Hosts Celeste Carey and Cecil Prescod interview Daniel Martinez HoSang about his book Racial Propositions: Ballot Initiatives and the Making of Postwar California (American Crossroads), which looks at the controversial history of California's ballot measures over the past fifty years. HoSang is professor of Political and Ethnic Studies at the University of Oregon. He will also discuss Oregon ballot measures and local concerns--especially efforts to expand prisons and attack labor rights in Oregon through recent ballot measures.
As the rest of the U.S. watched, California voters banned public services for undocumented immigrants, repealed public affirmative action programs, and outlawed bilingual education, among other measures. Why did a state with a liberal political culture, an increasingly diverse populace, and a well-organized civil rights leadership roll back civil rights and anti-discrimination gains? Daniel Martinez HoSang finds that, contrary to popular perception, this phenomenon does not represent a new wave of "color-blind" policies, nor is a triumph of racial conservatism. Instead HoSang uncovers surprising connections between the right and left that reveal how racial inequality has endured.