Colorblindess is a disability; not a goal for which California is yet ready to strive.

Although UC Regent Ward Connerly would like for the ethnically diverse state of California to cease differentiating between black, white, brown and every other shade of skin color, a ban on racial classification threatens minorities. By denying the public the right to view how racial statistics figure throughout everyday life, Proposition 54 prohibits research that might lead to the betterment of people’s lives.

Proposition 54 aims to curtail the advancement of one race over another. Although this is a noble intention, the omission of all racial data from the public sector threatens to erase proof of racial disparity. Those opposing Proposition 54 have alleged that it will halt medical research; on the contrary, exemptions for such studies are permissible. Nonetheless, unscrupulous individuals could use this racial erasure to mask unfair trends – like police arresting members of one race at more frequently than other, for example.

Eliminating the racial categorization of people seems noble. Perhaps one day, such a law would prove sensible. Unfortunately, Proposition 54 is one of those good ideas that just works better on paper.

The Daily Nexus strongly opposes Proposition 54.