American Civil Rights Institute

http://www.acri.org/

501(c)(3) nonprofit
Employer Identification Number: 52-2004697

The Sacramento based American Civil Rights Institute was established in the wake of Californias Proposition 209, the 1996 amendment to the state constitution that prohibited state, local governments, districts, public universities, colleges, and schools, and other government entities from making preference based decisions on basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. Founded by Ward Connerly, a former regent of the University of California who took a prominent role Proposition 209 and Dusty Rhodes, President of National Review, the institute has been at the forefront of the battle over affirmative action and has used the momentum gained in California to successfully eliminate affirmative action in Michigan, Nebraska and Washington. Not only does the group aim to end the practice of affirmative action, but it also seeks eliminate policies that take race into consideration, including the collecting of demographic data.

The groups first victory came in 1998, when it played an important part in the passage of Initiative 200 in Washington State. A year later, ACRI targeted Florida and attempted to introduce the Florida Civil Rights Initiative. However, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who was opposed to the ACRI backed legislation, was able to introduce his own One Florida legislation, which eliminated several preference programs but did not ban affirmation action.

Playing off the success of Proposition 209 in California, in 2002, ACRI was able to get the Racial Privacy Initiative on the ballot, an initiative that would ban state and local governments from collecting racial data" and eliminate the racial check boxes that Californians encounter on state government forms ranging from job applications and school enrollment papers to birth and death certificates. Proposition 54 was defeated by a margin of 64% to 36%.

In 2006, the ACRI was successful in passing Proposal 2, also known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, which eliminated preference-based admission in the states public universities. The measure passed by a 58% to 42% margin. But the victory was not without controversy. According to a report by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, the campaign took part in shameful acts of deception and misrepresentation."

In the 2008 elections, ACRI sought to bring the issue on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. But it only managed to get on the ballet in two of the states, Colorado and Nebraska. In Arizona and Missouri, Connerly was unable to get enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot. In Oklahoma, the proposed the Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative initially had enough signatures but ultimately did not make the ballet after the Secretary of States office discovered discrepancies in the signatures.

In Colorado, ACRI introduced Amendment 46, also known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, which sought to change the state constitution and prohibit discrimination and preferential treatment in the public hiring, education system and contracts. Given the states predominantly white population and a growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the state, the measure was expected to pass. But supporters of the measure were soon accused of deception, chiefly in their method of collecting signatures. Despite the alleged deception, a high turnout from the states minority population and an effective campaign attacking Connerely and labeling him a carpetbagger, was enough to strike down the proposed amendment and it was defeated by the tiniest of margins, 50.7% to 49.3%.
In Nebraska, Initiative 424, also known as the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative, passed by a margin of 58% or 42%. Again, the campaign was accused of deception. The Lincoln Journal Star accused supporters of deceptive signature collecting techniques and the Omaha World-Herald, the states largest paper, accused backers of the measure of stroking racial resentment.

In June, 2009, the Arizona legislature voted to put the issue on the ballot once more. According the new reports, the move was championed by Republican legislators and Ward Connerly.