New York, NY, September 11, 2003—National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial joined with the Urban League\'s California affiliates today to announce the League\\\'s opposition to Proposition 54, the California ballot initiative prohibiting identification of individuals by race, ethnicity, color or nation of origin. Speaking at a press conference with John W. Mack, President of the Los Angeles Urban League, and the California Association of Urban League Executives (CAULE), along with other prominent African-American and Latino community leaders, Morial charged that the proposed amendment would dramatically undermine anti-discrimination enforcement activity and plunge the state back to a pre-Civil Rights era when local governments turned a blind eye to institutionalized racial discrimination practices.

"Out-of-step, ill-informed and regressive, Proposition 54 is a dangerously misguided policy that will have debilitating consequences on the lives of millions of blacks, Hispanics and Asians in California, and ultimately across the nation," Morial said. "Decades of experience have demonstrated that to address the problem of racial inequality and discrimination we must identify where it occurs, analyze the data and create effective policies aimed at equal treatment and equal access to opportunity."

"Proposition 54 would jeopardize the collection of crucial statistical information that is used to ensure quality health care for African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities in California," John W. Mack, President of the Los Angeles Urban League, said. "The ability to collect this data is critical since many health problems affect different races disproportionately."

"Proposition 54 will not create a colorblind society, nor will any law. To prohibit the collection of demographic data needed to develop services for minorities and under-served citizens is absolutely irresponsible. It contradicts the Urban League mission and we will work tirelessly to defeat it," James C. Shelby, President of the Sacramento Urban League, said.

"If we cannot collect the data relevant to our constituent group, we will not be able to assess how far behind our children are in reading and math, how unemployed our parents are, whether or not the redlining of communities is preventing our families from owning a piece of the American Dream, or whether the AIDS epidemic is spreading. Given the history and nature of the race problem in this country, it would be devastating to communities of color," Cecil Steppe, President of the San Diego Urban League, said.

The Urban League officials pointed out that numerous state and federal programs require the collection of racial identification data in order to ensure that public institutions enact and enforce anti-discrimination policies. Passage of Proposition 54 would thus undermine important anti-discrimination activity and prevent California from complying with the requirements of numerous federal programs in education, criminal justice, and healthcare.

Proposition 54 limits school accountability: In education, for example, the federal government\\\'s No Child Left Behind Act mandates school systems to collect data by race to ensure that all children are receiving a quality education in each school district. And though Proposition 54 would exempt federally mandated data, it directly undermines the state\\\'s ability to diagnose the failings of minority students since the federally mandated data is limited solely to test scores and high school graduation rates. Critical factors, such as teacher qualification and class size, that affect student achievement rates and that often differ vastly for non-white and white students will not be covered by the exemption and will no longer be measured. Passage of Proposition 54 will put California out of step with the rest of the country where the closing of racial gaps in achievement is increasingly used as a measure in school accountability.

Proposition 54 undermines criminal justice reform: Data collected by states under federal juvenile justice standards documents disturbing disparities in the treatment of black, Latino and white youths in the criminal justice system. A Building Blocks Report, The Color of Justice: An Analysis of Juvenile Adult Court Transfers in California, concludes that minority youth are 8.3 times more likely than white youth to be sentenced by an adult court to imprisonment in a California Youth Authority facility. Passage of Proposition 54 would prevent California\\\'s compliance with the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act that asks, but does not mandate, states to identify the extent to which disproportionate minority confinement exists and create strategies to change it. This data could not be collected by California under Proposition 54.

Proposition 54 would impact public healthcare resources: About 30 percent of Hispanic and 20 percent of black Americans lack regular access to health care compared with less than 16 percent of whites. African Americans and Latinos are severely affected by AIDS, heart disease, infant mortality and a number of other health issues. Overall, racial and ethnic minorities experience differences in treatment and access to healthcare than whites. Although Proposition 54 includes some exemptions for the collection of health care data, the resolution would severely undermine healthcare resources that are allocated based on the needs of specific racial and/or ethnic groups. Failure to collect racial identification data will not eliminate disparities. Passage of Proposition 54 would instead sweep those disparities under the rug and dismantle an effective reform tool. Once again, by failing to collect, analyze and utilize racial identification data, California will be out of the step with the rest of the country.

With a population that is 46% white, 35% Hispanic, 12% Asian and Pacific Islander, 6% black and 1% other, California is one of the most diverse states in the nation. It is imperative that it leads the nation in developing effective tools to create equity among its residents. As other states increasingly rely on racial demographic data to correct racial discrimination, California cannot afford to fall behind.

In accordance with the League\\\'s historic mission to enable African-Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity and power and civil rights, the National Urban League and the California Association of Urban League Executives (CAULE), join with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the N.A.A.C.P, the Rainbow/Push Coalition and local African-American and Latino community leaders to oppose Proposition 54. We urge Californians to reject this myopic resolution and move forward in creating progressive anti-discrimination measures that advance the civil rights of all Americans.

The Urban League is the nation\\\'s oldest and largest community-based movement empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. The National Urban League, headquartered in New York City, spearheads the nonprofit, nonpartisan movement, while Urban League affiliates operate in more than 100 cities in 34 states and the District of Columbia. Visit the League on the Web at www.nul.org.