Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Office, said the proposition would correct some wrongs of the past.
“When I heard that young people were organizing to support Prop. 16 today in an open and visible way that’s going to help educate and empower others, that was the draw (to come out),” she said.
Billoo said reinstating affirmative action in California is necessary because communities are still underrepresented in institutions of higher education and have less access to primary school education.
“The data would show that our work is not done,” she said. “Folks are underpaid in the workforce and when it comes to actual government contracts, I’d like to think we’re done. The data says otherwise.”