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Press Release For immediate release:
Civil Rights March on Washington to Defend Affirmative Action andSave Brown v. Board of Education on April 1, 2003
Press conference – Friday, February 7 at 10AMNational Press Club, 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC
Students, youth, civil rights, labor, community, religious and women’s organizations will march on Washington on April 1, 2003 in defense of affirmative action and integration, and to save Brown v. Board of Education. This march will coincide with the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the two University of Michigan affirmative action cases.
Students and youth from over 100 university and college campuses and high schools are currently organizing buses for this national civil rights march and rally at the Supreme Court (See attached list).
United for Equality and Affirmative Action (UEAA), the umbrella organization for the student defendants in the University of Michigan Law School affirmative action case, Grutter v. Bollinger, and the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action & Integration, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), are heading up the mobilization efforts. Reverend Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Detroit NAACP, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Congressman John Conyers, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the Alliance of Black Student Professionals, the Organization of Chinese Americans, the Michigan AFL-CIO, and many other student, civil rights and labor organizations have signed on to build the march (See attached list of endorsing organizations). These organizations and leaders have pledged to mobilize thousands of people to Washington on April 1 in order to demonstrate to the Supreme Court the broad and deep majority support for affirmative action programs in this nation. They will send representatives to Friday’s press conference to address the media.
The success of this march will determine the fate of the two University of Michigan affirmative action programs. Affirmative action policies are desegregation programs for higher education. If the Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action this spring, it will resegregate higher education and much of American society. Without active integrationist measures like affirmative action, prospects for integration and equality in K-12 education are finished and Brown v. Board of Education is a dead letter.
The right wing attack on affirmative action has led to the building of the New Civil Rights Movement. The March on Washington on April 1 will demonstrate the strength and determination of the new student and youth-led civil rights movement. Our march is modeled on the 1963 March on Washington. Our intention is to realize Martin Luther King’s long-deferred dream of equality in American society. To realize the dream, the New Civil Rights Movement will take to the streets again to defend affirmative action and to save Brown v. Board of Education.
The press conference on Friday, February 7 at 10AM at the National Press Club will announce sponsors’ intention to build this historic civil rights march in every campus, workplace, and community in our country.
Contact: Tanya Troy-Sanabria, UEAA – 313-384-8001
LIST OF CAMPUSES ORGANIZING FOR THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON:
Albany Law SchoolAmerican UniversityBeloit CollegeBowling Green State UniversityBrown UniversityCSU ChicoCatholic UniversityCentral State UniversityCommunity College of PhiladelphiaCornell UniversityEastern Michigan UniversityFlorida A&M UniversityGeorge Washington UniversityGeorgetownHampton CollegeHarvard UniversityHoward UniversityIndiana UniversityKansas State UniversityMichigan State UniversityMorgan State UniversityNorth Texas UniversityNorthern Kentucky UniversityNorthwestern UniversityOhio State UniversityPomona CollegePurdue UniversityRowan UniversityRutgers UniversitySpelman CollegeSan Francisco State UniversitySt. John’s UniversityStanford UniversitySUNY AlbanyTemple UniversityTexas Women’s UniversityTouro Law SchoolUC BerkeleyUC DavisUC San DiegoUC Santa BarbaraUC Santa CruzUCLAUniversity of New MexicoUniversity of CincinnatiUniversity of FloridaUniversity of KansasUniversity of Maryland College ParkUniversity of MassachusettsUniversity of MichiganUniversity of MissouriUniversity of Ohio MiamiUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Tennessee KnoxvilleUniversity of Texas AustinUniversity of Wisconsin MadisonUniversity of VirginiaUniversity of Virginia Law SchoolVillanova UniversityVirginia Union UniversityWayne State UniversityWilberforce CollegeXavier UniversityYale University PARTIAL LIST OF ENDORSERS:
United for Equality & Affirmative Action (UEAA)BAMNRev. Jesse Jackson and Rainbow/PUSH CoalitionSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)Detroit NAACP, Wendell Anthony, PresidentNational Organization for Women (NOW)League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)Arab American InstituteOrganization of Chinese Americans (OCA)Alliance of Black Student Professionals National Black Law Students Association National Optometric Student Association National Society of Black Engineers Student National Dental Association Student National Medical AssociationUnited Church of Christ (UCC)Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC)Downtown Cluster of Congregations (Washington, DC)First Congregational Church of ChristAmerican Association for Affirmative ActionNational Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)Chinese for Affirmative ActionDetroit Federation of Teachers (DFT)United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Los Angeles teachers’ unionOakland Education Association (OEA), Oakland, CAUAW Local 6000, Michigan state workersAFSCME Local 207, Detroit city water and sewerage workersGraduate Employees Organization (GEO), University of MichiganAssociation of Graduate Student Employees (AGSE/UAW Local 2165), UC BerkeleyAFSCME Local 2920, Detroit city clerical workersAFSCME Local 312, DetroitOakland Unified School District School Board, Oakland, CAMichigan Legislative Black CaucusCoalition to Defend Equal OpportunityCongressman John ConyersCongresswoman Carolyn Cheeks KilpatrickJudge Greg MathisReverend Fred ShuttlesworthPatricia Ford, Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU)Ron Richardson, Executive Vice President, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union (HERE)Rev. Alvin Jackson, National City Christian Church