APRIL 1, 2003
MARCH ON WASHINGTON
On April 1, 2003 in the nation's capital, students and youth of the New Civil Rights Movement took a historic stand declaring "WE WON'T GO BACK!" On the day the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Grutter v. Bollinger, BAMN organized a National March on Washington. Bursting with joy and pride, more than fifty thousand people, mostly college and high school youth from over 300 campuses across the country, marched and demanded that the U.S. Supreme Court uphold affirmative action. The city of Washington, D.C. was filled with the voices of a new generation of young people demanding equality and integration in our nation's schools, demanding that the "separate and unequal" that Brown v. Board of Education condemned nearly FIFTY YEARS AGO finally be eradicated NOW. We placed our new civil rights movement on the national stage. On April 1, 2003, a new chapter in the fight for integration and equality in America was begun.
Selected news articles:
(Broken links are in grey)
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Washington Post:
A Defense Team of Thousands
▪
Thousands Rally for Affirmative Action at High Court
(with video) ▪
Rally Sets Stage on Affirmative Action Cases
▪
Photo of march to Lincoln Memorial
▪
Photo from steps of Lincoln Memorial
▪
Photo of Howard U. march
- New York Times: Thousands of Students Gather to Support Admission Policies
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AP:
Affirmative Action Backers Gather in D.C.
- Detroit News: Thousands march for aff. action ▪ Thousands trek to D.C. for historic U-M case
- Detroit Free Press: Area near courts packed
- Sydney Morning Herald, Australia: Students back to barricades as court decides their future
- Washington Times: Aff. action supporters rally
- USA Today: Justices debate race, college admissions
- Daily Pennsylvanian - U. students protest for affirmative action in DC
- Michigan Daily, U of M
- Daily Californian, UC Berkeley
- Albany State U Students make voices heard
- Yale Daily News
- Daily Targum, Rutgers
- Daily Illini (U-Illinois): 1 2
- Cornell Daily Sun: 1 2
- Hundreds from Connecticut attend rally
- Georgians join protest at Court
- New York Newsday:Similar Pasts, Different Sides Covering BAMN organizers/student intervenors
- Democracy Now/Pacifica Radio show , with panelists Agnes Aleobua, U of M BAMN; Miranda Massie, lead attorney for the student intervenors; and CIR lawyer (RealAudio)
- Ms. Magazine - Online Chat transcript with Teresa Stern , author of Ms. article, " Affirmative Action on Trial "
- Tavis Smiley Show (see "Students' Views")
- BET.com Photo Gallery
- MSNBC - High court weighs affirmative action (with NBC Nightly News video)
- Audio of Supreme Court hearing from which the student defendants were excluded from making oral arguments (CSPAN; RealAudio)
Other media on the web:
- National Society of Black Engineers - April 1 photo gallery
- Internet Black Pages - 15-minute video
- Photo essay on website of Inter Cultural Awareness, Binghamton University
- Hawkins-Lawrence Images: April 1, 2003 photo gallery
- Photos from Nikolas Schiller's website, George Washington U.


