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Now, we sit back and wait for female professionals and entrepreneurs in Michigan to say, "Oops. We're a minority, aren't we?  What have we just done?"

----- Original Message -----
From: Aggo Akyea <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2006 10:11 am
Subject: Proposal 2 in Michigan will nix Affirmative Action
To: [log in to unmask]

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> 
> Affirmative action ban OK'd
> 
> Michigan 3rd state to nix preferential treatment
> 
> BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
> DETRIOT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
> 
> November 8, 2006
> 
> Michigan voters sent a clear message about affirmative action 
> programs that offer preferences to women and minorities: It's time 
> for them to end.
> 
> Election Day numbers Tuesday showed the controversial proposal 
> winning by a wide margin. Michigan becomes the third state to 
> outlaw giving preferential treatment to groups or individuals based 
> on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for 
> public employment, education or contracting purposes.
> 
> With 99 percent of precincts reporting, 58%, or 2,129,506 people, 
> voted yes on Proposal 2 and 42%, or 1,538,520 voters, opposed it.
> 
> Fran Smeak, 80, a registered Republican from Birmingham, said she 
> read the pros and cons for the five ballot proposals, but Proposal 
> 2 was the hardest to make a decision about. In the end, she voted 
> for the ban.
> 
> "I can see how some people would feel like if they did not get 
> extra help, they would not make it," she said Tuesday. "My overall 
> view is that if everyone is on the same basis, then they should all 
> get fairly treated."
> 
> The proposal was largely prompted by a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court 
> decision that upheld a general affirmative action admissions policy 
> at the University of Michigan's law school but struck down the 
> undergraduate admission formula as too unyielding because it 
> awarded points based on race.
> 
> U-M is the only university in the state that uses affirmative 
> action to a great extent in admissions, but all public colleges and 
> universities would have to reevaluate their outreach, scholarship 
> and grant awards if they benefit gender or racial or ethnic groups. 
> Programs that target specific groups in K-12 schools also would be 
> affected.
> Jennifer Gratz, the U-M applicant in 1995 who was wait-listed and 
> later spurred the case heard by the Supreme Court, served as the 
> executive director of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, sponsor 
> of the proposal.
> 
> "I am excited and hopeful that Michigan will finally be a place of 
> equal opportunity for all," Gratz said Tuesday. "The people of 
> Michigan are the ones who have won today. They stood up to big 
> business, big labor, to the entire establishment and said, 'We want 
> to be treated equally.' "
> 
> According to a poll of voters conducted by Mitchell Research and 
> Communications Inc. of East Lansing, voters under age 40 were the 
> only group to oppose the measure in significant numbers on Tuesday.
> 
> Men overwhelmingly supported the ban; women narrowly opposed it. 
> Democrats opposed it while Republicans and independents favored it. 
> Black voters strongly opposed the proposition, but it was passing 
> among white voters.
> 
> Both Democrats and a majority of Republican leaders spoke out 
> against Proposal 2. A coalition of 200 business, religious, labor, 
> education and government officials and others also worked to defeat 
> MCRI, which was backed by Ward Connerly, a former University of 
> California regent.
> 
> Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said Proposal 2 was the single 
> biggest issue in the election, one that would shape Michigan's 
> economy for years. He said the campaign against it got off to a 
> slow start because of lack of money. One United Michigan raised 
> about $3.4 million to oppose the measure.
> 
> David Waymire, spokesman for One United Michigan, said Michigan 
> politicians now have the costly task of trying to figure out how to 
> bring equal opportunity to all. "It's up to the leaders to step up 
> and try to overcome this," he said.
> 
> Michelle Crockett, an attorney with Miller Canfield in Detroit, 
> said Proposal 2 will be challenged with lawsuits.
> 
> "This is not the end of it, even though it may win tonight. It's 
> going to be in the court for a long time to come," Crockett said.
> 
> Contact SUZETTE HACKNEY at 313-222-6614 or [log in to unmask] 
> Staff writers Marisol Bello and Tina Lam contributed to this report.
> 
> Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.
> 
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