What is Affirmative Action?
Affirmative action (U.S. English), or positive discrimination (British English), is a policy or a program promoting the representation in various systems of people of a group who have traditionally been discriminated against, with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society. This typically focuses on education, employment, government contracting, health care, or social welfare. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action)

Affirmative action is still one of the most effective tools our nation has to fight discrimination against women and minorities. President Lyndon Johnson explained the rationale behind the use of affirmative action to achieve equal opportunity in a 1965 speech: "You do not take a person, who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say 'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still believe that you have been completely fair."

The debate over affirmative action carries with it enormous implications for the lives of women, people of color and disabled Americans, since such policies have created opportunities too long denied them.

What are the most recent developments from opponents of Affirmative Action?
Opponents of affirmative action have attacked these policies in the federal courts with increasing frequency. Now an anti-affirmative action group from California, led by Ward Connerly, has placed an amendment to their state constitution on the November 2006 ballot in Michigan. This amendment would eliminate affirmative action and outreach services involving state and local governments. This proposal, deceptively named the "Michigan Civil Rights Initiative," is similar to California's Proposition 209 (1996) and Washington State's Initiative 200 (1998)—ballot initiatives that eradicated affirmative action in both states.

What does that really mean?
If Connerly's initiative is enacted, any Michigan public service that aims to increase opportunities for women and minorities, including recruitment, training, and outreach services in public education, employment, and contracting could be scaled back or cut altogether. Connerly's initiative would also nullify affirmative action plans already in place at institutions of higher education in Michigan and would to subvert the 2003 Supreme Court decision to uphold affirmative action in higher education in Michigan
(Grutter v Bollinger and Gratz v Bollinger).

If Connerly's so-called "Michigan Civil Rights Initiative" is enacted, the consequences suffered by Michigan residents the areas of higher education, employment, and contracting will be for years to come, and could embolden those thinking of passing similar initiatives in other states throughout the country.