Jesse Jackson on Prop. 209

Jesse Jackson just doesn’t get it (Column left, April 13). Nearly 5 million Californians voted in favor of Prop. 209, which outlaws discrimination and abolishes racial and gender preferences by government entities in this state. While it does not eliminate affirmative action, it prohibits forms of it that cross the line to overt discrimination or favoritism. An example is the recent practice of the University of California awarding bonus points to applicants from certain racial and ethnic groups but not others. This practice would now be clearly unconstitutional under the proposition.

Judge Thelton Henderson’s injunction against the implementation of Prop. 209 was an act of pure partisanship. The three federal appeals judges who overturned Henderson’s injunction were only following the recent direction of federal courts in declaring that set-asides, quotas and other preferences are violations of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

JIM REDHEAD

San Diego

* There’s only one good thing about Prop. 209 being upheld: Affirmative action can no longer be scapegoated as a reason for discrimination. Those who would cry foul at affirmative action will just have to accept that often there are nonwhites and women who are more qualified than whites and males.

DAVID TORRES

Riverside