9-98       

STOP THE RESEGREGATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION!

BUILD THE OCTOBER 21 & 22 UC-WIDE WALKOUTS
IN DEFENSE OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

    UC-Berkeley students can take an important step forward in the fight to defend affirmative action this semester.

    Mass walkouts in defense of affirmative action have been called for October 21 and 22. Over thirty UC professors at Berkeley, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Davis, Santa Barbara, and San Diego have signed on to the call for students, GSIs, and faculty throughout the UC system to participate.

    A mass UC-wide walkout would be a turning point in the struggle. It would be a launching point for the development of a state and nation-wide movement to defend affirmative action. It would also help to defeat Ward Connerly's new proposal to eliminate Ethnic Studies and minority graduation ceremonies.

    A successful UC-wide walkout could affect the outcome of the Prop 209-style anti-affirmative action ballot initiative in Washington state that will be voted on in early November.

    In California it can start a process that can lead to the defeat of 209 and the UC Regents' decision. In Fall 1995, the beginnings of a mass, militant movement on UC campuses pushed some UC Regents to put forward a motion to
reconsider their anti-affirmative action vote in January 1996 and caused real problems for the pro-209 forces' signature gathering campaign.

    The campaign last semester for UC-Berkeley to admit the 800 black and Latino 4.0 applicants who were initially rejected was able to win the admission of many of these black and Latino students. This small success exemplifies what we can win if we fight.

    There are many legal avenues that can be utilized to fight the ban on affirmative action in California, but these avenues will only be successful in the context of a fighting movement.

    UC-Berkeley's participation in the October walkouts is very important. As one of the campuses that has played a leading role in building progressive movements in the past, our participation will have a big impact on the morale
of students and youth throughout California and the nation. The national press will present the action at UC-Berkeley as the measuring stick for the success of the actions throughout the state and for the level of support for affirmative action.

    To make the October action a success, students must organize and encourage other students to participate. More professors must be encouraged to sign on. Every progressive organization on campus should endorse and start to organize for the days of action. Freshmen, especially, can play an important role in uniting and mobilizing the campus.

    We can get high school students, teachers unions, and Community College and CSU students and faculty to join us. Angela Davis has already signed on, and we can get the support of other well-known public figures as well.

    Over the last six months, the ending of affirmative action in UC admissions and the attack on affirmative action generally has sparked several mass protests. On April 1, 1998, hundreds of students on campuses in dozens of
states held a National Day of Action to Defend Affirmative Action. When the huge drops in underrepresented minority admissions for this year's freshmen class (including a decline of over 60% at UC-Berkeley) were made public, hundreds of students demonstrated at Berkeley on April 1 and April 2 and at UCLA throughout the month of May. These mass demonstrations marked the beginning of a new phase of the struggle. Mass, coordinated, UC-wide actions on October 21 and 22 are the next step.

    The forces behind the attack on affirmative action can be defeated. For the most part, they are a wing of the Republican Party and a rich political elite. The primary reasons for their successes so far are their enormous wealth and the conservatism of the courts.

    The history of the Civil Rights Movement proves that mass struggle can have a decisive impact even on the most reactionary courts. The Supreme Court that delivered the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision which struck down Jim Crow was a segregationist and openly racist court in its majority. The reason for its unanimous integrationist decision was the existence, strength, and mass character of the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement.

    If we can start to rebuild a movement as big and powerful as the mass Civil Rights Movement that won affirmative action in the first place, then we have an excellent chance at victory.

    October 21 and 22 must be days in which all of the defenders of affirmative action across the state take a united stand against the resegregation of higher education.

FORUM: Featuring Rafael Perez-Torres, UCLA professor and walkout organizer:
Thursday, September 10, 6:00 pm, 2040 VLSB (Valley Life Sciences Building)

MEETINGS: Every Thursday at 6:30 pm, at UC-Berkeley, in Room 100 Wheeler Hall.

Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)
Hotline/voicemail: (510) 895-3068 * bamn1@hotmail.com *  www.bamn.com