 Hello, my name is Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald and we're joined today by many members of the community who have varying opinions on the ballot initiative that's going to be on the October 7th special election ballot. And that is Proposition 54, also known as the Crino or Crinko initiative. That is the classification of race, ethnicity and national origin initiative. The classification of race, ethnicity and national origin initiative aims to ban California state agencies from collecting data on race, ethnicity, color or national origin. Many people believe that it's going to hurt a lot of research that is very valuable in making medical advances in helping to fine-tune the area of education and it's really going to take us steps back instead of helping us as a society collectively to move forward. Today we are very honored to have such wonderful members of the community. First of all, we're going to be speaking with Mary Phillips. Mary is a community activist and a healthcare advocate. Mary Phillips has been a resident of Davis for some time. And Mary, if you could please share with us how is it that Proposition 54, do you believe, is going to hurt in the field of medicine? Is it going to hurt the field of medicine or healthcare? As a healthcare advocate, what I run into a lot is the issue of disparities in healthcare. And this initiative would not provide us the data that we need to make that comparison. Generally people are not getting healthcare, feel that healthcare is somehow being disadvantaged. And one of the measurements is indeed to look at what data there is and what the comparison is. So I'm very concerned that that kind of data won't be available if indeed this initiative were to pass. Our constitution provides equal protections for all, and therefore I'm very concerned about the constitutional denials that we would be impringing on our people. I was just going through some newspaper articles just this week, and there were at least two or three that talked about healthcare, in particular in how different ethnic groups face conditions that are not prevalent in other ethnic groups. For example, here's one that says, this is from the Wall Street Journal of the 25th. It says, black women's cardiac care trails that of white women. The only way they could have got this data was to make some comparative data, and for that you need those kinds of statistics. Here's another one that talks about, this is from the New York Times, and it's on rising obesity in children, and it's August 26th. It says, in the last 20 years, those who work in the field say obesity has become the most prevalent chronic health problem among American children, and it goes on to say that the ethnicity matters too. It says, ethnicity matters too. Hispanic and African American children are disproportionately hard hit, compared with white children. Now, if this initiative were to pass here in California, you wouldn't be able to get that kind of statistics. So that's my kind of concern. I'm also a civil rights officer, and I handle discrimination complaints. For that, I need data. I need data when someone's complaining about discriminations to put them to be able to prepare what's going on elsewhere. So all of that's going to be there. Truly, we've got to have race and the ethnicity and national origin in the equation if you're ever going to be a color blind system. Thank you. What's very interesting about what you said, those statistics that you were giving and why race and ethnicity are needed for medical advancements and hone in on problems that may exist in certain ethnicities, Ward Connerly, which I did not mention, who is the key author, I believe with other people, he happens to be a regent and an African American himself, he's the one that authored this bill and thinks it's a great proposition. And in the area of medicine, there are even some cancers that are more prevalent amongst white males, amongst Caucasian males. There are some illnesses that are more prevalent amongst white females within a certain age group. So this is not just a quote-unquote color issue. And that is something I really want to stress to people that it's going to hurt us as a society, whether it's in the field of medicine, education, and so forth. So next, we're going to be speaking with Leanne Friedman. Leanne, you're very involved with the... you're a member and very involved with the Interfaith Forum in Davis, Interfaith Forum on Racism. And as a member of the faith community, what are your thoughts about Proposition 54? Well, I don't know if this is necessarily part of my faith, but it is certainly part of my philosophy of life that it is not the case that ignorance is less. And it seems to me that by saying, we don't want to know what disparities there are based on race or ethnic origin or other categories that are involved in this proposition, it's like saying, we're putting blinders on. We don't want to know what's really out there because we're not a colorblind society. When Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action proposition came along, people were talking about, well, we want a level playing field. There is not a level playing field. And saying, well, we'll pretend that there is. I don't think, unfortunately, doesn't bring that about. And this seems to be another step in that direction. Just saying, well, we'll pretend there are no differences. We don't want to know. We'll be ignorant. And just go along as if everything's the same. I find that to be a really short-sighted, stupid, if I may say so, way of approaching life. I don't approach my own life in terms of saying, I don't want to know what the problems are. And as a society, the more we do that, I think the more the problems just overtake us. Thank you so much. It's a very interesting perspective. It's basically shutting our eyes, if this were to pass in the bay, to simply shut our eyes to the problems that exist. And instead of helping us to take care of the problems, basically be putting our head in the sand. Exactly. Yeah. Thank you so much for those wonderful comments we have. Next, we are very honored to have with us Terry Turner, who is an educator, an artist, and a member of YCCAA, Yolo County Citizens for Affirmative Action. Terry, before you, and I don't know if I'm jump-starting here by saying this, but what's so wonderful is that you, back in 1965, 1963, participate. 65. 65. Okay. I knew it was around there. Yeah, you came to Davis in 1963. So it was in 1965. You were a participant in a moment in history that many of us only read about and only dream about having been there. And that moment in history was the bus ride from Davis to Alabama to March with Dr. Martin Luther King. Please share with us your thoughts on Proposition 54 and maybe tie it into that moment in history. Well, okay, I don't often think about this, but maybe I always think about it. In the 50s, as a young guy growing up, I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the border of Kentucky and Ohio. There was Jim Crow Laws, Jim Crow Laws, which said that what we could do for work, we could get jobs and couldn't, where we could go, restaurants and all those things. So many people don't know much about that today or really understand it, but I experienced it. Throwing out a restaurant because of Color My Scan is a harsh reality and makes you think a lot about your position here on the earth with people. But the thing is, Leigh Ann talks about colorblind. So people said they were colorblind. They were actually blind to what was happening to us. People still today don't think that it really ever happened. And it did. There was no law to support us, so we had laws that are blind to us as well at the time. So we went out, we marched. And one of my heroes is a writer, Richard Wright, and he writes about being an invisible man. Much of what I felt in my life being totally invisible, sometimes I still go through life feeling somewhat invisible. And I guess someone pressed or desponded at whatever I call it. But to be invisible is a terrible, terrible thing to walk around the earth and no one sees you. Or sees you just as one kind of person, a person you're a thief or a person that obviously we are all diseased or we are all rapist or whatever it is. Most of which is not true, but that's how people do see you. So in a sense they still see you blindly. They'll see you as the person that's healthy and has the ability to any other person on this planet. And so therefore it's hard to get jobs. I was looking at the Sacramento Observer today and still as unemployment declines and the state African-Americans are being hit harder than anyone else. So as usual, which means people are blind. I'm on these committees in my job. I'm a professor for Yuba College or Woodland Community College. And I sit on as affirmative action officers or they call them diversity officers today because we can't use that word, it's illegal. But so I sit there and they tell you, well, we can't really find anyone who is qualified. So how can we ever have an African-American take a job like yours? They go, you mean I must be the most qualified guy in the nation? So I'm the only one teaching here. So it's really intriguing position to be in. So if this proposition 54 passed they wouldn't even be able to collect? They wouldn't ever collect the data to get people hired like me. So they'll just suggest that we can't find you. You're all invisible and it's all done. That gives them a really good excuse. When I was hired in the 60s, in the late 60s when I was hired at college we were anything but invisible. We were making lots of noise in the community and I had to pay attention. So we did. So I got a good job. And today I think if people want to get a job teaching a professor in the California Community College District and you're African-American it's going to be kind of tough because they don't see you. And I hear that constantly. Just to look at the districts. So it's really going to impact what the area of education looks like not only in education directly services that are given to children or the type of education taught to children but it sounds like the diversity of teaching staff because we're not going to be able to collect data on how many African-American professors how many Caucasian women professors or Asian-American to make sure that there's a proportionate number of professors representing the students that they teach. Exactly. Yeah, it's very interesting. One time I was told when you know I mean there's also the negative side of it that I think collecting data is a positive the negative side of it is one day I was told but we don't need to really look at African-American instructors because we only have 2% of the population. So you guys are only 2% of the population so therefore we don't need to think about how many more. You are enough in other words. So I thought that's a really intriguing idea. Thank you so much Terry. Next we have Grace Kim. Grace Kim is a long-time resident of Davis a former school teacher and is a member and founder of Davis Asians for Racial Equality. Grace, thank you so much for joining us today. What are your opinions about Proposition 54 and how Proposition 54 would negatively impact this? Yes, these days I'm really struggling with this October 7th election. Unfortunately this year Californians are having an unnecessary election on both Proposition 54 and the governor's recall. It is a wasteful practice we have to go through. We will waste the time, energy and the 60 million dollars of taxpayers' money that recall has become a joke and the circus and the mockery undermining the authority and the sanctity of the democratic process and the principle. Proposition 54 is a so-called racial privacy initiative is a very deceptive title. It is an irresponsible and dangerous proposition. We remember that the same author Mr. Ward Carnery succeeded to take away affirmative action by calling it the Civil Rights Initiative. Again, a very confusing and tricky title. Please do not be fooled by this title. Please both know the collection of race information by the government is necessary for tracking, investigating and analyzing data regarding different races in California. Without this data it would be impossible to expose hate crimes to prove discriminatory practices or racism to track and document the health and educational needs of different groups and to enforce the civil rights laws of this country. The passage of Proposition 54 would adversely impact the repair of ethnic minorities. It is because the statistical and research data on the similarities and differences in prevalence rates, symptom manifestations and response patterns to medical treatment of different disorders among different ethnic groups will not be collected. Therefore, all medical data will be totally colorblind. Hereditary factors will be ignored. Proposition 54 is dangerous and takes us back to the old days when minorities were seen but not heard and not counted. Please register to vote before September 22 get an absentee ballot and vote no on the recall election and vote no on Proposition 54. Let us go forward and work together to improve the quality of life for all people regardless of the different skin color and the different origin. Please vote no on Proposition 54 and no on the governor's recall. Thank you. Grace, that was wonderfully said. And you touched on so many important issues there. You also touched on remembering to register to vote and that's especially important if people have gone through name change or if they've moved and to consider voting by absentee ballot because the lines are expected to be longer this year. It's not going to be as easy. They're not going to fit all of the names of the candidates the 100 and now I believe 34, 33 but it's dropped though because some candidates have dropped out. So I think we're now 133 or 134 and it's going to take more than one card. So you've got to look through for your candidates so they're telling people if you're determined to go to the polls bring your I call it practice ballots with you and have it marked so you know where to look or file for an absentee ballot. That's the best way to do it. Thank you for those great comments. Last and definitely not least we're very honored to have with us a professor of sociology from UC Davis. I was a sociology major and graduated from UCD so it's a wonderful field. We have with us Dr. Jim Kramer, professor of sociology. Thank you so much for joining us today. Your particular area of sociology if I remember correctly it focuses on demographics. Is that right? And so given that how what is your perception of Proposition 54 and how would that impact demographics in California? The research of demographics? Well within I do a variety of different research dealing with population and I teach courses on race and ethnicity, on immigration, on the nature of multicultural societies so I deal with this topic in all manner of ways. The proponents of this that the backers of Prop 54 claim that collecting data on race, ethnicity and national origins leads to conflict and obstructs the attainment of a colorblind society. Certainly the goal of achieving a colorblind society is laudable but I don't understand at all how collecting this data will interfere with that. It's like saying consulting a doctor and having medical tests is what causes having cancer. Collecting the data on things is not really what's causing the underlying problems. We have a long history of difficulties dealing with race and ethnicity in this country and people's perceptions about what progress we've made and are we close to a colorblind society or not. People's perceptions differ enormously. Public opinion polls consistently indicate that in the last ten years something around 75% of white adults think that discrimination is a thing of the past and no longer exists and something like a comparable percentage, something like 75% of people of color of different racial and ethnic groups report that they experience or observe discriminatory acts on a daily basis. So we have huge disparities in perceptions about the nature of our society and these perceptions lead to conflicts and controversies debates and so on and there's no way of resolving that or knowing the truth of the matter without collecting data and analyzing the data. So let me give a couple of examples. In the area of housing many people report that people of color experience discrimination on disabilities and so on. There's been an enormous amount of research on that and the research does in fact indicate that between 40 and 60% of the time when people of color are searching for apartments to rent they experience some form of discrimination in terms of what information is given them, whether apartments are available what the down payment is and so on compared to white. So enormous amount of research in fact supports the idea that we're a long ways away from a colorblind society in the area of housing and rentals. In another area where I myself have done research in the environmental area there's a lot of fear and concern expressed that toxic waste sites are systematically located in neighborhoods of low income and people of color. That causes all sorts of community protest, it makes it very difficult to solve our environmental problems because it's hard to locate then toxic waste sites. In this particular instance a considerable amount of research lately has in fact indicated that there's no basis for this concern that to a very considerable extent toxic waste sites are distributed in a roughly random area and that they are not systematically located in neighborhoods of people of color. So it's indicating that the research can go both ways on this topic that it can support the view that we're approaching a colorblind society or that we're not. But without that research people will be basing their views on different perceptions and people have dramatically different perceptions. So we can't really resolve this. We can't really know what progress we're making without having the data for doing the research. Thank you so much. That is so wonderfully and eloquently stated. Thank you all for joining us. I'd like to give everybody an opportunity just to in one sentence summarize what just you didn't have to maybe some people have thoughts on it just summarize well I was going to say summarize summarize closing thoughts but I've been told that we have limited time so we won't do that but I do want to thank everybody for joining us today. You've all shared your input as members of the Davis community and as members of your various communities where you have special areas of interest and research and involvement the field of medicine the field of research and data collection education in the community college arena Davis Asians for racial equality and also interfaith community so we thank you all so much and for those of you watching please don't forget to register to vote and remember to find more information look for more information if you have more questions about Proposition 54 and the negative impact it's not a race issue a collection of race data or disparities it's not just an issue that needs to be a great concern to minorities it's an issue that needs to be a great concern to all of us if we are to move forward as a society so we wish to thank you very much again for being here and please join us as we help to defeat Proposition 54. Good night.