Let's Preserve Opportunities for ALL of our Children

I recently attended a forum hosted by the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA) to discuss the merits of SCA 5 and I agree with the community that the enactment of such a measure would hurt not just the Asian-American community, but potentially all communities of color.

Regardless of its intent, this bill would undo a generation of civil rights progress here in California. While we all want to ensure that California’s top-notch public universities are available to all ethnicities, SCA 5 would do just the opposite and instead give these institutions carte-blanche authority to discriminate based on an applicant’s race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.

This Legislature wants to ignore the inspiring words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago when he proclaimed: ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ SCA 5 seeks to erode this dream and return us to those troubling times by reversing the work of Dr. King and others who sought to focus our institutions on individual merit. 

Immigrants come to this country and our state seeking an opportunity of a better life for themselves and their children. We cannot make it more difficult for that dream to come true by ignoring the talents that they bring to our shores.

I believe, that in order to ensure the opportunity for success is preserved for all of our children as established by the people of California, SCA 5 must be stopped. I applaud the Speaker for setting it aside and shelving this measure in the Legislature. 

Assembly District 8 includes the communities of Arden-Arcade, Carmichael, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Murieta, Rosemont, Wilton and portions of unincorporated Sacramento County.