Regulating race in the California civil rights initiative: enemies, allies, and alibis

Abstract

This essay presents an analysis of the California Civil Rights Initiative, a ballot measure that won 54% of the popular vote in November 1996 to end affirmative action in California. Themes within the public campaign organized by supporters of the measure reveal an “individual rights” framing of the issues, an emphasis on racialized “internal enemies”, and the appointment of “allies” within the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The essay analyzes these themes to interrogate the ways in which the policy process operates as an important site for the production of knowledge about affirmative action, Black Americans, and racial history.