Prometheus 6

Ward Connerly's Anti-Affirmative Action campaign is defeated in Oklahoma!

In a significant blow to a national effort to curtail equal opportunity in America, backers of a proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would end equal access and opportunity programs in the state have asked to withdraw the measure from consideration. The move comes after supporters of the so-called Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative – spearheaded by Ward Connerly's American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) as part of a national crusade against affirmative action – failed to collect the signatures needed to get the proposal on this November's ballot.

In conceding defeat, Connerly characterized the ACRI's efforts in Oklahoma as a "miscalculation." "The hope is that this is the beginning of the end of Mr. Connerly's flawed campaign," said John Payton, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). "The attempts by supporters of this initiative to manipulate the democratic process never garnered support from the people of Oklahoma, who have instead stood up to defend access to equal opportunity for all."