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Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) Monday announced he has appointed Angélica Salas and John Kim to the Racial Equity Commission.
The Racial Equity Commission? There was no information about the Racial Equity Commission in Rendon’s email, other than short biographical sentences of the two lucky appointees. The Globe wanted to know why.
In 2021, then-Senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) authored SB 17 to form the California Racial Equity Commission. “The Commission will recommend tools, methodologies and opportunities to advance racial equity, and will be available to provide direct assistance to state agencies in reviewing and updating policies and practices upon request.”
Notice the word “equity” rather than “equality.”
SB 17 “Establishes the Racial Equity Commission (REC) within the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to evaluate and recommend strategies for advancing racial equity across state agencies and departments,” the bill analysis stated. “The REC shall develop a statewide Racial Equity Framework for the state, offer technical assistance to departments and local governments, engage in community outreach via quarterly stakeholder meetings, and publish annual reports on racial disparities in the state and recommendations to reduce such disparities.”
Why is this commission necessary?
Because “the bill acknowledges institutional and systemic racism and states that California must approach laws and regulations with an eye toward dismantling racist systems,” the bill analysis once again states.
In 2022, Governor Newsom signed an executive order “directing state agencies and departments to take additional actions to embed equity analysis and considerations in their mission, policies and practices.”
Notably, Gov. Newsom’s executive order states:
- California is the largest and most diverse state in the nation, shaped by the contributions of all its residents;
- California has a strong history of fighting for freedom and civil rights for all people;
- California leads the nation in confronting the climate crisis and building community resilience through equity and opportunity, including supporting communities that experience the greatest social and health inequities from climate change; and
- California continues to march towards equality and to address our nation’s and our State’s historical wrongs, including through recognition of gay marriage in San Francisco; placing a moratorium on the death penalty in California; advancing immigrant equity and inclusion; protecting access to reproductive health care; compensating survivors of state-sponsored sterilization; ending sub-minimum wage employment; and recently forming the Truth and Healing Council and the Reparations Task Force; and…
Given all of the groundbreaking social justice, climate justice, gender justice, civil justice, reproductive justice, employment justice, and criminal justice reforms California has made and is named in the executive order, why is this Racial Equity Commission needed?
According to the author Sen. Pan, “In the United States, black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have experienced centuries of inequality and systemic, institutionalized racism, beginning when European colonizers stripped tens of millions of indigenous and native people of their identity, culture, language, lifestyle, families, work, history, and traditions. Even as it represents one of the most successful projects of modern democracy, the United States embedded racial inequality, violence, and trauma into its founding document.”
This statement about “centuries of inequality and systemic, institutionalized racism” came from the son of immigrant parents from Taiwan. Dr. Pan went to college, became a doctor, was elected an Assemblyman and State Senator, but says, “Institutional and systemic racism continues to permeate our society in insidious ways and extensive research has identified racism as a public health crisis leading to significant health disparities, including infant and maternal mortality, chronic diseases prevalence, life expectancy and now COVID mortality.”
Another perspective is from Dr. Wenyuan Wu, Executive Director of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation. She previously served in the same capacity for the historic “No on 16” Campaign. She holds a Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Miami and authored Chinese Oil Enterprises in Latin America: Corporate Social Responsibility. Dr. Wu told the Globe Monday:
Both the legislative intent and executive decree behind the establishment of the Racial Equity Commission are deeply rooted in a far-left ideology that treats any observed disparities as results of “systemic racism” and calls for equalizing results/outcomes through public policies.
First, the idea of a racial equity commission was first proposed by Senator Richard Pan in his 2021 Senate Bill 17 which re-defines racism as “a public health crisis.” Introduced after the disastrous summer of racial reckoning when American cities were vandalized, looted and even burned down in the name of “racial equity,” SB 17 was a virtue-signaling partisan manifesto, rather than a sensible policy proposal.
Second, the creation of a racial equity commission was institutionalized through Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-16-22. Again, politics and ideology take the front-row seat, with “being a member of or representing an equity-focused organization that works with an impacted community whose lived experience will inform the work of the commission” being a criterion for racial equity commissioners.
Being one of America’s most diverse and politically progressive states, California does not need more government edicts or state bureaucracy to sing the tune of racial equity. The premise behind this controversial idea is Marxist in origin and un-American in practice. Those tasked to develop a statewide racial equity framework, whether state-level public office holders or political appointees to the commission, are ultimately running a fool’s errand and wasting public resources on a false narrative.
A little further down in Gov. Newsom’s executive order we find the root problem:
“…despite this progress, continued work remains to attain our shared goals of providing equal opportunity for all and addressing persistent disparities in outcomes.”
“Equality in outcomes” is the real goal. While Dr. Wu warned us about calling for “equalizing results/outcomes through public policies,” an African American History professor wrote a telling op ed in 2020 with this title: “Equal opportunity is not enough. Equality is in outcomes,” which clarified the primary goal.
The marrow of Newsom’s executive order is expanding state government “by designing and delivering state services and programs, to address unequal starting points and drive equal outcomes so all Californians may reach their full potential and lead healthy and rewarding lives.”
Furthering those goals, Speaker Rendon’s latest appointments to the Racial Equity Commission are from CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, and Catalyst California.
CHIRLA, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, “demands equity and justice” for immigrant families by “organizing immigrants to fight harmful policies and demand equity and justice from out government. (…that would be demanding justice from the government which allowed them to migrate to the US.)
Catalyst California’s mission is: “We strategize with community partners to identify funding, services and opportunities in our public systems that can be redistributed for more just outcomes for all.”
We did find a stakeholder group called “State of Equity” which says “our partnership with government” transforms public institutions to advance racial equity and health through capacity building, government accountability, and community partnerships. Ah. More of that.
State of Equity explains the more recent back story:
On February 22, 2023, California state government executives participated in a special convening to build a shared vision for a racially just California, discuss updates on racial equity team progress in the Capitol Collaborative on Race & Equity (CCORE) 1, and cultivate relationships in support of racial equity.
The event was hosted by the Public Health Institute’s State of Equity and included representatives from the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, California’s Strategic Growth Council (SGC), Governor’s Office of Planning & Research (OPR), California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), Business Consumer Services & Hosing Agency (BCSH), Health and Human Services Agency, Conservation Corps, and the Departments of Social Services, Finance, Health Care Access & Information, Parks & Recreation, and Motor Vehicles.
In addition to Gov. Newsom’s 2022 executive order expanding the Racial Equity Commission purpose, President Biden issued Federal Executive Order on Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government on February 16, 2023, which includes requirements to establish equity-focused leadership and teams across the Federal Government, among many other actions.
For a clearer picture of this “transformation of public institutions to advance racial equity and health,” State of Equity explains:
At the February convening, Kim McCoy Wade, Senior Advisor to the Governor for Aging, Disability, and Alzheimer’s, remarked that “the GARE [Government Alliance on Race & Equity] and CCORE work is really the laboratory or the foundation on which the State work is going to be informed.” When asked if state entities should slow or pause their work on racial equity to wait for the establishment of the Racial Equity Commission, she responded that state entities should keep moving, “Keep hustling. Keep going as a moral matter, but as a practical matter that’s how we’ll get the state part right is because you’ve proven what works and what doesn’t work.”
What more is left to say?
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