John Kim Statement On Why We Must Pass Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5

With the compounding viruses of COVID-19 and police violence, the governing dynamic of structural racism is on full display and can no longer be ignored. Regardless of our state’s reputation as a progressive antidote to the right-wing, racist forces in this country, we must also acknowledge that racism is still deeply embedded in our economy and public systems. For us to meet our rhetoric with real action – we must marshal all of our resources and collective wisdom to understand how our systems have consistently failed Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color; therefore, we must redesign them from the ground up. However, we cannot do that with blinders on and with one arm tied behind our backs.

When Proposition 209 was passed in 1996 – we were a completely different state. Yes, we were dealing with similar convulsions of racial unrest and uprisings then. But we were a state that refused to acknowledge the poison of white supremacy that had infected all of us and did not have sufficient political will to do anything about it.

“As an Asian American father, I am proud to endorse ACA 5. With its passage, we can look our children in the eyes and say that we did everything we could to address the ghosts of our past, to create a state that is rooted in racial justice, and one that we are truly proud to hand down to them.”

The measure before the legislature will allow California voters to repeal Proposition 209. Proposition 209 was an anti-equal opportunity measure that ended almost all programs designed to open the doors of equal opportunity for people of color and women in California’s public sector. A generation later, racial disparities in education, housing, safety, and health have either stagnated or worsened. And yet, another generation of low-income communities of color have been excluded from California’s promise.

Before Proposition 209, the opportunity gap faced by women and people of color had begun to shrink as state agencies enacted policies to eliminate patterns of institutionalized segregation and exclusion in the workforce. California managed to increase the representation of women and minorities in the state service, without effectuating quota systems. All of that changed when Prop 209 was enacted.

Unfortunately, ACA 5 has drawn sizable opposition from groups within my own community. Many worry this will cause harm AAPI representation in university enrollment and other opportunities. The reality is that after Proposition 209 went into effect in 1996, the admission rate of AAPI students to UC schools dropped. Universities outside California that practice affirmative action have seen more significant gains in the enrollment rate of AAPI students.

Repealing Proposition 209 will not take away from any specific minority group; rather, it will enhance opportunities for those have been deprived of them for many generations.

I have a 13 year-old daughter that dreams of attending UC Berkeley like her parents. As parents, we will do everything we can to support her but we also do not want her to compete in an unjust system that does not account for unequal burdens that Latinx, Black, and Indigenous students have faced that she may not have. We have to do right by California’s growth, its diversity, its people. We must provide justice to those who have been wronged for so many generations.  We must all be allies and stand in solidarity in this work to become a better and more just California.

I, John Kim, endorse ACA 5 – repeal of Proposition 209.