Students pledge to continue new immigrant rights/civil rights movement to fight for:
• Passage of University of California Dream Act and the Federal Dream Act!
• Full and Equal Rights for All Immigrants! Drivers Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants Now! Stop the Raids and Deportations!
• End the University of California’s Discriminatory Admissions Policies Now — Increase Latina/o, Black, and Native American Student Enrollment in the University of California! Overturn Proposition 209, Restore Affirmative Action!
• Defend Public Education! Stop the Planned Multi-year Fee Increase for U.C.! No Privatization! Tax the Corporations, Banks, and Billionaires!
• Build the New, Independent, Integrated Mass Student and Youth-Led Movement!
BAMN’s Statement on the CA Dream Act:
The student and youth leaders and activists of the young but powerful civil rights and immigrant rights movements have won a momentous victory: the California Dream Act, also known as AB 131 and which would open public state-funded scholarships to undocumented students, was signed by Governor Brown today.
The movement owes a great debt to the scores of undocumented students who refused to be invisible and marched, rallied, walked out and spoke out in the face of continuous police and ICE harassment and threats.
The first task of BAMN and the youth leaders of the movement is to make clear that independent mass action won the battle. Without the mass immigrant rights movement that was born in the streets of California in 2006, this victory would be impossible.
Our second task is to make clear that we intend to build on this victory to secure full equality and dignity for the Latina/o and immigrant communities and end the second-class treatment we chafe under every day.
Victory marches, rallies, walkouts and other mass actions must be the order of the day today. We must see our victory as the moment to build rather than shut-down our new movements.
We must press forward our demands for equality:
- the passage of a California Driver’s license bill that would extend the right to get driver’s licenses to undocumented people;
- bringing an end to the vicious new ” secure communities ” federal policies while restoring our struggle to make every campus and community into sanctuary zones; bringing an end to stepped-up ICE raids and deportations;
- ending the University of California’s discriminatory admissions policies and increasing Latina/o, black, and Native American student enrollment,
- restoring affirmative action, and overturning Proposition 209;
- and defeating all the anti-public education privatization schemes from charter schools, to severe cuts at every level of education, including the proposed outrageous and stupid UC multi-year fee increase, that threaten our right to receive a decent education and to strive for a better more hopeful future.
Our communities and campuses will be alive with rising expectations, which every authority figure from politicians to priest to principals to university presidents will be looking to dampen down. We must reject and ignore any leadership that claims that we won because of our close/subordinate relationship to the Democrats, when exactly the opposite is true.
We pledge to build the new student-led mass, integrated immigrant rights/civil rights movement for dignity and equality.
Press Conferences today to celebrate passage of California Dream Act!
S.F. BAY AREA – 2:00PM at steps of UC-Berkeley’s Sproul Hall (Bancroft + Telegraph)
LOS ANGELES – 5:00PM at Pasadena City College in front of “C” Building near Mirror Pools off Colorado Blvd.
Stay updated on BAMN’s work on Immigrant Rights:
