Ward Connerly, a former University of California regent, faced a tough crowd at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Union on Tuesday.
To see a photo slideshow of Tuesday's event, click here.
He arrived in Lincoln originally planning to testify before the Nebraska Legislature's judiciary committee in favor of a resolution (LR233CA) that would put a constitutional ban on affirmative action. But state Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial withdrew the resolution on Monday.
Christensen told the Lincoln Journal-Star that he made the decision to withdraw the resolution after other senators threatened to oppose his other bills this session.
Despite this setback, Connerly, who is also the founder and chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, continues to head efforts to have Nebraskans vote in November on the initiative. Because Sen. Christensen withdrew the resolution from legislative consideration, Connerly and his cohorts now must gather approximately 114,000 signatures on a petition by July 4 in order to get the measure on the ballot this fall.
Although Connerly didn't end up testifying for the hearing that would have been Wednesday, he still spent time advocating his position at the Nebraska Union Tuesday night.
Connerly acknowledged the controversy surrounding his resolution when addressing the crowd, which was vocally against the resolution.
"There is hardly an issue in American life that is more contentious than the issue of race," he said.
Connerly said the Supreme Court has been trying to move our country from slavery "to a more inclusive society," and this has "allowed the race under certain narrowly prescribed conditions."
Click here to watch Connerly quote former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor regarding the court's actions.
California, Michigan and Washington have already passed the initiative, Connerly said, and five more states will have the opportunity to vote on it in November.
Connerly stressed that the resolution "is not about ending all affirmative action."
"It simply says that you cannot discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to anyone on the basis of those five prohibitive factors," he said, referring to race, sex, color, ethnicity and national origin as listed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To watch Connerly talk about the Civil Rights Act, click here.
Connerly said he favors implementing a system based on socio-economic status that would also look at students applying to college more comprehensively.
After explaining his position, Connerly answered questions from a hostile crowd.
Connerly was grilled on his salary, funding and whether or not the Ku Klux Klan donates money to his cause.
Connerly said he earns $300,000 annually and is funded by private donors not including the KKK.
He said the inquiry about his relationship with the KKK was a "stupid question."
Tristan Taylor said he traveled from Michigan to show Nebraskans that Connerly "is a real example of the backwardness that this society...has to overcome."
Taylor represents BAMN, a coalition formed to defend affirmative action.
Click here to watch Taylor talk more about BAMN's stance on the issue.
"This man is a terrible disgrace," Taylor said.
Another member of the audience asked Connerly why the language of the resolution isn't made more clear to voters.
"I don't know how you solve that problem," Connerly said. "The language to me is very clear. Maybe the electorate needs to be a little bit more well-informed and read better."
Megan Molina, a freshman anthropology major at UNL who benefits from scholarship money thanks to her Hispanic heritage, said she thinks "there's a lot of background information [about Connerly's initiative] that's kind of kept hidden."
To watch more from Molina, click here.
But regardless of what Molina said she believed Connerly conveniently left out of his speech, Molina "wanted to make sure that everybody here's informed on both sides of the issue."
"Being able to see, to hear, both sides of the story is good," she said.
