Connerly Loses Another 209 Battle; This Time In LA Schools
Magnet schools in Los Angeles won a significant court victory Friday when a state appellate panel rejected a lawsuit charging that they violated California’s Proposition 209, which outlawed affirmative action in the state, reported the Los Angeles Times in an article on Friday.
In strong, clear language, the three-judge panel said an organization affiliated with Proposition 209 author Ward Connerly was wrong to claim that the Los Angeles Unified School District could no longer use the race of students as a factor in magnet school admissions. Race-based admissions were mandated in a 1981 court order that remains in effect despite Proposition 209, the appeals court said.
Although Connerly’s organization could still appeal to the state Supreme Court, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who took part in the case on behalf of the district said she thought the challenge was effectively over.
Day Without A Gay: Protesting Prop. 8 by Donating to Causes
Conceived by Sean Hetherington of West Hollywood, the day of protest is modeled after A Day Without Immigrants, which took place on May 1, 2006.
Individuals participating can call in sick and donate their time to a cause and buy nothing that day to show again how important the LGBT community is to this country. The organizers have FAQs here. And their Facebook event listing is here.
Read more about how EJS has been involved in the ongoing fight for equality.
Survey on Media Coverage of Race Issues in the Presidential Election
Onica N. Makwakwa of UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. (unityjournalists.org) and Darrell L. Williams of The Loop (theloop21.com) today announced that their organizations are partnering on a survey of how media covered racial issues in the presidential election, biling it as a “unique opportunity for journalists of color to show how diversity in the newsroom could make a difference in news coverage.” The survey results will be announced next month before the presidential inauguration.
Talking About Race In The Obama Era
We just finished a call on “Talking About Race In The Obama Era” organized by the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights, hosted by Cristóbal Joshua Alex and Tanene Allison, and featuring EJS president Eva Paterson and Opportunity Agenda executive director Alan Jenkins. I’m typing up notes from the call and will post here shortly.
UPDATE: Notes added below.
EJS Gala Caps Off Incredible 2008
All of us at EJS want to thank everyone for attending our annual gala last night at The Regency Center in San Francisco. We’ll be posting more incredible photos (like the one above of Eva Paterson and the band Unintended Consequences) taken by Shu-Jon Mao.
