The Color Bind: California's Campaign to End Affirmative Action

The Color Bind is an excellent report on Proposition 209, passed by California voters in 1996 to prevent the state government from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to people on the basis of their race. Although Berkeley journalism professor Lydia Chavez sympathizes with the liberal supporters of affirmative action, her reporting on the political campaign surrounding Proposition 209 is strikingly evenhanded. She reveals that the initiative's opponents often employed questionable tactics, such as when they paid David Duke to come to California in an attempt to link him with the effort to pass the law. She also makes clear that the authors of the initiative were inspired by good principles, even as cynical Republicans, including Bob Dole, tried to hijack the issue in the final weeks before the election. Anybody who has followed the political and legal issues swirling around Proposition 209--no matter what their political persuasion--will consider this a fascinating and useful book. --John J. Miller