Show Your Support for Affirmative Action!
Take a Stand to Increase Underrepresented Minority Student Enrollment at UC Berkeley!
TODAY, Tuesday Sept. 27, 10 am – 2 pm – Upper Sproul
Out of fear of the growing support for affirmative action and for increasing black, Latina/o, and Native American student enrollment, the Berkeley College Republicans (BCR) are holding an anti-affirmative action “bake sale” to express their opposition to diversity and integration.
BAMN calls for all supporters of affirmative action and equal opportunity programs to mobilize in counter-protest to show that students at UCB are proud supporters of integration and affirmative action. We demand that the UC’s end their discriminatory admissions policies and increase underrepresented minority student enrollment.
Say No to the New Jim Crow–Realize Dr. King’s Dream!
BAMN (the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary), and dozens of California students of all races, with and without papers, have filed a federal lawsuit to overturn California’s anti-affirmative action Constitutional amendment known as Proposition 209. Since the passage of Prop 209 in 1996, the numbers of Latina/o, black, Native American and other underrepresented minority students attending UC’s flagship universities have declined precipitously. Of the 3,960 freshmen/women entering UC Berkeley this fall only 139 are black students; at UCLA there are 4,921 incoming freshmen/ women of which 209 are black students.
To persuade the courts to rule in our favor, we need a broad, united public campaign in support of our legal challenges. We are calling on students at UC Berkeley to become a part of this campaign on our campus and across the state to overturn Prop 209. Virtually every national civil rights organization and several unions, immigrant rights, and labor organizations have already pledged support for the BAMN effort.
Overturn Proposition 209 — Restore Affirmative Action!
The ban on affirmative action has denied California’s Latina/o, black, Native American and other underrepresented minority students equal access to the UC’s, deepening the inequalities created by segregation in K-12 education. Overturning the ban is vital to defeating the rise of the new Jim Crow and the perpetuation of white privilege. The UC’s set the tone for the nation. A victory in California would be a victory for the nation. It would provide a much needed fatal body blow against the whole right- wing national effort to eliminate affirmative action and equal access and opportunity.
Fighting to restore affirmative action is key to the whole student-led struggle to defend public education. It is essential to the fight to maintain intellectual freedom at every public university. The fight to overturn Prop 209 has the power to unite Latina/o, immigrant, black, Asian- Pacific American, Native American, other minority and progressive white students in a common fight for our shared futures.
Defend the Right to Public Education for All!
Stay updated on BAMN’s work on Affirmative Action:
