Jones' bill confounds black leaders
DENVER Black leaders in Colorado Springs are calling on Sen. Ed Jones to meet with the black community and explain why he is behind a measure to eliminate affirmative action in Colorado.
Local black leaders are appalled that Jones, a Republican from Colorado Springs and one of two black state senators, would want to do away with a program that helps qualified minorities land jobs and get into college.
“I can’t understand for the life of me where Ed Jones is coming from on this,” said the Rev. Benjamin Reynolds, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church and president of the Pikes Peak Chapter of the NAACP.
“I just have no idea how he comes to the conclusion that affirmative action has done its work, and we don’t need it any more,” Reynolds said. “It is the most confusing thing I’ve faced in recent years.”
James Stewart said Jones’ proposal shows he is out of touch with his community. Stewart is president of a high-tech company, a leader in the Colorado Springs Black Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.
“Ed Jones thinks the playing field is level because he has a chair up there in the state Senate,” Stewart said. “Just because he is in the chair doesn’t mean he knows what he is talking about. He doesn’t.”
Jones refused to meet with local black leaders, saying “I don’t want to go there and let them beat up on me. If they don’t like they can come testify against the bill.”
Jones on Monday defended himself from the criticism by saying that affirmative action programs make racism worse.
“No, racism is not gone, but 40 years of affirmative action has not helped racism,” he said. “Blacks are made to feel like they are inferior.
“It makes our kids feel like they are going to have to have some help to succeed. I think it is just wrong.”
Jones’ bill would ban affirmative action in Colorado, including the hiring of government employees and university admissions policies. It is similar to California’s Proposition 209, approved in 1997.
The legislation is scheduled to be introduced this week, Jones said.
Jones may be attracting the wrath of the black community, but his proposal has a generally receptive audience among Colorado Republicans — the people who put Jones in office.
But the measure is drawing the ire of some of the area’s most prominent black leaders.
“It is not the right thing to do, period,” said James Stewart, president of a local high-tech firm, a leader in the Colorado Springs Black Chamber of Commerce and member of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education.
Stewart thinks that not enough minorities are running companies, serving in government or getting into Colorado universities.
“All you have to do is look at any environment and look around and you will find there is not adequate, properly trained representation in any of those environs,” he said. “The first step is education. Before you can be a CEO, you have to have the education and experience to get you to that place.
“We are not talking about handouts. We are talking about opportunities and affirmative action insures that the opportunities get to the people who need opportunities.”
In Colorado, race is used sparingly as a factor for university admissions.
At Colorado’s major schools — the University of Colorado’s four campuses and Colorado State University in Fort Collins — admission standards largely are based on high school grades and standardized test scores.
In some cases, however, admissions officials take into account a combination of race, financial status and geography and other factors for students who do not score high enough on tests. There are no quotas.
The State of Colorado does not use race as a factor for job applicants, but some cities and counties, such as Denver, give preferences to minorities with regard to jobs and contracts.
Jones said he never expected his proposal would be accepted by the black community and other minority groups.
“I don’t know how much support I’m going to get out of the black community,” he said. “Of course, this isn’t about the black community; it is about the community as a whole.”
Ron Wynn, chief of staff for Colorado Springs School District 11, says affirmative action is about the black community.
“The playing field is not equal,” Wynn said. “That is the problem.
“Until the playing field is actually a level playing field where we don’t have to look at race as a consideration for employment, for college admissions, for housing, we need affirmative action.”
Blacks make up 3.8 percent of Colorado’s population, according to the most recent U.S. Census figure. Nearly all of them live in Denver or the surrounding metro area.
It’s a population whose numbers are dwindling. Colorado lost about 1,200 black residents between 1995 and 2000, according to census figures, a period when the state’s economy boomed like never before.
Other minority groups, including Hispanics and Asians, saw their populations dramatically increase in Colorado during the same time.
