Affirmative Action

Systemic exclusion, exploitation and oppression of people based on race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, gender, age, sexual identity, disability, class or other differences by a primarily white male capitalist propertied overclass is a barrier to social justice, equity, and democracy.

The very construction of the U.S. Constitution and its early laws exclusively favored white, male, landowners who maintained almost total dominance until deliberate actions through social movements were taken to include others. In over five centuries of European colonization of The North American continent, the quest for liberation and equality has produced four U.S. Constitutional Amendments, and multiple Congressional Acts, Executive Orders and Supreme Court decisions. Slaves were ostensibly freed and gained citizenship. Women won the right to vote, and "separate but equal" was recognized as segregation and dismantled.

Beginning in the 1960s a broad array of Affirmative Action laws were adopted to proactively eliminate systemic white male propertied dominance and to provide historically marginalized groups with truly equal opportunities in education, work, wealth and personal freedom.

Despite these gains, countless fundamental and deep systemic inequalities remain, and for some they have dramatically worsened. The Black population in the U.S. correctional system where slavery remains legal, has increased by 500% to over 2 million since the 1970s.

Starting soon after Affirmative Action efforts began, they have continuously faced legal attacks, reversals and obstructions to this day. By June 2023 the U.S. Supreme Court completely struck down race-based Affirmative Action in higher education and Federal government while other Affirmative Action programs remain under a broader threat.

The Green Party of California recognizes the crucial need for Affirmative Action to be restored, protected, and expanded to ensure that members of all marginalized groups have full and equal opportunities and inclusion. To this end the Green Party of California specifically supports:

1. Establishing the right of members of marginalized groups to have their status be considered as a factor in gaining access to higher education, training, employment, housing, social welfare benefits, and other entitlements and opportunities.

2. Reversing all laws and court decisions which have removed or struck down such consideration as above.

3. Establishing inclusion goals for all members of marginalized groups in government hiring and procurement when all other qualifications are equal - similar to the preferences given to veterans.

4. Mandating and funding employment programs to achieve a workforce that reflects the diversity of applicants and workers.

5. Direct financial compensation, and other reparations for all members of marginalized groups or classes who have suffered a substantive loss or theft of wealth, property, economic opportunity and/or freedom due to past and current discrimination against their group or class, with programs similar to those proposed in The Reparations for Black American Freedmen plank https://www.cagreens.org/reparations-black-american-freedmen

6. Immediate prosecution and compensation for all abuses by police, judicial and incarceration systems.

7. Disarming public and private police and guards who are not specifically trained responders to armed violent crime in progress (as in Great Britain), and a shift to community based and coordinated security and restorative justice.

8. Guaranteed funding for legal accountability, prosecution, and restoration for all illegal discrimination in employment, education, housing, redlining, predatory lending, and all other group-based illegal exclusion or theft.

9. Legal and financial supports for communities to sue for environmental injustices and hold polluters fully accountable for cleaning up contamination of lands, waters and other resources in their communities.

10. Guaranteed funding for competent and strong legal defense against eviction, home foreclosure, and utility shutoffs targeted at members of marginalized groups and classes.

11. Full implementation and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, and funding for programs to increase marginalized communities’ voter participation.

12. Establishing Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) and Proportional Representation to counter gerrymandering which excludes marginalized groups. (See Electoral Reform Platform Plank.)

13. The Green Party of California’s Social Security For All (Universal Basic Income) policies strengthen and underpin Affirmative Action for all groups. (See Social Safety Net Platform Plank). Other Green Party of California’s platform planks collectively establish an equitable and just approach to address the needs of marginalized communities.