Missouri ACORN voter educators prepare to distribute "Think Before You Ink" flyers to those asked to sign the deceptive so-called "Missouri Civil Rights Initiative."

ST. LOUIS, Mo. –  On May 4, Missouri ACORN members celebrated stopping an anti-affirmative action petition drive aimed at changing the state’s constitution.

As part of the WeCAN Coalition, ACORN led an informational campaign against organizers of the so-called “Missouri Civil Rights Initiative,” a petition to end affirmative action in the state.

ACORN members, armed with stacks of flyers, shadowed the signature-gatherers, educating people on how their names would turn back civil rights advances. As a result, the “Missouri Civil Rights Initiative” failed to gather the 130,000 signatures required to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot by the 5 p.m. deadline.

“Missouri is a state that believes in fairness and equality,” said Lynn Oldham, Missouri ACORN member. “Once our voter educators got the word out, people learned quickly that this initiative was bad for everyone.”

Missouri was one of five states targeted by wealthy California businessman Ward Connerly in his mission – coinciding with the 2008 presidential campaign – to amend state constitutions to ban affirmative action. The Missouri initiative proposed an amendment which would strike down the state’s equal opportunity laws, which have been widely effective in leveling the playing field for women and racial minorities in education and public sector employment.

“Affirmative action programs have lifted barriers faced by women, African Americans, Latinos, and other ethnic minorities, giving them equal access to higher education, jobs and public contracts,” reads ACORN’s voter educator flyer in part. “This initiative seeks to turn back time and give up the gains we have made for our daughters and for minority communities. Affirmative action policies are about continuing to move us towards equality.”

The WeCAN Coalition, including ACORN, SEIU, Jobs with Justice, and more than three dozen other community, faith-based and labor groups, quickly mobilized to stop Connerly’s initiative by educating the public.

View a video on the website of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the work of ACORN’s voter educators in stopping this initiative: http://videos.stltoday.com/p/video?id=1860116