Ward Connerly Defeated!
Affirmative Action is Preserved in Missouri!

On May 4, 2008, the new civil rights movement scored a great victory against the political forces that are trying to resegregate our nation. For months, right-wing racist forces, such as the anti-immigrant Minute Men, the Klan and others, aligned with Ward Connerly gathered petition signatures to try to qualify their anti-affirmative action measure for the Missouri ballot this November. Today they failed to turn in their petitions to the Secretary of State by the deadline.
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CALL TO ACTION:
Deal Ward Connerly & the Segregationists a NATIONAL Defeat!

Fresh out of the victory in Oklahoma, BAMN calls on students and activists all across the country who stand for equality and integration to join BAMN in Missouri, Arizona and Nebraska over the next 6 weeks in "Operation King's Dream"—an all-out effort to keep America on the road to social equality and progress.

Join and/or donate to the campaign! See the CALL TO ACTION

VICTORY IN OKLAHOMA!
Fraud Exposed, Connerly Withdraws Signatures!
One Down, Four to Go...

"BAMN (The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary), the national organization that has led the fight against Ward Connerly, and AWAKE (All Working to Keep and Achieve Equality), an organization that led the fight against Connerly's fraud in Oklahoma, forced the Oklahoma Civil Rights Initiative (OCRI) to withdraw its petition to place an anti-affirmative action referendum on the Oklahoma ballot in 2008. . ."

See BAMN's press release

César Chávez Day of Action a Big Success!
REPORT AND NEWS COVERAGE

On Monday, March 31, 2008, students boycotted, rallied and marched all over California demanding that the state's official César Chávez Holiday be honored by school districts holding assemblies and closing across the state. The day of action got widespread news coverage, and Barack Obama joined the movement's call for César Chávez's birthday to be established as a national holiday.

See the Report and News Coverage

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Must Resign!

"BAMN is committed to building the new civil rights movement needed to free us from Kilpatrick's thug regime and to restore our city's dignity, pride and prosperity . . . Our city can once again be the pride of black communities all across this nation. Kwame Kilpatrick must resign now. We must clear away the old, and renew the hope that is the basis for social progress, equality, justice and freedom."

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MARCH 11, 2008

March 13th UC-Berkeley Day of Action to Eliminate the SAT and Increase Underrepresented Minority Student Enrollment in UC!

Students from UC-Berkeley and the Bay Area will rally and march Thursday to demand that the UC faculty and administration adopt the "BOARS Proposal" (which would eliminate the SAT II subject test requirement) as well as eliminate the SAT I as a means to reverse the drop in Latina/o, black, and Native American student enrollment that has resulted since the ban on affirmative action.

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March 9, 2008

BAMN Interviewed on CNN - Story on
Connerly's Anti-Affirmative-Action Ballot Drives

CNN article    CNN Video
BAMN National Co-Chair Shanta Driver talks about her opposition to ballot initiatives on affirmative action bans.

Ward Connerly says that separate schools can be equal: "I think we went wrong with forcing integration. I think we went wrong. We destroyed black schools."

 

MARCH 7, 2008

UC-Berkeley Graduate Student Government Calls for Elimination of SAT

Read the full article
Read BAMN's Opinion Piece to Increase Underrepresented Minority Student Enrollment in the University of California and Eliminate the SAT

The Graduate Assembly, UC-Berkeley's graduate student government, passed BAMN's resolution Thursday supporting a University of California faculty proposal to eliminate the SAT II subject test requirement and make other reforms to UC admissions. The GA also voted to eliminate the entire SAT and to support BAMN's day of action on March 13th. Read the full article.

"The SAT and other standardized tests
do not measure intellectual ability
or potential. They do, however,
stigmatize minority and poor students
while giving an unfair advantage to
white students and those from
privileged backgrounds."
        - Ronald Cruz, UC-Berkeley BAMN

On Friday, UC-Berkeley's student newspaper, the Daily Californian, ran BAMN's opinion piece supporting the admissions changes and making the argument for full elimination of the SAT. Read BAMN's opinion piece.

MARCH 1, 2008

The Deposition of Ward Connerly
Is Now Online!

Watch it at BAMN's Stop Ward Connerly Page
Read the transcript (Word file)

As part of BAMN's lawsuit against Ward Connerly's anti-affirmative-action amendment to the Michigan Constitution, Proposal 2, BAMN did a legal deposition of WARD CONNERLY, the architect of the bans on affirmative action in Michigan, California, and Washington. If successful, this lawsuit would restore affirmative action in all the U.S. states that have banned it.

Connerly went to court in Sacramento to try to avoid this deposition. Fearful of genuine debate, Connerly has never before had to fully defend his views. Over the course of the six-hour deposition in which he was under oath, Connerly became increasingly frustrated and resigned as BAMN National Co-Chair Shanta Driver asked him questions he couldn't answer.

To get a DVD copy of the deposition to show at forums and meetings, write a check to "BAMN" and mail it to BAMN / P.O. Box 12872 / Berkeley, CA 94712. The one-hour edited deposition (ideal for forums and meetings) is $5, and the full six-hour deposition (2 DVDs) is available for $10. Getting both versions costs $12. To expedite your order, also send an email specifying your request and including your address to calibamn@gmail.com.

The video is divided into 7 parts:
1. The relevance of the SAT; Does going to a top college matter?
2. Resegregating the University of California (part 1)
3. Resegregating the University of California (part 2)
4. Affirmative action as the only way to integrate higher education
5. Empowering white people to vote on minorities' rights; Racially-targeted voter fraud in Michigan
6. Are minority students "mismatched" at top universities?
7. "Segregation need not be racist"