making up their minds about how to vote should ignore the campaign ads and the misleading statements by their alleged representatives with the Commission on Aging. Instead, they should simply read the initiative for themselves in the information guide that was mailed to all voters, or online at www.voterguide.ss.ca.gov/propositions/2-3-4-text.html.

The plain language of Proposition 54 would force the government to view all of us as equals, and to quit using its left-wing version of racial profiling to promote discrimination and discord.

David Kline is a Sacramento native who has been writing about seniors' issues since 1991. He has served as Spectrum's editor for the past five years — a period that has seen the paper receive awards from the California Newspapers Publishers' Association and National Mature Media Awards program.