Speaker Summary for November 7, 2011
We were delighted to have fellow Rotarian Ward Connerly address our club this past Monday. Past President John “Photo Op” Frisch introduced Ward with his usual enjoyable aplomb, noting Mr. Connerly’s track record of fighting for equal rights in what he views as a “color blind” society. By way of background, Mr. Connerly was born June 15, 1939, in Leesville, Louisiana. He has stated he is one-fourth black, with the rest a mix of Irish, French and Choctaw. His father, Roy Connerly, left the household when Ward was 2, and his mother died when Ward was 4. The young Connerly went to live first with an aunt and uncle and then a grandmother.
He attended California State University, Sacramento, eventually receiving a bachelor of arts with honors in political science in 1962. During his college years, Mr. Connerly was active in campaigning against housing discrimination and helped to get a bill passed by the state legislature banning the practice. After college, he worked for a number of state agencies and Assembly committees, including the Sacramento re-development agency, the state department of housing and urban development, and State Assembly committee on urban affairs. It was during the late 1960s that he became friends with then-legislator Pete Wilson, who would later become Governor of California in 1991. At the suggestion of Wilson, in 1973 he stepped away from his government job and started his own consultation and land-use planning company. In 1993 he was appointed to the University of California board of regents.
After his appointment to the University of California board of regents in 1993, Connerly began to discuss his views on affirmative action. In 1994, after listening to Jerry and Ellan Cook, whose son had been rejected at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School, Connerly became convinced that affirmative action, as practiced in the University of California, was tantamount to racial discrimination. Jerry Cook, a statistician, presented data showing that whites and Asians were being systematically denied admission despite having better grades and test scores than other students who were being admitted. This was never denied by the administrators of the UC system, and led Connerly to propose abolishing these controversial programs, though his proposal would still allow consideration of social or economic factors. The regents passed the proposal in January, 1996 despite protests from activist Jesse Jackson and other supporters of affirmative action. Some believe that the UC system had been discriminating against Asian applicants, in light of the fact that the year after affirmative action was abolished, their numbers showed a dramatic increase.
In 1994, a movement started by a group of academics had begun with the intent to get a ballot measure passed banning these types of programs in admissions and hiring by any state public employer, school, or contractor. Connerly had been hesitant to join the movement because he claimed he was afraid of reprisals against his family and business but eventually by the end of 1995 became the chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative Campaign and helped get the initiative on the ballot as Proposition 209. It passed by a 54% majority, despite attempts to defeat it from several prominent “civil rights” groups. In 1997, Connerly formed the American Civil Rights Institute, to take their cause nationwide. He noted at the outset of his remarks that he was not speaking for the Institute but was sharing his personal opinions only.
Mr. Connerly shared his concerns about the general state of affairs in our State and in our Country. He believes we are headed down the “wrong road” with our present federal and state government leaders. He believes our system is “broken” and needs to be fixed. He feels we are in a state of decline. Nonetheless, he believes our American culture is strong and he is cautiously optimistic about our future. He was critical of the present administration’s support for “Obama care,” and for the recent spate of “Occupy” movements. He suggests we all take a hard look at the candidates for next year’s election to try to make better choices for the future of our country. While he would not comment on any particular candidates, reading between the lines he appeared to be much more supportive of any one on the Republican side of the ticket.
He also believes we need to continue to fight for a racial and gender neutral approach to politics and policies. Better to be “color blind” than to provide preferences to any one group based on race or gender. He feels that all advancement in our culture should be based on merit, character, and demonstrated achievement, and that consideration of racial and/or gender background should be irrelevant. We sincerely thank Mr. Connerly for his provocative comments and opinions and appreciate his sharing with our club.