Orange County Rally Aims to Keep State Ban on Racial Preferences

Orange County residents rallied this month against an attempt to amend the state’s 27-year-old ban on affirmative action and racial preferences in public policies. Several dozen residents gathered April 13 outside Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris’s office in Irvine to protest. Ms. Petrie-Norris is a vocal supporter of Assembly Constitutional Amendment 7 (ACA 7), which would alter Proposition 209, a 1996 measure that banned racial discrimination and racial preferences in public education, employment, contracting, and more. ACA 7 “focuses on enabling evidence-based, culturally specific programs to reduce disparities among specific groups, including marginalized genders and sexual orientations,” according to a press release by Assemblyman Corey Jackson, who introduced the measure....