HOUSTON KEEPING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION; BALLOT LANGUAGE CITED AS FACTOR IN VOTE TO BUCK PERCEIVED TREND.Byline: Sam Howe Samuel P. "Sam" Howe III (born 1938) is an American hardball squash player. He was one of the leading squash players in the United States in the 1960s. Howe won the US national singles title twice in 1962 and 1967. Verhovek The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Just one day after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld California's sweeping ban on affirmative action affirmative action, in the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women. policies, Houston's voters have put a surprising brake on a national movement that has often seemed to have the momentum of an unstoppable freight train. In voting decisively to maintain affirmative action policies, Houstonians may well have belied the city's conservative image but even more broadly, they offered a window on the complicated feelings that many Americans say they have about the issue. Interviews with voters and an analysis of exit polls indicate the proposal to ban affirmative action here failed because affirmative action supporters kept its opponents from seizing the rhetorical high ground of equal opportunity and civil rights, because Houston's business and political establishment showed a united face in favor of the program, and because contemporary Houston is a far more diverse place politically and racially than lingering lin·ger v. lin·gered, lin·ger·ing, lin·gers v.intr. 1. To be slow in leaving, especially out of reluctance; tarry. See Synonyms at stay1. 2. stereotypes would have it. Houston Mayor Bob Lanier Bob Lanier may refer to:
adj. 1. Of or having to do with an uncle. 2. Regarded as characteristic of an uncle, especially in benevolence or tolerance. style: ``Let's not Let's Not is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in Boston University Graduate Journal in December 1954. It was written for no payment as a favour to the journal, and later appeared in the collection Buy Jupiter. turn back the clock to the days when guys like me got all the city's business.'' But the fundamental truth that seems to have emerged from the debate here is that the future of affirmative action may depend more than anything else on the language in which it is framed. The vote Tuesday came only after a tumultuous debate in the City Council over the wording of the measure. Rather than being asked whether they wanted to ban discrimination and ``preferential pref·er·en·tial adj. 1. Of, relating to, or giving advantage or preference: preferential treatment. 2. treatment,'' to which voters said a clear ``yes'' in California last year and to which polls showed Houston voters would also say yes, residents were instead asked whether they wished specifically to ban affirmative action in city contracting and hiring. The legal effect was the same under either wording, but to this revised question they answered ``no,'' by 55 percent to 45 percent. To be sure, the debate here was about more than language. Many corporate leaders here adamantly ad·a·mant adj. Impervious to pleas, appeals, or reason; stubbornly unyielding. See Synonyms at inflexible. n. 1. A stone once believed to be impenetrable in its hardness. 2. An extremely hard substance. opposed the ballot proposal, called Proposition A, on the grounds that Houston was one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, and that this was a great asset nurtured in part by affirmative action. A more subtle, less stated theme running through this line of reasoning Noun 1. line of reasoning - a course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating a truth or falsehood; the methodical process of logical reasoning; "I can't follow your line of reasoning" logical argument, argumentation, argument, line was that the policy had brought a greater measure of racial harmony than is found in many other large American cities. African-Americans make up about 25 percent, Latinos 30 percent and Asian-Americans 5 percent of Houston's population of 1.8 million. Whites, however, accounted for just more than half of the voters in Tuesday's election. And yet another reason was that that African-American voters in Houston showed up at the polls in record numbers, motivated both by the proposition and by the mayoral candidacy of Lee P. Brown, a former police chief here and in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , who, if he wins an early December run-off, would be the first African-American mayor in Houston's history. Brown finished first in the voting, with 41 percent, and will be opposed in the run-off by Rob Mosbacher, a Houston businessman, who got 30 percent; Lanier is unable to run for re-election because of a term-limits law. But of all the factors, none was more important than the wording change in the ballot, and that is also the factor that could have the most significant national implications. ``I simply think there is no way this would have ever been defeated with the Blum language,'' said Bob Stein, a political scientist and dean of the School of Social Sciences at Rice University, who has polled extensively on the issue. He was referring to Edward Blum Edward Blum (b. c. 1867 - d. March 26, 1944) was an architect, born in Paris, who designed apartment and office buildings, many in New York City. He died in Sunnyside, Queens, New York at 67. Blum was a graduate of Columbia University.[1] Notes 1. , a local businessman who was the chief sponsor of the measure and who sought language very similar to that used in California's referendum last year on Proposition 209, the measure that banned state-sponsored affirmative action. In that case, the language used to ban affirmative action was taken almost directly from the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ``It's an easy choice to say you're for civil rights,'' said Stein. ``But it's a bigger leap to say that the choice for civil rights leads you to ban affirmative action. Many people feel uncomfortable with that.'' |
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