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Wardell Connerly (born June 15, 1939) is an African American political activist, businessman, and former University of California Regent. Events 763 BC - Assyrians record a Solar eclipse that will be used to fix the Chronology of Mesopotamian history Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Activism, in a general sense can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change The University of California ( UC) is a Public university system in the state of California. The Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. He is also the founder and the chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization in opposition to racial and gender preferences. [1]. He is considered to be the man behind California's Proposition 209 outlawing race and gender-based preferences in state hiring and state university admissions, widely known as affirmative action. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Proposition 209 was a 1996 California ballot proposition which amended the state constitution to prohibit public institutions from considering Affirmative action in the United States|Employment equity (Canada|Reservation in India|Numerus clausus The term affirmative action describes many policies aimed at a historically His twelve-year tenure on the Board of Regents ended on March 1, 2005. Events 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army enters in Athens, removing the Tyrant Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents

Early life

Wardell Anthony Connerly was born June 15, 1939, in Leesville, Louisiana. Leesville is a city in and the Parish seat of Vernon Parish, Louisiana, United States. Connerly has stated he is one-fourth black, with the rest a mix of Irish, French, and Choctaw. The Irish people ( Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a Western European Ethnic group who originate Legal residents and citizens To be French according to the first article of the Constitution is to be a citizen of France regardless of one's origin race or religion ( The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States ( Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana) [2] 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 Sacramento State College, eventually receiving a bachelor of arts with honors in political science in 1962 . California State University Sacramento (also known as Sacramento State or Sac State) is a public University located in the city of Sacramento Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems While in college, Connerly was student body president and actively involved with Delta Phi Omega, later becoming an honorary member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. ΣΦΕ ( Sigma Phi Epsilon) commonly Nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social fraternity for male College students in the During his college years, 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 in 1991 . The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23 1933 is an American Politician from California. The Governor of California is the highest executive authority in the state government whose responsibilities include making annual "State of the State" addresses 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. Connerly is married to Ilene Connerly who is his equal partner in the firm of Connerly & Associates and they have two children. [3]

Connerly is a member of the Rotary Club of Sacramento, California, and has been inducted as a lifetime member into the California Building Industry Hall of Fame. Rotary International is an organization of Service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world [4]

Support of political campaigns against racial preferences

After his appointment to the University of California board of regents in 1993, Connerly began to discuss his views on affirmative action. Affirmative action in the United States|Employment equity (Canada|Reservation in India|Numerus clausus The term affirmative action describes many policies aimed at a historically 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. The University of California San Francisco ( UCSF) is one of the world's leading centers of Health sciences research Patient care, and education List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that Jerry Cook, a statistician, presented data showing that whites and especially Asians were being systematically denied admission despite having better grades and test scores than other students who were being admitted. [5] 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. Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Jesse Louis Jackson Sr (born October 8 1941 is an American Civil rights activist and Baptist minister. 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. [6] UC regents developed a new system, including essay requirements that served to reveal the applicant's race and ethnicity. The term race or racial group usually refers to the concept of categorizing Humans into Populations or groups on the basis of various sets [7] The new measures, titled "comprehensive review" have not yet been challenged to the California Supreme Court or the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court of California is the State supreme court in California. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary.

In 1995, he became the chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative Campaign[2] and helped get the initiative on the California ballot as Proposition 209. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Proposition 209 was a 1996 California ballot proposition which amended the state constitution to prohibit public institutions from considering The Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations, the ACLU, and the California Teachers Association opposed the measure. The Ford Foundation is a Private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by The Rockefeller Foundation (RF is a prominent Philanthropic organization and Private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue New York City. The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU) consists of two separate Non-profit organizations the ACLU Foundation a 501(c(3 organization which focuses The California Teachers Association (CTA initially established in 1863 as the California Educational Society is by far the largest teachers' union in the state of California It passed by a 54% majority. [8] Connerly, in 1997, formed the American Civil Rights Institute. Connerly and the ACRI supported a similar ballot measure in Washington which would later pass by 58%. [9] Connerly and his group worked to get a measure on the ballot in the 2000 Florida election. The Florida Supreme Court put restrictions on the petition language, and Governor Jeb Bush later implemented, through a program called "One Florida," key portions of Connerly's proposal, helping to keep it off the ballot by accomplishing some of its key objectives through legislation. The Supreme Court of the State of Florida is the State supreme court of Florida. A petition is a request to change some thing most commonly made to a government official or public entity John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American Politician and was the 43rd Governor of Florida During this time, Connerly also became a supporter of an initiative to provide health benefits for domestic partners employed by the UC system which was barely passed by the regents. A domestic partnership is a legal or Personal relationship between two individuals who live together and share a common domestic life but are neither joined by a traditional [10]

In 2003, Connerly helped place on the California ballot a measure that would prohibit the state government from classifying any person by race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, with some exceptions such as the case it is needed for medical research. [11] Critics were concerned that such a measure would make it difficult to track housing discrimination and racial profiling activities. The measure was also criticized by newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times, that claimed it would hamper legitimate medical and scientific purposes. The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily Newspaper published in Los Angeles California and distributed The measure was not passed by the voters.

Following the 2003 Supreme Court rulings in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, Connerly was invited to Michigan by Jennifer Gratz to support a measure similar to the 1996 California amendment. Gratz v Bollinger, 539 US 244 ( 2003) was a United States Supreme Court case regarding the University of Michigan Grutter v Bollinger, 539 US 306 (2003 is a case in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affirmative action The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative appeared on the November 2006 Michigan ballot and passed. The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative ( MCRI) or Proposal 2 (Michigan 06-2 was a Ballot initiative in the U [12]

Political views

Ward Connerly sees himself as a Republican with a libertarian philosophy. Libertarianism is a term used by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which prioritize individual Liberty and seek to minimize or even abolish the [2] Despite his close political relationship with former California Governor Pete Wilson and their agreement on the question of Affirmative Action, Connerly spearheaded efforts to grant domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian couples in all state universities against Wilson's objection. Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23 1933 is an American Politician from California. He says his views on gay rights stem from his libertarian viewpoint that governments, including government-run universities, should not discriminate, whether it's favoring some students because of their race, or limiting spousal benefits to others based on their sexual orientation. [2]

Further, Connerly's support for domestic partner benefits earned him the ire of the conservative advocacy groups Family Research Council and Traditional Values Coalition. The Family Research Council (FRC is a Christian right Non-profit Think tank and Lobbying organization. The Traditional Values Coalition (aka TVC is a Christian Right organization that represents by its estimate over 43000 Christian churches throughout the [13]. In reference to Connerly, Robert Knight, Director of Cultural Studies at the Family Research Council, stated, "no true conservative would equate homosexual households with marriages, because we believe that without marriage and family as paramount values, hell will break loose. Hell, according to many Religious beliefs, is a location in the Afterlife, which may be described as a place of suffering "

In January, 2008, Mr. Connerly officially endorsed Republican Presidential candidate, Rudy Giuliani.

Controversy

On May 8, 1995, two years after he went public with his anti-affirmative action views, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Connerly had taken advantage of a minority preference program on multiple occasions in the 1990s. The article was based on the paper's review of the records of California's State Energy Commission which showed that Connerly had listed his firm, Connerly & Associates, as a minority-owned firm, and that Connerly's firm received more than $1 million in state government contracts. The article included excerpts of an interview with Connerly in which he admitted that he only participated in the minority preference program to comply with state law. [14] However, the Chronicle published a correction on May 18, 1995, stating that their original source had erred and that Connerly's firm had not been registered as minority-owned at the time the State Energy Commission contract was awarded. [15]

As Connerly pointed out in a story published by the Associated Press on May 9, 1995, due to the state's requirement that 15 percent of state contracts be given to minority-owned firms, he would have been placed in the position of having "to find a minority to turn over 15 percent of a contract which has an 8 percent profit at best. "[16]

On July 9, 1997, Connerly's advocacy organization, the American Civil Rights Institute, expressed disappointment with the federal government's decision to reject the addition of a multiracial category on the Census and other government forms that collect racial data. [17] This press release was the beginning of Connerly's alliance with prominent members of what has become known as the multiracial movement. Prior to spearheading the Racial Privacy Initiative in California, Connerly forged ties with the publishers of Interracial Voice and The Multiracial Activist, prominent publications for the multiracial movement. The Multiracial Activist (TMA is a libertarian-oriented activist journal covering social and civil liberties issues of interest to individuals who perceive themselves to be biracial or Eventually, Connerly enlisted the help of several outspoken members of the multiracial movement to assist with the execution of the Racial Privacy Initiative.

Connerly's opposition to affirmative action has generated controversy. Connerly believes affirmative action is a form of racism and that people can achieve success without preferential treatment in college enrollment or in employment. His critics contend that he fails to recognize the problems resulting from past racism, and that he fails to recognize that affirmative action programs can overcome the residual effects of past discrimination on people of minorities. [18]

The Detroit-based pro-affirmative action group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) claimed that Connerly, as CEO of Connerly & Associates, Inc. Background BAMN's Principle #3 states"BAMN is committed to making real America's founding declaration that 'all men are created equal , his Sacramento based consulting firm, benefitted financially from affirmative action programs in contracting,[19] a claim that was supported by the May 8, 1995 article in the San Francisco Chronicle. [14] What BAMN failed to disclose was that the State of California required state agencies to award 15 percent of all contracts to minority classified firms. [20] Minority owned firms that were not classified as such were not eligible for the set-asides. This created an incentive for organizations to register their ownership by race, in order to compete with similarly owned firms. State agencies may have been reluctant to do business with minority-owned firms that were not registered as such, since they would not get full credit for those contracts. Some claim this created a form of state-sanctioned discrimination against non-registered minority-owned firms. While BAMN's charge is accurate, proper context and background are absent.

BAMN also claims that as a spokesman for the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) and the American Civil Rights Coalition (ACRC), Connerly earned as much as $400,000, by which BAMN questions Connerly's true motives. BAMN seeks a repeal of Proposition 209 and a return to affirmative action programs, especially in campus admissions. Proposition 209 was a 1996 California ballot proposition which amended the state constitution to prohibit public institutions from considering BAMN has recently opposed Connerly's efforts to put the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative on the 2006 Michigan Ballot, and recently disrupted a Michigan Board of Canvassers meeting by loudly protesting and overturning a table. The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative ( MCRI) or Proposal 2 (Michigan 06-2 was a Ballot initiative in the U [21]

Connerly's multiracial identity and views on affirmative action have led to him being labeled a "self-hating black" by some of his critics. Uncle Tom is a Pejorative for a black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to White American authority figures or In 1995, former State Senator Diane Watson said about him, "He's married to a white woman. Diane Edith Watson (born November 12 1933) American politician has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001 He wants to be white. He wants a colorless society. He has no ethnic pride. He doesn't want to be black. "[22][23]

Connerly has also been accused of hypocrisy for supporting domestic partner benefits for gay couples while opposing affirmative action. Connerly's supporters point out that this is not contradictory: he opposes discrimination, whether it is against gays, or any racial, religious, or ethnic group. In this regard, Connerly disparages the term "reverse" discrimination. Reverse Discrimination, is in its simplest form the practice of favouring a historically disadvantaged group at the expense of members of a historically advantaged group To Connerly and supporters, racial discrimination is indistinguishable, regardless of which racial or ethnic group is the target. [24]

Another controversy arose after publication of Connerly's autobiography. Relatives have claimed his accounts of an impoverished childhood were exaggerated or simply false. Connerly's aunt claims his account is accurate. [25] Pooley claims that relatives who contradicted Connerly’s anecdotes about his poor childhood are lying because they disagree with his politics. [26][27]

Connerly has made controversial remarks regarding racial segregation on several occasions including the following:

Connerly issued a written statement clarifying remarks, which some of his critics pointed to as showing a favorable tone towards the Ku Klux Klan's support for his Michigan campaign to outlaw affirmative action quotas and set-asides. Connerly's statement read, "Throughout my life I have made absolutely clear my disdain for the KKK. However, like all Americans, I hope that this group will move beyond its ugly history and agree that equality before the law is the ideal. If they or any group accepts equality for all people, I will be the first to welcome them. "[29]

External links

Recorded November 5, 2007. In this discussion, held on the 11th anniversary of the passing of Proposition 209, a panel of speakers delivers a variety of critical perspectives on Affirmative Action. Discussion addresses: What are the actual effects of Affirmative Action programs? And what are the ideas and ideals that lead many to support it? What should be the government’s role in fighting discrimination or promoting diversity?

References

  1. ^ Connerly, Ward American Civil Rights Institute. "acri. org" (website)
  2. ^ a b c Wilayto, Phil. "Ward Connerly & the American Civil Rights Institute", MEDIA Transparency, September 7, 2000. (English) 
  3. ^ Bearak, Barry. "Questions of Race Run Deep for Foe of Preferences", The New York Times, July 27, 1997. (English) 
  4. ^ Rotary Club Woodland Sunrise Rotary Club – April 5, 2007 Program. "dcn. org" (website)
  5. ^ Connerly, Ward. "THE DEATH OF MEDIOCRACY", La Griffe du Lion, June, 2000. (English) 
  6. ^ Camara, Wayne. "Pursuing Campus Diversity After Affirmative Action", Diversity Digest, Spring-Summer, 2000. (English) 
  7. ^ Irving, Carl. "There's No Valid Surrogate for Race", National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, May, 1998. (English) 
  8. ^ Mukherjee, Roopali. "Regulating Race in the California Civil Rights Initiative: Enemies, Allies, and Alibis", Journal of Communication, Vol. 50, 2000. (English) 
  9. ^ Berkowitz, Bill. "Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative action jihad", MEDIA Transparancy, January 30, 2007. (English) 
  10. ^ Herek, Gregory Background: How the University of California Enacted Domestic Partner Benefits. The University of California ( UC) is a Public university system in the state of California. "ucdavis. org" (website)
  11. ^ Beal, Frances. "California Ballot Initiative Promotes Racist Agenda", Znet, August 19, 2003. (English) 
  12. ^ Land, Terri (Secretary of State). "State Proposal - 06-2: Constitutional Amendment: Ban Affirmative Action Programs". mi. gov (website).
  13. ^ Freedberg, Louis. "An Unlikely Champion of Gay Rights", San Francisco Chronicle, December 31, 1997. (English) 
  14. ^ a b Espinosa Solis, Suzanne. "Affirmative Action Critic Used His Minority Status", San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1995. (English) 
  15. ^ Espinosa Solis, Suzanne. "UC Regent Fights Law That Helped Him", San Francisco Chronicle, May 18, 1995. (English) 
  16. ^ Bancroft, Ann; The Associated Press. "Connerly denies preferential treatment", Daily Bruin, May 9, 1995. (English) 
  17. ^ Connerly, Ward. [1]. "acri. org" (website)
  18. ^ Vincent, Norah. "The New Math on Race", The Village VOICE, March 29 - April 4, 2000. (English) 
  19. ^ By Any Means Necessary Who is Ward Connerly? "bamn. com" (Website)
  20. ^ Connerly, Ward; Daniel Colimon and Herman Cain. "Pride and Prejudice", Policy Review, Spring, 1995. (English) 
  21. ^ Lefebvre, Ben. "Wham BAMN", Metro Times, January 11, 2006. (English) 
  22. ^ Elder, Larry. "The "B" word and disrespect", World Net Daily, March 27, 2002. (English) 
  23. ^ Jacoby, Jeff. "Another year of hate speech from the left", The Boston Globe, December 31, 1996. (English) 
  24. ^ Golus, Carrie. Black Biography: Ward Connerly? "Answers. com" (Website)
  25. ^ McWhorter, John. "Racial Profiling", The Wall Street Journal, September 13, 2002. (English) 
  26. ^ History Mania. Your American History Reference Guide! - Ward Connerly "Historymania. com" (Website)
  27. ^ Amazon Prime. Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race "Amazon. com" (Website)
  28. ^ Editorial, SFC. "Initiative could hurt integration efforts", San Francisco Chronicle, September 2, 2003. (English) 
  29. ^ Press, Associated. "Michigan Voters Decide Today on Ward Connerly, KKK-backed Initiative", Diverse (Issues in Michigan Education), November 7, 2006. (English) 

Notes

  1. ^  ACRI People
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