Restore Affirmative Action, Stop the Attack on Minority Political Rights, & Win Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants

  • 8.24.13MOWFight to Win an Expansion of Equality and Integration!

  • Full Citizenship Rights for All Immigrants!

  • Pass the Federal Dream Act!

On October 15th, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutional challenge filed by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality by Any Means Necessary (BAMN) to Michigan’s anti-affirmative action ballot referendum – Proposal 2.

  • Minority enrollment at Michigan’s Public Medical Schools dropped dramatically between 2006 and 2011: from 10.1% to 5.7% at MSU; from  7.2%  to 3.6% at UM; from 13.4% to 4.6% at WSU

  • By 2012 the percentage of black graduates at the University of Michigan Law School was the lowest it had been since 1969, while doctoral and master’s degrees had declined to levels not seen in twenty years.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of BAMN’s constitutional challenge to Prop. 2 and struck it down. The Supreme Court will review this decision. A victory for BAMN in the Michigan case would strike down anti-affirmative measures across the nation.

This case is about the protection of the political rights and educational futures of black, Latina/o and other minority youth and families under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment during the period of the greatest demographic change that the nation has ever faced. Michigan must not become the model for how to create a new, constitutionally-ratified Jim Crow.

America will soon be a majority-minority nation. There is no way to build a united, inclusive new America if the core values, the core political rights that have bound us together, even in their imperfect application, do not apply to us all.

America today is a nation desperately in need of decisions that express a commitment to equality and justice.

We are in a new phase of struggle for human equality, dignity and equal rights
in America. The millions of immigrants, mostly Latina/o, who started their great march in 2006, are just beginning their fight to make America everyone’s nation.  As they do, however, Michigan’s Prop 2 and California’s Proposition 209, are widening the gulf between Latina/o and black communities on one side—and white communities on the other.

The gap in educational opportunities means widening gaps in employment, family income, home ownership, and everything else. This trend, if unchecked, will take on a whole new meaning in our nation today than it did under the old Jim Crow. In the lifetime of many who are alive today, black, Latina/o, Asian and Native Americans will be the majority of our population.

We can win our fight for equality if we use the coming weeks to build an integrated national movement that can mobilize bus loads and plane loads of people to the Supreme Court on the day the case is heard. A victory in this case will overturn Prop 2 and similar bans in California and other states and set the stage for a new phase of struggle that can open up the gates of selective undergraduate universities and graduate schools that have now been closed to black, Latina/o and Native American students for a generation. This is our best chance to win a Federal Immigration bill that is written in the interest of the immigrant communities and that includes full citizenship rights for all immigrants, an end to all deportations, and a Federal Dream Act.

We need your support to build the movement to a position strong enough to win.

Thousands of young people across the nation would love to be on the steps of the Supreme Court on October 15th and demonstrate their commitment to fighting for their own futures and their community. Victory will require the mass political pressure of young people on the steps of the Supreme Court on October 15th. Excellent legal arguments alone are not enough to win.

Help make this possible by sponsoring a student today!!!

All donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE and may be made through the website HERE. Checks may be made out to United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund (or UEAALDF), P.O.  Box 7205, Detroit, MI 48207.     Suggested donations are the following (donations of any size welcome):

  • Individual plane ticket from California: $500
  • Bus from Michigan or Mid-West:   $4000
  • Five student bus tickets from Mid-West: $500

For more information call 855-ASK-BAMN (855-275-2266)

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