It's painful to think about how this Ward Connerly/affirmative action nonsense will play out here as election day approaches.
It won't be pretty.
In case you missed the news, one week ago, Connerly, who led successful crusades in three other states to pass anti-affirmative action legislation, filed a petition to do the same in Nebraska. Marc Schniederjans, a UNL management professor, joined Connerly's group in filing the ballot initiative.
The group aims to ban affirmative action in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Oklahoma as well as in Nebraska this election cycle. California, Washington and Michigan already have been conquered.
No question here: This is all brought to you by a modern brand of racism. Super Tuesday for Equal Rights is a contemptible group, and it's embarrassing its leaders found a mole at the university to put his name on the group's effort.
The most insidious part of the Connerly ordeal is the insincerity with which his group operates.
As the election nears, a scary picture will be painted: People who are black and brown are stealing college careers and jobs from the state's hard-working white youths - you know, the kids who really face an uphill battle from the beginning.
If you don't look closely, the text of the ballot initiative has the ring of civil rights legislation.
If passed, it would amend the state constitution to include several paragraphs such as this one: "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."
Translated: The Nebraska constitution should ban affirmative action.
While affirmative action has never been a perfect way to bring about equality for minority groups who have been discriminated against for generations, it's the best tool that exists. This state's constitution, therefore, should not ban it.
But here's the strange part. Read UNL's "affirmative action" policy: "It is the policy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln not to discriminate on the basis of sex, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran's status, national or ethnic origin or sexual orientation in its educational programs, admissions policies, employment policies, financial aid, or other school-administered programs."
You see, in response to court decisions and attacks on affirmative action in other states, UNL tweaked its policies. The university awards some publicly-funded scholarships to students on the basis of income level, not race.
Actually, it's hard to find a single way Connerly's amendment would significantly affect UNL.
That's not what supporters, who claim race-based affirmative action programs abound at UNL, would have you believe.
Why the disconnect?
Because this ballot initiative isn't about affirmative action, at least not directly.
In reality, it's about fear-mongering and bigotry. It's in the mold of this country's ridiculous debate about banning gay marriage in the U.S. Constitution.
It's a Trojan horse aimed to inject racism into Nebraska's constitution.
Please, please, please folks, don't drink the Kool-Aid.
