Michigan voters need to get off of their duffs and vote a resounding “no” on the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI), known as Proposal 2, which will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot. This initiative would ban all public institutions, corporations and contracts from making preferences based on race, gender, sex, ethnicity, national origin or color. It will unravel affirmative action’s doings.

 This proposal stems from a similar bill passed in California in 1996 that ended affirmative action statewide. If passed, this bill would terminate all accomplishments that the Civil Rights activists and rallies in Detroit pushed for.

 The issue of the MCRI branched from citizens of the state of Michigan complaining that affirmative action was playing the role of reverse racism. In other words, it began to discriminate against those who were not of a minority background. However, components of this initiative will revert the public back to the days of Jim Crow laws and prejudiced attitudes.

 Ending affirmative action would be devastating to the many minority communities within Michigan. If removed, students in schools in lower income areas would lose out on opportunities in college because their test scores and grades would reflect the availability they were given. However, students from affluent suburban communities with bubbling resources would have better chances to be picked over the lower-income children, no matter how competent or capable those inner-city pupils are.

 In addition to educational facilities, groups and organizations that are specifically based on a race, gender or ethnic origin would be eliminated and no longer allowed. This is the lowest blow because these groups exist to educate and inform the public.

 The bill should not pass. Michigan still needs affirmative action because Michigan still has discrimination based on race, gender and ethnic backgrounds. We still have areas with mostly minorities that don’t receive the same amount of money as primarily Caucasian areas. There are still male-dominated areas that hold women down. Affirmative action has certainly not finished what it was designed to do, which was to level the playing field for women and minorities.