Breaking: This Nov, Calif. voters will be asked to scrap the state’s 24-year old ban on affirmative action.
Senate just ratified #ACA5 which would allow for consideration of race & gender in public education and public hiring & contracting.
Senate vote was 30-10.
#ACA5 needed a 2/3 vote to pass. It got 3/4. The vote would have been straight down party lines -- but for Republican Jim Wilk of Santa Clarita, who voted to put the issue of affirmative action before voters Nov. 3.
#ACA5 backer @SteveBradford of Gardena challenged his white colleagues about race.
"There's not enough fingers & toes in this building to count the no. of times that me & my colleague from LA (Holly Mitchell) have walked into a room & we're the only ones that looks like us."
On the "no" side: Diamond Bar Republican Ling Ling Chang @LTwoC drew parallels btw #ACA5 & the Chinese Exclusion Act.
"The problem w/ACA 5 is that it takes the position that we must fight discrimination with more discrimination."
Ching referred to an anti-ACA 5 petition on Change.org started by some Chinese Am activists that has 131,000+ signatures.
@HollyMitchell countered that some 40M Californians should be allowed to weigh in on affirmative action.
More on today's ACA 5 vote that moves affirmative action onto the Nov. 3 ballot on @LAist: laist.com/latest/post/20…
Some background on why an attempt to bring back affirmative action in 2014 to California's public universities didn't make it as far as ACA 5 has: laist.com/2020/06/12/aff…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.