On Monday, December 4, 2006, the power and independence of the new mass, militant, integrated civil rights movement was demonstrated in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Supreme Court. The picket, march and rally were a profound inspiration to all present - the kind of success that people remember their whole lives.
The 7,000 civil rights fighters that gathered at the court to picket and protest the attack on Brown v Board of Education chanting: "Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas - try to segregate us and we'll take what we've been promised." Marching from the court to the Lincoln Memorial, the marchers asserted our collective determination not to be pushed backward toward segregation. This civil rights demonstration - initiated and led by BAMN - is a sign of things to come. A new generation of militant civil rights leaders of all races is stepping forward, utterly determined to move our society toward the long deferred promise of integration, equality and justice. No one should underestimate our resolve. Our new movement will grow and develop irrespective of what this conservative court rules in the Seattle and Louisville cases.
BAMN is poised to grow by leaps and bounds - simply because we are saying what so many people think, feel and know: The so-called races are equal, "Separate but equal" is a lie, there is no progress without struggle, most importantly - that if we fight we can win. The older civil rights leaders did not prioritize the defense of Brown, school desegregation and affirmative action at stake in these historic cases. BAMN will not make the same mistake - we will match the segregationists' money and media sponsorship with our willingness to organize and struggle.
The national media has paid BAMN a profound compliment. The civil rights rally and march received wide, favorable coverage, and in the spirit of Orwellian censorship all mention of BAMN appears to have been surgically removed. A centralized decision to censor out BAMN's name from news coverage of December 4 is the news media's dishonest, hypocritical way of saying they are very aware of just how strong BAMN is.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
* January 15, 2007:
All Out to the Univ. of Michigan Ann Arbor on Martin Luther King Day
No drop in underrepresented minority student enrollment in higher education in Michigan! Undo Proposal 2!
* Mid-March 2007:
National Conference of the New Civil Rights Movement
Los Angeles, California
More details to be announced - check the BAMN website for updated info.
* Become a BAMN contact person at your school and in your area. Contact us.
Photos from the march! -- Click here
Many more schools are now confirmed!
Also, check out this article, "School Deseg Cases Inspire Student Activism," about this march from the NY Amsterdam News!
Here is a partial list of schools participating in
the March on Washington!
1. Harvard Univ.
2. Columbia Univ.
3. Yale
4. Syracuse
5. Perdue
6. Columbia College of Art, Chicago
7. Univ. of Michigan
8. Eastern Michigan Univ.
9. Western Michigan Univ.
10. Wayne State Univ.
11. Michigan State Univ.
12. Univ. of Michigan, Flint
13. Oakland Tech H.S., CA
14. Berkeley H.S. ., CA
15. San Lorenzo H.S., CA
16. Bravo Medical Magnet M.S. , CA
17. Roosevelt H.S. , CA
18. King Drew Medical Magnet H.S.
19. Manual Arts H.S. , CA
20. Eastman Elementary School (Teacher),CA
21. UCLA
22. UC Berkeley
23. San Francisco Law School
24. Franklin H.S., Seattle
25. Howard Univ.
26. Clark Atlanta
27. Morehouse
28. Spelman
29. Bowie State
30. Morgan State
31. Univ. of Md, College Park.
32. Univ. of Baltimore
33. Elizabeth City State Univ., NJ
34. Bowling Green State Univ., OH
35. Amherst College
36. Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst
37. George Washington Univ.
38. South Caroline State Univ.
39. West Chester Univ.
40. Overbrook H.S., Phila.
41. East Carolina Univ., NC
42. Lincoln Univ., PA
43. Montgomery County Comm. Coll., PA
44. Miami Univ., OH
45. Texas Southern Univ. NAACP Chapter
46. Fayetteville State Univ., NC
47. NAACP COLLEGE CHAPTER AT KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY
48. Cass Tech H.S. , Detroit
49. Murray Wright H.S., Detroit
50. Crockett Technical H.S., Detroit
51. Malcolm X Academy, Detroit
52. Oak Park H.S., MI
53. Southfield High School, MI
54. Berkeley H.S. , MI
55. Ballou H.S., DC
56. Anacostia H.S., DC
57. Crossland H.S. Temple Hills, MD
58. Cardoza H.S., DC
59. Highpointe H.S., Beltsville, MD
60. Roosevelt H.S., DC
61. Eastern H.S., DC
62. School Without Walls, DC
63. Univ. of the District of Columbia
New Endorsers and Contingents from just the past week!
Momentum is growing. Check out this list of new supporters from the last 7 days:
Black Honors Caucus-University of Maryland, Public Education Network, Concilio Hispano, Inc., Redstone Area Minority Employees Association, Ledonia Wright Cultural Center Emmissaries (North Carolina), Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.-Beta Beta Chapter (UMass-Amherst), ALANAI Honor Society (UMass-Amherst), American Association for Affirmative Action, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated - Omicron Lambda Chapter, NC Equal Rights Society, Advocating 4 Kids (Virginia Beach), Elizabeth City State University Student Government (NC), Texas Southern University Chapter of N.A.A.C.P,
Act on Racism (Allendale, MI), Rethinking Schools-Milwaukee, WI, Miami University (OH) NAACP, American College Personnel Association, YWCA USA, Morgan State University Student Government (Maryland), African-American Student League of Montgomery County Community College (PA), Blacks In Government (Wash. DC), Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Interested Ladies of LTA Latin Sorority, Inc. (Greenville, NC), University of Baltimore Black Law Students Assn., Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.- Epsilon Xi (Western Michigan Univ.), Action by Congregations Together for Children (Brooklyn, NY),
Lincoln University Student Government Assoc. (PA)
More Contingents and Endorsers!
Philadelphia is sending a busload to the march! For more information contact Tony Davis. The march has also just been endorsed by the American Association for Affirmative Action, the ALANAI Honor Society, and the North Carolina Equal Rights Society!
More contingents register for the March on Washington!
SIXTEEN COLLEGES that are part of the North Carolina Undergraduate Student Association are each sending at least one bus - some are sending up to four buses. At least 50 people have fund-raised to fly in from California, and so has a group from Great Britain! Four buses are coming from Massachusetts, including students from Harvard and METCO. Below are some of the contingents coming from around the U.S. If you are bringing people, register your contingent and we'll put you on our contacts page!
High school students and teachers from the immediate D.C. area are also organizing field trips from their schools:
Washington, DC high school field trips
Anacostia 2 buses
Ballou 3 buses
Roosevelt 3 buses
School Without Walls 2 buses
Cardozo 1 bus
McKinley 1 bus
Prince Georges County
Crossland 2 buses
Washington-Lee 1 bus
March Posters Available! Contact BAMN if you would like to order some.
AFSCME Local 2626 voted on Saturday night to pay for 5 students to go to Washington, DC on December 4 and then individual members made personal donations to sponsor another 3. The Librarians of the City of Los Angeles are standing firm in the defense of integration and affirmative action; Get your local union to do the same! We continue to need assistance for students who want to make the trip from the West Coast. Please make a contribution today.
Hundreds of students and community members plan on coming to D.C.! See flyer. Funds are still needed - help them out by making a donation.
BAMN organizer and UC-Berkeley ASUC Senator Dimitri Garcia and BAMN Northern California Coordinator Yvette Felarca did a 30-minute interview on KPFA 94.1, the San Francisco Bay Area's popular progressive radio station. Listen to the segment here.
Project MySpace Saturation launched!:
A Flash-animated bulletin has been created that MySpace users can use to spread the word about the March on Washington. Get it at the organizing page here.
Monday, November 13 at 7pm
Howard University, Washington DC
in Cramton Auditorium
More info here.
UC-Berkeley students organize luau and house party for the March on Washington!
UC-Berkeley students are organizing a luau extravaganza Fri Nov. 17, complete with Hawaiian and Tahitian traditional performances, free food, giveaways and an auction! See the flyer.
They will also hold a Party for Social Justice on Sat Nov. 18! More info here.
Howard students mobilize for the March on Washington!
"Campus Organizations Initiate Protest Against Supreme Court"
Article from Howard University's student newspaper, The Hilltop
BAMN speaks in Los Angeles November 18!
National Black Graduate Student Association Western Regional Conference
UCLA, Tom Bradley International Hall
Saturday, November 18, 2006
1:30pm
Come hear LA BAMN Coordinator Hoku Jeffrey and
Roosevelt High School BAMN leader Issamar Camacho
speak about the March on Washington,
the fight to defend integration and affirmative action,
and building the new civil rights movement!
For more info, contact: BAMN Los Angeles at 323.317.7675
313-438-3748
And Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)