Gore Unequivocal in support for affirmative action; Bush Stance not so clear," ...

was the San Francisco Chronicle headline. For Bush this is an understatement and his true colors have begun to show. He has clearly stated he does not support affirmative action and embraced Ward Connerly who successfully led the campaign to "gut" affirmative action in California. Bush has cited the most anti-affirmative action members of the Supreme Court, Justice Antonin Scalia and Black Justice Clarence Thomas, as his favorites and the kind of "strict constructionist" that he would name to the court. Gore, on the other hand, is predicted to be even more aggressive than Clinton in defending affirmative action and pursuing race-conscious policies. VOTE NOW, OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE!

The more tragic part of this upcoming election is that 1.4 million voting age Black men will be ineligible to vote because of state laws on convicted felons. When 1 out of 3 Black males between the ages of 20 and 29 is under the control of the nation's criminal justice system, one notes the lack of justice in the justice system. As an example, although only 11% of the nation's drug users are Black, 60% of those in state prison for drug felonies are Black With over 50% of the nation's prison population Black and noting the destructive effects of a "prison industrial complex" upon the Black family from selective prosecution and disproportionate sentencing, poet Nikki Giovanni lashed out recently in Los Angeles "incarceration should not deny prisoners the right to choose (vote) playgrounds and quality schools for their children."

Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who chaired the California Commission on the Status of the African American Male for several years, is upset about the "midnight" passage of the H-1B Visa bill that allows high-tech companies to bring in 195,000 foreign workers per year. 80% of these companies don't file required EEO affirmative action reports while doing Federal work. Meanwhile President Clinton issued an Executive Order requiring a 5% goal for minority businesses in the SBA 8(a) affirmative action program. After enormous expensive documentation, many 8(a) firms never receive a contract documenting another trail of broken promises. California has 585 8(a) firms, of which 152 are out of the San Francisco SBA District office.

Now comes the first major test of Proposition 209, which bars affirmative action in California. A San Jose outreach program requiring contractors to simply notify minority or female subcontractors on city contracts over $50,000 has been struck down in the lower courts and has now reached the California Supreme Court. On Sept. 6, 2000, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown was sitting in the front row while Attorney General Bill Lockyer personally argued in support of the San Jose program. Two weeks later, a similar suit was filed against San Francisco on a rejected traffic sign bid, with no minority subs, at the San Francisco Airport Expansion. But the San Francisco City Attorney's office is not backing off, issuing a statement, "The U.S. Constitution mandates that we remedy past discrimination, and that's what this program does." Also commenting was the new president of the San Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce, Myles Stevens, "We have felt besieged since Prop. 209 by those who wish to keep 95% of state and city contracts in the hands of white males, but we will never, never give up in getting a fair share of contracts for MBE's."

"You may trod me in the very dirt, But still, like dust, I'll rise." ñ Maya Angelou