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He was accused of using minority status to land a $1.3 million contract with the California energy commissiona in 1989, before the state law requiring a 15% set-aside for minority contractors took effect. Connerly only disclosed his race when required. "I felt that it could be damaging to my business to become identified as a minority firm," he says. "You get pigeonholed, and people begin to think that you only got the business because you are a minority."
As California enters the Proposition 209 era, it will be up to Connerly to prove something he has been saying all along--that "a passion for fairness" motivates him, that he wants to help other minorities succeed the way he has. One merit-based proposal that deserves his consideration would offer automatic U.C. admission to the top 4% of the graduating class from each California high school. Connerly fears that it would "stack the deck" in favor of inner-city schools; Californians deserve a more thoughtful response than that. At a TIME Forum in the state Capitol last month, he softened his opposition to outreach programs that send college faculty members into low-performing schools to tutor and train teachers. Though he once condemned such efforts as "sneaky" attempts to skirt the law and boost minority enrollment, now he is willing to "modify the application of 209" to allow such programs. "We know there's a problem with black kids," he says. "How are we going to solve it unless we go into their neighborhoods?" But, he says, the programs, must not focus on a specific race. "Go into black schools as long as you're also going into white, Asian and Hispanic schools."
During the forum, a tense shoot-out between the warring factions, Connerly agreed to meet with opponents in the state legislature such as assembly member Murray to work on an outreach plan that both sides could live with. Then a remarkable thing happened. Some in the crowd--people who see Connerly as the devil himself--actually gave him a smattering of applause.