The state of California is one of the most pluralistic societies in the world. Our people come in all colors, religious beliefs, ethnic backgrounds and other characteristics imaginable. “Diversity” is not just a word in California; it is a reality. I have long felt–and said–that the challenge in California is not to “build diversity” but to manage it so that we are not destroyed by it.
In 1996, the people of California placed into their constitution a ballot initiative that enshrines a policy of non-discrimination and anti-preferential treatment. That initiative was Proposition 209: “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 public employment, public education or public contracting.”
Although the campaign was a very contentious one, the voters approved Proposition 209 by a margin of 55-45. During the campaign, a widely-repeated claim by some of its opponents was that 209 was the dying gasp of a white majority and that someday soon the emerging Latino majority would assert itself and repeal the measure.
Subsequent to the passage of 209, State Senator Ed Hernandez, a respected member of the Latino Caucus, began to pursue the realization of this prophecy.
In the immediate aftermath of the passage of 209, Hernandez introduced legislation in two successive sessions of the Legislature to curtail the effect of 209. On both occasions, Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Edmund G. Brown, respectively, vetoed the bills, calling attention to the fact that the voters had already expressed their will about the issue.
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