Oakland to Vote on Proposal to Protect Affirmative Action

On Tuesday (3-25), voters in Oakland, California will vote on a city charter amendment that supporters call a "pre-emptive strike" against the anti-affirmative action "California Civil Rights Initiative" on the November ballot to amend the state constitution. Measure G in Oakland would require the city to adjust its race-based and gender-based contracting and hiring programs every two years to ensure equitable policies. Oakland wants to retain and expand affirmative action programs in public contracting but worries about efforts to legally protect the programs amid efforts to tear them down. Although the San Francisco Chronicle article only illustrated inequities in contracting with regard to race, Measure G appears to apply to gender inequities as well.

Media Resources: San Francisco Chronicle - March 25, 1996

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