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Editor’s note: This story is part of the annual Mosaic Journalism Workshop for Bay Area high school students, a two-week intensive course at journalism. Students in this year’s virtual program report and photograph real stories under the guidance of professional journalists.
Hugo Marquez, a 2020 graduate of James Lick High School, is heading to college with big aspirations, hoping to become mayor of San Jose one day.
As he looks forward to starting at UC Davis this fall, he loves to keep an eye on local and national politics. One policy in particular that’s been on his radar is a possible state constitutional amendment on affirmative action that he believes could open doors for people of color.
“I’m excited to some extent, because there needs to be a greater representation of people of color because, disproportionately, Latinos and African American people have been underrepresented,” Marquez said.
In November, California voters will be asked whether to repeal Proposition 209, which banned affirmative action in California more than two decades ago. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5, known as ACA 5, was approved by the state Legislature earlier this month. Now voters will decide if race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin may be considered in university admissions, public employment and contracting. Students are watching closely to see how it could affect their future college applications.
Mindy Tuong, a Vietnamese American rising junior at San Jose’s Silver Creek High School, supports a repeal of the ban on affirmative action.
“When you see Prop. 209, it makes you think that they take gender and race out of their consideration, which is a good thing,” said Mindy, who hopes to attend UC Santa Barbara.
“However, you can also see the unintended (negative) effect. It allowed people of color and women to be met with more inequality” when some race- or gender-specific programs were eliminated by public organizations, she said.
Amaris Albini, a Latina at Overfelt High School in San Jose, says that students of color often face additional hurdles beyond what affirmative action would help counter.
“Prop. 209 employed color blindness that allowed people of color to fall through the cracks,” said Amaris, a rising junior who wants to attend UCLA. “It didn’t take into account that many people of color have had the cards stacked against them their entire lives.”
Marquez, who will major in environmental policy analysis and planning at UC Davis, agrees. He said that the inequalities in schools stretch much further back than just when it’s time to apply to colleges.
“I feel like the main thing (problem) is the funding of schools. In the school I go to, James Lick High School, there’s many resources we’re missing, from simple things like nurses to mental health workers,” he said.
Zahra Ali, a Pakistani American attending San Jose State University, said repealing Proposition 209 is just the beginning of what needs to be done to reach a level playing field.
“Even though (repealing) 209 does a really great job at trying to start somewhere, I wish there was more reparations to communities that were disadvantaged,” said Ali, a sophomore who’s majoring in global studies.
Although Ali values racial diversity on college campuses, she believes that leaders should be doing more. “The government or the system is looking at racial inequalities at one of the very last steps in their education,” she said.
Despite the support that ACA 5 is receiving from some people of color, there are some mixed reactions among Asian Americans.
Assemblyman Kansen Chu — who represents portions of North San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Fremont and Newark — was quoted in a Chinese-language newspaper earlier this month as saying “many Hispanic and African ethnic groups are unable to compete or have the ability to continue their studies due to unresolved structural economic and educational problems.”
In response, Silicon Valley civil rights activists called for Chu’s resignation. In a written statement, Chu denied making the comments and said the English translation provided by the San Jose-Silicon Valley NAACP was inaccurate. The World Journal article “was written with the reporter’s own opinion and not direct or literal quotes from me,” Chu said in the statement.
During the legislative debate on ACA 5, Assemblyman Evan Low of Campbell said that he had received thousands of calls from constituents and that only a fraction of them were in favor of the measure. Low said that many of those who were against it questioned his identity and said he was betraying the Asian community by voting for the measure.
“I stand [before] you with significant mixed emotion of sadness and of conflict,” Low said on a YouTube clip of his Assembly remarks. “It does come with political peril, but I did not run for office for self-preservation.” He later voted in favor of ACA 5.
