Redistricting measures in Texas and California have all eyes on the Nov. 3 midterm election. That contest also marks 30 years since the people of California won a victory for civil rights, now ignored by the ruling class in the Golden State and across the nation.

California’s ballot initiative process gives the people “a way to propose laws and constitutional amendments without the support of the governor or the legislature.” The California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), Proposition 209 on the November 1996 ballot, was the project of California State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) professors Glynn Custred and Thomas Wood, backed by University of California regent Ward Connerly.

CCRI ended racial and ethnic preferences in state education, employment, and state contracting. Opponents of the measure included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, an associate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a former candidate for president.

The Rev. Jackson compared CCRI to “a radical revival of apartheid,” and called the African American Connerly a “house slave,” with others branding him a “race traitor,” or worse. Days before the Nov. 5 election, President Bill Clinton touted race and ethnic preferences at a rally in Oakland. Even so, California voters passed Proposition 209 by a margin of  54 to 46 percent. The disaster opponents predicted never occurred.

There were declines in minority........

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