Fulfilling the American Vision of a Colorblind Government

Kansas City Lawyers Chapter

Speaker:

• Ward Connerly, Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute

Speaker:

• Ward Connerly, Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute

WARD CONNERLY, author of the autobiography, Creating Equal: My Fight Against Race Preferences, is founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute - a national, not-for-profit organization aimed at educating the public about the need to move beyond race and, specifically, racial and gender preferences. Mr. Connerly has gained national attention and respect as an outspoken advocate of equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, sex, or ethnic background.

As a member of the University of California Board of Regents, Mr. Connerly focused the attention of the nation on the University's race-based system of preferences in its admissions policy. On July 20, 1995, following Mr. Connerly's lead, a majority of the Regents voted to end the University's use of race as a means for admissions. He was appointed to a 12-year term as UC Regent in March 1993. In 1995, Mr. Connerly accepted chairmanship of the California Civil Rights Initiative (Proposition 209) campaign. Under his leadership, the campaign successfully obtained more than 1 million signatures and qualified for the November 1996 ballot. California voters passed Proposition 209 by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin.

Connerly also led the efforts to pass initiatives in the States of Washington and Michigan. Patterned after California's Proposition 209, these initiatives likewise required equal treatment under the law for all residents in public education, public employment and public contracting. Similar efforts are currently underway in Missouri, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona and Nebraska, a campaign known as Super Tuesday 2008.

Connerly has been profiled on 60 Minutes , the cover of Parade magazine, the New York Times , Wall Street Journal , Newsweek magazine, and virtually every major news magazine in America. He has also appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Crossfire, Hannity & Colmes, Meet the Press, Dateline, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and C-SPAN.

Connerly is President and Chief Executive Officer of Connerly & Associates, Inc., a Sacramento-based association management and land development consulting firm founded in 1973. He is the recipient of the 2005 "Bradley Prize" for his defense of freedom and democracy from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the 2001 "Black Student Association Award" from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, the "Ronald Reagan Award for Leadership from the California Republican Party" in 1998 and other awards and recognitions too numerous to mention.