For Immediate Release
November 6, 2020
Livingston, New Jersey: The Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) applauds Californian voters’ forceful rejection of racially discriminatory Proposition 16, and calls it a great and historic milestone in Asian Americans’ fight for equal education rights in America.
Proposition 16 is a politically motivated attempt to restore racial discrimination and racial quotas in public education, public employment and government contracting by repealing California’s constitutional principal of equal treatment for all. Fast-tracked throughout the California Legislature in May and June of 2020, proponents of Proposition 16 obtained over $22 million in funding from various special interest groups and rallied support from an overwhelming number of liberal politicians. These politicians are eager to cover their failures in improving K-12 education for millions of black and Hispanic children in California.
Faced with such grave challenges, defenders of equal rights and meritocracy formed an effective and broad-based alliance under the name “Californians For Equal Rights (CFER)”. With extraordinary leadership of Mr. Ward Connerly, CFER mobilized tens of thousands of volunteers statewide and successfully defeated Proposition 16 by a wide margin with only $1.8 million in funding, only 8% of Yes on 16’s war chest.
As a national organization fighting for Asian Americans’ equal education rights, AACE has consistently supported Californians’ fight against ACA 5/Proposition 16. Since March, Dr. Wenyuan Wu, AACE’s Director of Administration has been coordinating the battle against ACA5/Proposition 16. She later became the Executive Director of CFER. Along with many other supporters in California, Dr. Wu has made tremendous contributions to this success.
AACE President Mr. Yukong Zhao said: “I’d like to express my exultant congratulations to Mr. Ward Connerly, Dr. Wenyuan Wu and many Californians who fought tirelessly for this great victory! The resounding rejection of Proposition 16 demonstrates again that we are on the right side of the history. Going forward, I’d like to warn liberal politicians in California and nationwide: focus your efforts on devising effective measures to improve K-12 education for black and Hispanic children, instead of introducing racially divisive and discriminatory laws time and again. You have failed in California in 2014, as well as Washington State and New York City in 2019. Asian Americans will fight fiercely and defeat your racist policies wherever and whenever tried.”
MEDIA CONTACT:
Dr. Wenyuan Wu, telephone: (786) 393-8028, email: [email protected].
About the AACE: www.asianamericanforeducation.org
Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE) is a non-political, nonprofit, grassroots national organization, the proven leader in fighting for Asian-American children’s equal educational rights. In May 2015, the founders of AACE united 64 Asian-American organizations and jointly filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request that they conduct investigations into Harvard University’s discriminatory admissions practices against Asian-American applicants. In 2016, AACE united more than 130 organizations and filed another civil-rights complaint against Yale University, which triggered DOJ’s investigation and current lawsuit. Over the years, we have advanced the cause of equal education rights for the Asian-American community.