Like I said before, Prop 209 was a populist White based initiative. SC_5 is the same. The Tea Party is populist based, as is part of the Democratic party, especially the unions.
For all the talk about merit and objective measures of merit, people only want to selectively practice what they preach. They use political tools to suppress minorities that were not culturally adjusted. And now it’s coming to bite them in the butt.
These nativist, populist elements are seeing Prop 209 as a threat because of increasing Asian and Latino enrollment at the universities. The next logical step would be state and local government employment. For instance, all else being equal, should the district hire a fireman/policeman/employee who has a 4.0 gpa, or one who has a 3.1 gpa? How about one who has a bachelor over a HS diploma?
The truth is not all Asians are smart students (it must be hard for those who aren’t) but within the group, there is a big portion that values education and work very hard.
Latino immigrants were historically poor rural folks who could not compete at the university level. That is changing fast as there is more immigration from urban capitals. They have more resources and stay in touch with you friends and family thanks to Skype, WeChat, Line, Tango, etc…
I don’t believe it’s a question of race, but simply that first and second generation immigrants work harder. The demographics that we see are just a result of most of our immigration coming from Latin America and Asia. If you do a survey of a tech company you’ll see immigrants from Europe also (likely Eastern Europe) but fewer.
Incidentally, Asians benefited from Affirmative Action in the past. At one point, Asians used to be poor uneducated immigrants who worked mostly in restaurants, dry cleaners and other service jobs.
The world is changing. It’s a lot more structured with barriers to entry such aptitude tests, entrance exams… Big data also allows us to search and view a person’s history. That’s why executive who lie on their resume eventually get caught. We must adapt or perish.[/quote]
SCA5 is actually a Hispanic initiated Bill. Essentially the majority will always try to use their raw number to suppress the minority, as Hispanics become California’s majority, they will also do their very best to suppress other minorities. I actually fear the new Hispanic majority more than I fear the old white majority as the Hispanic is going in with the idea that they are disadvantaged and need all of these extra rights.
As you mentioned, Asians benefiting from prop 209 was an unintended consequence the majority whites did not expect. I see the same with SCA5, whites and men will end up benefitting as they are now the under-represented group, something I’m sure the new Hispanic majority did not foresee.
I disagree Asians actually ever truly benefited from affirmative action, if so it was extremely short lived and limited. Remember, California history is filled with one racist law after another, all aimed right at Asian Americans, any potential benefit (real or perceived) will be quickly remedied.
