8-29-2005

BAMN vows to fight FBI intimidation and spying

FBI targeting of civil rights organization revealed in FOIA documents

For immediate release:

FBI documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request made by the ACLU have exposed the fact that the FBI has, in the recent past, gathered information on nationally respected civil rights organization BAMN in the course of a so-called "Domestic Terrorism Symposium."

Luke Massie, National Co-Chair of BAMN said, "BAMN intends to fight this. We intend to expose the spying fully. We will file a follow-up Freedom of Information claim together with the ACLU to find out the whole truth about the spying. We are standing up not just for ourselves and the civil rights movement we are building, but for every other progressive organization in the country that this casts a shadow over."

"The Bush administration has shredded the Constitution and the Bill of Rights - we're saying enough is enough. We're not intimidated. It's unacceptable for the Bush administration to use the FBI to harass and intimidate its political opponents. The American people do not want their government spying on its own citizens. The outrageous offense to basic civil liberties in spying on BAMN is highlighted by the fact that the FBI report itself admits that BAMN has no history of violence. We have held hundreds of peaceful demonstrations and organized intensive litigation aimed at the defense of affirmative action and civil rights generally," said Shanta Driver, National Co-Chair and Spokesperson for BAMN.

BAMN has been the lead organization defending affirmative action through building a new civil rights movement. BAMN successfully defended affirmative action at the US Supreme Court in the University of Michigan Law School case, Grutter v. Bollinger.