Despite Title, I-200 Codifies Unfairness

Fri., Oct. 9, 1998

By Doug Floyd dougf@spokesman.com

There’s at least one point about which advocates and opponents of Initiative 200 agree, and it’s a logical place to begin a discussion ofthe controversial ballot issue.

The common ground is this: Certain segments of society, notably women and racial minorities, continue to be victims of discrimination in education and the workplace.

Proponents of the initiative say affirmative action hasn’t fixed that problem in Washington state after three decades, so it’s time to repeal the whole structure.

That is Initiative 200’s answer. It wipes out affirmative action wherever it applies to state or local government, or any of their political subdivisions. It does not replace affirmative action with any other means of overcoming the barriers that stand between victims of discrimination and full participation in society and the economy. It merely gets rid of the one vehicle which for the past generation has made impressive gains for women and minorities.

Not only does the initiative not offer alternative remedies to the unfairness its own drafters acknowledge, it undermines the innovative efforts of affirmative action backers to make the system work better.

Educational outreach programs, for instance, design school offerings that encourage girls and minorities to stay interested in science and engineering classes - fields in which they are underrepresented. Such programs would be considered “preferential treatment,” based on sex or race, and would be prohibited under Initiative 200.

Reasonable programs to identify select populations early in their schooling and prepare them to be competitive later in their education and career fields shouldn’t be banned.

It doesn’t require guesswork to foresee setbacks. They have happened in California following passage of Proposition 209, of which Initiative 200 is an imported clone.

It is easy to become confused over this initiative. Its title and its wording are seductive. They misrepresent it as advancing the very values it would undermine.

The initiative does not end discrimination, as it claims. It prematurely halts unfinished efforts to erase discrimination that has been in place not decades but centuries.

Affirmative action may not have worked perfectly so far but its achievements outweigh its failings. Eradicating it would be a serious step back from social justice.

Misleading language aside, the initiative prolongs discrimination and voters who believe in fairness should vote against it.

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