Voters in the city of Houston, Texas, will decide this week on a ballot question, "Proposition A," that would end racial preferences, much as the California Civil Rights Initiative did. Gov. George W. Bush has declined to endorse the initiative, citing a policy of not "intervening" in local political issues. No member of the state's Republican congressional delegation has endorsed the initiative, either. They should all be ashamed of themselves.
Especially now, since the battle over this referendum has turned worse than ugly. Last week, Proposition A's organized opposition began airing a radio ad that for tastelessness and vulgarity has rarely been topped in recent American history.
The ad opens with a recording of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Dr. King's voice is then cut short by the sound of a gunshot. Next, as ambulance sirens wail in the background, a narrator sadly reminds listeners that "it happens over and over again: Just when our community starts to move ahead, some people try to turn back the clock." In case anybody misses the point, the narrator makes it explicit: "Sometimes they do it with bullets, sometimes they do it with laws."
Laws like Proposition A, that is, which you cannot vote for, apparently, without also endorsing "the forces of bigotry" -- and King assassin James Earl Ray. The group that paid for this disgusting ad, "One Houston," has received a $ 10,000 donation from the city's outgoing mayor, Bob Lanier, whom President Clinton recently praised for his contributions to American racial healing.