On November 7th Michigan voters will be asked to decide on a state Constitutional amendment to eliminate much of the still grossly insufficient progress that has been achieved in recent decades in the ongoing struggle against the systems of institutional racism and sexism. The deceptively named Michigan Civil Rights Initiative will not only eliminate all public sector affirmative action programs in the state of Michigan, but will also likely eliminate gender specific services such as women’s healthcare. The MCRI is the Michigan version of the 1996 and 1998 California and Washington Civil Rights Initiatives, all three of which have been led by millionaire businessman Ward Connerly. The MCRI is supported and funded by a litany of corporations, millionaires and white supremacists from right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch to the Mystic Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
The consequences in California and Washington have been devastating with drops in minority representation wherever the proposal took effect, particularly in employment and education. After the California initiative passed, dozens of employment programs pertaining to minority and female recruitment, appointment, promotion, transfer, training, and career development were immediately eliminated. Similarly educational and financial aid programs for women and minorities were abolished and minority enrollment in Washington and California universities has rapidly declined. Despite the fact that Michigan’s college-age population is nearly 20% African American, African Americans compose only 5.9% of the student body at the University of Michigan, even with the meager affirmative action programs that exist today. Judging by its effects in other states, the University of Michigan successfully argued in the 2004 Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger, the elimination of affirmative action is expected to cause minority enrollment to drop by an additional 75%.
Like the anti-gay marriage amendment of 2004, the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative is yet another attempt by capitalists and extreme reactionaries to divide the working class in the struggle against its common oppressor and to rollback the victories against systematic discrimination that it has achieved. The Socialist Party of Michigan calls for the expansion of affirmative action programs and the establishment of reparations in both the public and private sector as part of the struggle to abolish the real system of racial preferences in our society: the statistically indisputable white privilege that remains omnipresent throughout all of our institutions. We call on all Michigan workers to unite against this proposal and continue the struggle for the social equality