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Prop. 54 would risk public health

Proposition 54, the so-called Racial Privacy Initiative, which would bar states and local governments from collecting racial and ethnic information, is detrimental to advances in medicine, equality in education and safeguards in law enforcement.

The initiative is being spearheaded by UC Regent and businessman Ward Connerly, who formulated Proposition 209, which passed in 1996; this “anti-Affirmative Action” initiative was opposed by civil rights groups who also oppose Proposition 54.

Connerly claims that the purpose of the initiative is to move toward a colorblind California, but his words are deceptive and hide the negative impact medicine and public health will experience behind “racial privacy.”

Proposition 54 is a ban on information that will certainly lead to insurmountable harms.

Health care professionals use ethnic and racial information from medical surveys and forms to determine patterns of disease and infection.

This research has shown that African American babies have higher rates of infant mortality; Vietnamese women often have higher rates of cervical cancer; white women have the highest rates of breast cancer, while African American women are more likely to die from the breast cancer. And the list continues.

E. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, who also opposes Proposition 54, supervised a survey that discovered a fifth of Native Americans in California suffer from active asthma.

“Disease is not colorblind,” said a coalition of professional health organizations in a letter calling for a “no” on Proposition 54.

Campaigners supporting Proposition 54, like Diane Schachterle, are trying to grab votes using misleading language that relies on voter ignorance.

Schachterle said that the initiative would do away with a system that slave owners once used to “keep track of their property.”

Stooping to this kind of language shows the campaign’s lack of real justification.

It is not discriminatory to collect data so that health can be monitored and examined for improvements as well as areas of concern in the various ethnic groups that make up this state.

Racial privacy is not private and that is not a bad thing when it comes to public health research, or other issues for that matter.

Supporters of Proposition 54 will have the public believe that Connerly has included exceptions where the law would be applied. However, the initiative’s text covers “medical research subjects and patients” referring to clinical trials, but does not include public health research.

Proposition 54 is also a ban on educational resources and academic achievement.

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the Coalition for an Informed California, said in a letter, “Without the ability to track and understand discrimination and basic disparities, we will lose a crucial compass ­ and will not know whether we are making progress toward a better society.”

James Q. Wilson, noted sociologist and conservative scholar, said that if the initiative passes, it will be impossible to know if black or Latino student enrollment has increased, decreased or remained the same in institutes for higher learning. If you agreed on Proposition 209, you will not know if colleges are observing the law because you will not know the ethnic makeup of the students in higher education, he said.

Currently, it is an option to supply your ethnic background on questionnaires and forms. If the initiative is passed, there will not even be a choice.

Jonathan Bernstein, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Central Pacific Regional Office, said in an Aug.7 press release, “This damaging initiative will reverse the tremendous progress the state has made in tracking hate crimes and providing equal opportunities for all Californians.”

The initiative will prohibit law enforcement from collecting data that can be used to prevent hate crimes, thus lessening accountability.

Police officers will not be required to report the race or ethnicity of motorists involved in traffic stops. This means there will be no way to determine the magnitude of racial profiling.

Proposition 54 is a regression for California in its quest to continue moving toward efficient health care, better health care and responsive law enforcement.

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Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

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