RE-LITIGATING PROPOSITION 209 IN CALIFORNIA: Twenty-four years ago, California voters adopted Proposition 209 by a margin of 55% to 45%. I am proud to have co-chaired that campaign.

Its operative clause, which is now part of the California Constitution, reads as follows:

“The state shall not 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.”

Proposition 209 thus outlaws race-preferential admissions policies, race- and sex-preferential hiring, and preferences for minority- or women-owned businesses.

The California Legislature has been gunning for it ever since. Proposition 209 supporters have twice beat back repeal efforts. But this year the lockdown made political organizing more difficult. This time our overwhelmingly Democratic legislators managed to place the repeal on the ballot for November. We are fighting back as best as we can. (And twenty-four years later, I am again co-chair of the campaign.)

Loyal Instapundit readers may recall that we had a dress rehearsal for this last year. Washington State voters successfully defeated an effort to repeal I-200 (Washington State’s 209 clone) at the ballot box. It was truly an Election Day miracle and a great tribute to the determination of Asian American grassroots organizations in Washington State (helped out by donations from generous Instapundit readers!).

This time there’s at least as much at stake, so I am asking for help again.

To California Voters: Please vote NO on the repeal effort (Proposition 16). (There are many reasons to vote no, but here some reasons that are less well known.)

To Everyone: Many of you probably have one or more California friends.   Please make sure they know about Proposition 16. If you have a California friend who is tempted to vote in favor of the repeal, please hog tie them and throw them in the cellar until Election Day try to persuade them otherwise. And if you have some extra money, please consider sending it our way. Right now our opposition is much better funded than we are. That’s okay. We don’t need as much money; we have much better grassroots support than they have. But we need more money than we have now. If we lose this referendum, the MSM will treat it as gospel that public opinion has permanently shifted on this issue. There will be no going back.