By Ashley Fan
Los Angeles News Group
SAN GABRIEL — “Stop divisive and racist Prop 16!” reads a giant banner, held up by masked protesters at a recent Arcadia rally. “Keep discrimination illegal!”
More than 500 community members drove in a car rally at Arcadia County Park on Aug. 8 to oppose Proposition 16, an initiative on the Nov. 3 California ballot that would legalize race-aware decisions in public college admissions, hiring and contracting.
Many disagree over whether affirmative action is inclusive or discriminatory, but no one doubts it is a divisive issue in the Asian American community. Members of a vocal portion of the community in California have become leading opponents of Proposition 16 — part of a deeper, contentious relationship between Asian Americans and affirmative action. “(Proposition 16) is unacceptable, unconstitutional and unfair to Asians,” said Fenglan Liu, a rally attendee and community organizer in the San Gabriel Valley.
When California adopted Proposition 209 in 1996, it became the first state to ban discrimination or preferential treatment based on race or sex in public education, employment and contracting. Controversial since its inception, the initiative has been accused of stymieing diversity in public institutions.
Last year, San Diego-based Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 5 to repeal Proposition 209. The motion soared through the California State Assembly and state Senate in June and will appear as Proposition 16 on November’s ballot.
Such opposing organizers as Liu may be experiencing déjà vu. In 2014, Senate Constitutional Amendment No.5 made a similar attempt at repealing Proposition 209. Strong opposition, led by Asian Americans, quashed the initiative.
This second time around has proven different. Conversations about racial equality have shifted within the Asian American community, with more young and diverse voices speaking out in support of Proposition 16.
When young voters turn out in November, they may turn the tide on affirmative action in California.
Local Asian American movements for and against the initiative have been unable to reconcile despite shared interests. Proposition 16 has been endorsed by many organizations, such as the California Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a legal advocacy group.
The opposition has been more homegrown, led by concerned parents and students who worry that California’s public universities will shut them out. A petition on change.org called “Vote No On Proposition 16 (ACA5)!” has collected a whopping 139,000 signatures and counting.
The debate has largely centered on affirmative action in college admissions, though the initiative will also affect public hiring and contracting decisions. Voter surveys conducted by AAPI Data, a research group at UC Riverside, have generally reported that more Asian Americans support affirmative action than oppose it. The research center, which disaggregates Asian American and Pacific Islander census data, found that opposition is most often led by Chinese Americans.
Opponents like Liu worry affirmative action will discriminate against Asian Americans, who have earned the largest proportion of undergraduate University of California enrollment since 2003. Liu imagined a disastrous future of unqualified doctors and lawyers as products of affirmative action.
“Why should schools lower their standards to let people go to school by the color of their skin?” Liu asked.
Opponents of Proposition 16 also have found affirmative action a superficial and unsatisfactory solution to inequality — “two wrongs don’t make a right,” said Wenyuan Wu, executive director of Californians for Equal Rights. Wu and her organization, which headed the car rally in Arcadia, say Proposition 16 devalues merit and legalizes discrimination without addressing systemic barriers.
“(Proposition 16) fundamentally rejects the principle of equal treatment by trying to legalize preferential treatment,” Wu said. “The bill does nothing about addressing root causes behind disparities and achievement gaps in education. We need equal opportunities, not equal outcomes.”
Victoria Dominguez, education equity director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, says distrust of affirmative action is often based on myths. Affirmative action is a holistic admissions process that considers an applicant’s background as one of many factors ? not an unconstitutional quota system, as many Asian Americans fear.
“A lot of misinformation and fear-mongering is being strategically put in our communities that don’t have an understanding or trust in our public institutions,” Dominguez said. “We’re not trying to villainize these folks. We understand where the hurt and mistrust is coming from.”
Whether affirmative action would actually harm Asian American students’ chances in college admissions is harder to assess. A report by the National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education, a research team at UCLA, compared admissions rates of undergraduate Asian Pacific Islander applicants in the UC system within the past 20 years to find out.
From 1997 to 1998, the year race-blind admissions policies were implemented, admissions rates for those applicants declined at five of the eight UC campuses (excluding UC Merced, which opened in 2005). By 2009, admission rates for Asian Pacific Islander applicants had decreased at every UC campus except UC Riverside.
The report concluded that UC admission rates do not provide adequate evidence that Asian Americans benefit from race-blind college admissions policies, suggesting that Proposition 209 actually harmed Asian Pacific Islander applicants. Still, declining admission rates may have been confounded by demographic increases in Asian Pacific Islander applicants.
As California universities’ student bodies become more diverse, their institutions are responding as well. In June, the UC Board of Regents unanimously endorsed ACA 5, and California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White published a commentary supporting ACA 5.
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