COSTLY MYTHS:  Certain myths are so commonplace on the left that I really don’t know how to bring them back to reality.  One is that crimes rates are equal across all racial groups and that if arrest rates differ it must be due to police officer racism.  A variation on that concedes that crime rates are different, but has an unusual explanation for it:  The claim is that African American children misbehave in school no more that Asian students, but they get punished more due to teacher racism.  This is turn causes the students to miss school due to suspensions.  They get behind in their studies and end up turning to crime when they get older.  I know it sounds like I must have simply misunderstood the argument, but that’s really not the case.  I dissented from a Commission on Civil Rights report that made that kind of argument here.

DON’T REPEAL PROPOSITION 209:  The Assembly is supposed to vote on whether to repeal Proposition 209 today.  Check out my op-ed in the San Diego Union Tribune:  “How Prop 209 Helped Under-Represented Minority Students Succeed at California Universities.”

“DO THE MATH … OR NOT”:  The dumbing down of college education is a frightening thing.  When University of North Carolina students failed at math and statistics at alarming rates, the administration “solved” the problem … by creating alternate “pathways” to success that are more “applicable and equitable.”  Beat your head against the wall, America.  We’re failing.

LET’S GET RID OF THE CHICAGO POLICE TOO … NO … WAIT:  “18 Murders in 24 hours:  Inside the most violent day in 60 years in Chicago.”

(Some history on how African American neighborhoods really do suffer most when law enforcement officers fail to keep the peace.)

OUR FEVERED TIMES:  Liberty Unyielding:  “Los Angeles Starts to Defund Its Police.”

(For more on the ridiculous view that tolerating more crime somehow benefits African American communities, see this statement of mine from a year or so ago.)

HOT:  The California legislature’s effort to repeal Proposition 209 continues apace.  Despite my written testimony before the Assembly Appropriations Committee showing that, over time, Prop 209 has saved the state at least a BILLION DOLLARS in public contracting costs, the Appropriation Committee reported the bill out Wednesday afternnoon.  (Testimony before that committee is limited to a bill’s fiscal impact.)  The issue now goes to the full Assembly.

Also reported out was a bill to study slave reparations.  (Note that California was never a slave state.)

NOTE TO WHITE HOUSE: PLEASE SEND REINFORCEMENTS: Since December, President Trump has the ability to appoint two new members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  So far, he has only appointed one.  When we get the second appointment, the Commission will be politically balanced at 4-4.  At that point we won’t have accept reports that congratulate our current Chair for the work she in the Obama Administration to undermine the First Amendment, reports on school discipline that clearly and unequivocally misunderstand the empirical data, or reports that misleadingly suggest that immigration detention center are hell holes that serve maggots in the food.  I know you’ve got a lot to do.  But it’s been a while.

JOHN FUND:  “It’s Past Time to Examine How Police Unions Protect Bad Cops.”

“AMAZON BRUSHES OFF CONSERVATIVE QUESTIONS ON SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER TIES”:  Maybe they should read something about the SPLC’s history.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO HELP STOP THE REPEAL OF PROP 209: … but you don’t have a lot of extra time on your hands, one easy thing to do is follow me on Twitter as I argue against the repeal. Now and then “like,” comment, and/or retweet as you think appropriate.

Twitter is ghastly. I hate it. But times being what they are, it’s the easiest way to get messages to the otherwise very-difficult-to-contact state legislators who are deciding the fate of Prop 209. It’s just so #$% annoying that in this age of instant communication, it is harder than ever to make contact with our state legislators. All my tweets are directed to legislators. Otherwise Twitter is like yelling out the window to whoever happens to be walking by.

The next week or two (maybe even the next four days) will be crucial in determining the fate of Prop 209.

ATTENTION CALIFORNIANS!! If you oppose the effort to repeal Proposition 209, please voice your opposition directly to your California legislators. Some talented tech guys have made it a bit easier to send messages via email to those legislators. If you use this link, I am told your zip code will cause your message to be directed to the correct member of each house.  If for any reason that link fails, this link goes to all members of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which needs to deal with the bill next.

If you’re in a hurry, the software contains a pre-programmed message that you can send. But it’s even better if you have time to write your own message. Short messages (such as “Vote NO on ACA-5.”) are just fine.

If you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, here’s the background: In 1996, California voters adopted Proposition 209. It amended the state constitution to read: “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 the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”  In other words, Prop 209 is a matter of simple justice: The state should not decide who gets a job, who gets contract, or who gets into the most competitive university based on the applicant’s race, sex or ethnicity.

The California Legislature wants to engineer a repeal of 209. To get rid of it, however, they need 2/3 majorities in both houses and a vote by the people. We’re trying to prevent any of that from coming to pass.

(Not a Californian? These days, that means lucky you. But if you have friends or relatives here who are likely to want to oppose ACA-5, please alert them. Also we are working on a way for ex-Californians as well as people have never been within 100 miles of California to email our legislators. The more the merrier.)

THE AHMAUD ARBERY KILLING IS APPARENTLY BEING INVESTIGATED AS A FEDERAL HATE CRIME:  I argued in a brief that the federal hate crime statute is (in part) unconstitutional.  Congress relied on the 13th Amendment, which bans slavery, as the basis for its authority to punish hate crimes based on race.   That is (I hope obviously) a bit of a stretch.

None of this is to say that the Arbery killing is or is not a hate crime as defined in the Act.  But the constitutional issue is interesting, and the Supreme Court hasn’t addressed it yet.  Maybe it will someday

STOP THE REPEAL OF PROP 209:  The San Francisco Chronicle has (finally) printed a story (or rather an op-ed) on the California Legislature’s effort to engineer a repeal of Prop 209.  It’s by my friends Wen Fa & Alison Somin:  Preserve Prop 209:  Don’t Let Racial Discrimination Return to California.  (Alison is my former special assistant at the Commission on Civil Rights.)

MIKE GONZALEZ:  Why Fomenting Identity Politics Matters More to Democrats than Asian Americans.

California Democrats are poised to throw away a lot of Asian American votes.  Stay tuned.

AS TIME TICKS AWAY ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION:  The publication of my most recent law review article has been (understandably) delayed on account of the lock down.  You can still read the draft– with the long title Title VII Disparate Impact Liability Makes Almost Everything Presumptively Illegal … It Gives the Federal Bureaucracy Extraordinary Discretionary Power, But What Does It Do to the Rule of Law?  And Who Benefits?  But I am getting pessimistic about whether it will catch the eye of anyone with a prayer of affecting this area of the law (in either large or small ways) … unless Trump gets re-elected.

JOHN ROSENBERG:  Another Scheme to Justify Racial Preferences. This piece gives some of the history behind California’s Proposition 209 and the current plan to repeal it.  Definitely worth a read.

THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE’S EFFORT TO BRING BACK RACE AND SEX PREFERENCES: John Fund believes the Cal legislature’s effort to engineer the repeal of Proposition 209 may be a strategic blunder for Democrats.

Unusually high numbers of Asian Americans are neither Republicans nor Democrats. In California, about 40 percent are independents — the classic swing voter. In 2018, their swing to the Democrats was behind the party’s narrow capture of several ancestrally Republican House seats in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.

But they can swing back, as the special-election victory by Republican Mike Garcia for a vacant House seat in Los Angeles proved this month. Garcia won a ten-point victory, including a majority of independents.

Already Asian-American grassroots organizations are planning anti-ACA-5 town halls across the state (via Zoom).

It’s funny.  Most (though not all) of the national organizations that claim to represent Asian Americans are against us.  But they are usually funded by foundations, not by members.  Actual Asian Americans are opposing ACA-5 with a passion.  It really exposes the gap between the elites of the identity politics world and the people they purport to represent.

Read the whole thing.

THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE’S EFFORT TO REPEAL PROP 209 NEEDS TO BE STOPPED:  The Boston Globe‘s Jeff Jacoby on The Success of Prop 209: California’s Colorblind Mandate Was a Noble Landmark, But Some Lawmakers Want to Tear It Down.  The non-paywall version is here.

(Relevant background material here, here, and here.)

STRIKING BACK AT THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE’S PLAN TO REPEAL PROPOSITION 209:  Yesterday, we got great support from Jason Riley at the Wall Street Journal with a piece entitled In California the Dream of Racial Preferences Never Dies.  Thank you, Jason!

HAL ARKES & GEORGE DENT AT THE MARTIN CENTER:  Shouldn’t the assumptions behind race-based admissions policies be rigorously tested?

RENEWED CALLS TO REPEAL “STAND YOUR GROUND” LAWS: Maybe those calling for repeal should read my Commissioner Statement on “Stand Your Ground” laws. There’s a lot of confusion about these laws.

MY REAL CLEAR OP-ED: The California Legislature itching to repeal Proposition 209. But repealing the state constitution’s ban on race and sex preferences will end up harming the very students the legislators think they are helping.

Here’s the online petition opposing the California Legislature’s ACA-5. Currently, Proposition 209 prohibits the state from considering race or sex in deciding who gets a job, who gets into the most selective state universities, or who gets a public contract. If passed, ACA-5 will put the repeal of that provision on the ballot in November. Please sign if you can (if you haven’t done so already).

THE ROAD TO JONESTOWN: On this day in 1931, Jim Jones—the charismatic religious leader who instigated a terrifying mass murder-suicide—was born in Crete, Indiana.

Personally, I am not a big fan of charisma. I like my leaders—religious or otherwise—to be more on the sober side. Downright boring isn’t a deal killer for me. Exciting leaders tend to lead their followers to places they’d prefer not to be—like the remote jungles of Guyana.

Jones grew up poor with an interest in religion that was unusual for his age. Also an avid reader of Marx, Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Gandhi, he began attending gatherings of the Communist Party USA in 1951. Determined to become a great man, he asked himself, “How can I demonstrate my Marxism? The thought was, infiltrate the church.”

(more…)

RED ALERT… PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION: Argh. California’s deep-blue legislature is trying to engineer the repeal of Proposition 209.  This is a real threat.

If you were around in 1996, you may recall 209.  It was the explosively controversial California voter initiative that amended the state constitution to read: “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis or race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

I co-chaired the campaign back in 1996. It is important to me. It hasn’t always been complied with, but it still packs a significant punch. That’s why the legislature wants to repeal it (though to do so they must put it to another vote).

Please, if you can, sign this petition. It already has over 24,000 signatures, but it’s going to need a lot more to get attention from our esteemed legislators.

With a little luck, I will have an op-ed coming out soon on this topic. I will also be blogging on it (a lot!) over the next few weeks.  (If you are interested in reading about some of the good Proposition 209 has done, read this.)

JOHN FUND:  Mail-In Ballots are a Recipe for Confusion, Coercion and Fraud.