The History and Future of Affirmative Action in California

The History and Future of Affirmative Action in California

Date and Time: Thu, Feb 18, 2021 @ 5:00 PM PST

Cost: FREE or donation; no KQED membership required, open to the community

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/on-common-ground-affirmative-action-in-california-registration-139543160349


Last year fifty-seven percent of voters rejected California’s Prop 16, reaffirming
a 1996 constitutional ban on affirmative action.

Supporters of affirmative action such as California’s first Black Secretary of State,
Shirley Weber, who introduced Prop 16 as an Assemblymember, say that the ban,
“...denies women and people of color a level playing field in the workplace and in education."

However, supporters of the ban such as "No on 16" co-chair, Betty Chu invoke civil rights era language calling affirmative action, “systemic racism in the most direct sense,” contending that in it would create a disadvantage to Asian-Americans.

So where do we go from here? Will affirmative action ever prevail in California? If not, how else can we address the inequities that plague our state? And how do we build a coalition that truly supports equal opportunity for all?

Hosted by KQED race and equity reporter Sandhya Dirks with student guest reporter
Janelle Marie Salanga.

Featuring a conversation with:

--Lisa Garcia Bedolla - Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, UC Berkeley

--Eva Paterson - President and Co-Founder, Equal Justice Society
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