Discrimination still exists widely in contemporary society. Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 5 (SCA-5) is the latest incident of anti-Chinese sentiment, which brings another dark day of discrimination day for Asian Americans in public universities.
California StateSenator Edward Hernandez announced SCA-5 on December 2012. On January 2014, it was passed in the California Senate. The Amendment requested voters to consider eliminating California Proposition 209‘s ban “on the use of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in recruitment, admissions, and retention programs” at California’ public universities and colleges, and finally remove specific provisions implemented through the enactment of Proposition 209.
Apparently, Hernandez intended to increase African-American and Latino students attending community colleges and public universities; however, it destroys the image of the United States. Race as an admission decision factor definitely cannot bring any fairness into universities especially in America, a country with a long multicultural history. In contrast, it will damage the whole education system and America’s world status, which will lead to even more racial tensions for those denied education. Seemingly, SCA-5 is to restore affirmative action to ethnic minorities. In fact, it aims to limit the proportion of Asian ethnicity in public universities, as an expense to increasing other ethnicities. If this model continues, there will be a continuous cycle of hurting some minorities for the benefit of others.
By then, the proportion of outstanding Asian student enrollment sharply decreased from 36 percent to 13 percent. Asian students achieved a very high acceptance rates in the University of California system because of their excellent results; however, as an Asian student, he or she may be denied going to UC Berkeley no matter how magnificent GPA he or she holds, if the admissions rate has been reached. This is another unspoken form of discrimination against Asians in present society.
Going back, almost 40 years after the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act, racism is still alive and well in America, just as much as in any other part of the world. After the first immigration law, Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the most severe restrictions for immigrants in American history, SCA-5 sets off another critical wave of discrimination. In 1882, discrimination was in immigration. This time it is in public education. Where will it move into next time?
SCA-5 seeks to remove any mentioning of “public education” in Prop. 209. The bill even wants to remove University of California and public schools from the definition of State Government Institutions. This will unfairly roll back the clock to discriminate a student simply based on her/his race. If it succeeds, what will be next in its supporters’ minds to be removed between other two areas – public employment and public contracting – in Proposition 209?
Sabrina Qu: International Journalist 