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On Monday, November 5, 2007, BAMN high school and college
students in Los Angeles picketed and confronted Ward Connerly
and Prof. Richard Sander at UCLA. Connerly, the national
frontman for the attack on affirmative action, was speaking
at an outrageous event to "commemorate" the 11th anniversary
of Proposition 209—the ban on affirmative action in
California. He was joined by racist UCLA law professor
Richard Sander. (More info below.)
The protest was a big success -- high school and college
students had a loud picket and spoke out inside. BAMN made
clear that Connerly and Sander's plan of using UCLA as a base
for organizing their attacks will fail.
Below is the statement BAMN issued at the event thoroughly
debunking Connerly and Sander's racist lies. Please feel free
to forward this information.
WATCH THE VIDEO AT:
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/dbtv/
*Look for the Nov. 5th news story*
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BAMN's Statement at the Event:
CONNERLY AND SANDER:
PROMOTING AN IDEOLOGY OF RACISM
* Defend Affirmative Action and Integration! Fight for Equality!
* No More Second Class Treatment for Brown and Black!
* Increase Underrepresented Minority Student Enrollment at UCLA!
* Build the New, Integrated, Independent Civil Rights Movement!
Download a printable version at:
http://www.bamn.com/doc/2007/071111-connerly-sander-protest.pdf
Tonight at UCLA, Ward Connerly and Richard Sander have the
gall to commemorate the 11th anniversary of Proposition 209
in California -- which is nothing other than legally-imposed
separate and unequal segregation of higher education in the
state with the highest Latina/o population in the nation.
Prop 209 has created a two-tier system of public education,
where the best opportunities are reserved for white students,
and Latina/o, black and Native American students are
relegated to second class citizenship.
Like every other socio-economic system in which the best
society has to offer is reserved for a select minority of the
population, the backers of Prop 209 have had to concoct an
ideology to rationalize such unfairness and inequality.
Professor Sander is making a name for himself as just such an
ideologue with what he calls the mismatch theory, which
preaches that Latino/a, black and Native American students
belong in lower tier schools because they are not
intellectually up to the competition of the UCs flagship
universities. To cloak the nakedly racist nature of his so-
called theory, Sander paternalistically claims that
assigning Latina/o and black students to less competitive
schools is doing them a favor by giving them a greater chance
of success. Similarly, the ideologues who rationalized
slavery argued that black people were better off as slaves,
because, unlike wage workers, slaves were guaranteed a
subsistence living.
Sanders claims (and crudely manipulated statistics) fly in
the face of the facts. In The Shape of the River former
presidents of Harvard and Yale Derek Bok and William Bowen
present extensive data which demonstrates that the more
selective a university an underrepresented minority attends,
the greater the likelihood that they will graduate, earn a
higher salary and report satisfaction with their college
experience. Black and Latina/o students who attend highly
select universities like UCLA or UC Berkeley have a far
better chance of graduating from college than students of any
race who attend non-selective universities. Highly selective
universities have the most resources and the greatest ability
to provide the financial and institutional support needed to
increase the graduation rates of all their students.
Underrepresented minority students who have low SAT scores
and gain admission to and attend a highly selective
university go on to graduate and professional schools at
comparable rates to their white or Asian peers. Latino and
black law school graduates who attend a top-tier law school
are able to make the political and social contacts necessary
and to gain the confidence needed to seek and attain
positions of power in this society once reserved exclusively
for white men. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Antonio
Villaraigosa are all beneficiaries of affirmative action
programs at this nations most selective law schools.
Sanders mismatch theory is all smoke and mirrors,
appealing to white prejudice and promoting ideas of racial
inferiority.
Black businessman and former UC Regent Ward Connerly has
spent the past 12 years earning millions as the front man for
the national assault on affirmative action and the hard-won
progress our country has made toward integration and racial
equality. When pressed, Connerly claims to question the
wisdom of over-relying on standardized tests in the
admissions process and concedes that standardized tests such
as the SAT and LSAT give white students an advantage, yet
instead of fighting for their elimination, he cynically uses
those very same test scores as a battering ram to keep
Latina/o and black students out of UCLA and UC Berkeley.
In their promotion of the mismatch theory to rationalize
the resegregation of higher education in America, Connerly
and Sander not only deprive Latina/o, black and Native
American students of their right to be admitted to our
nations flagship universities -- they are actively
encouraging the development of a racially hostile campus
climate for the few minority students who do enroll by
promoting the racist view that these students dont belong on
these campuses (hence the frequent question what sport do
you play? endured by even the most unathletic black or
Latina/o student) and the subtle and not-so-subtle
presumption that we are not the intellectuals equals of white
students.
According to Connerly and Sander, opportunity is a burden
that only white men can bear. They are hard put to explain
the success and contributions of the thousands of
beneficiaries of affirmative action who graduated from
flagship universities from the mid-1960s when affirmative
action was first won by the civil rights movement, until Prop
209 eliminated the programs in 1996.
Fortunately, the racist right wing represented by Connerly
and Sander, though well-funded, is not the only power in our
society. The increase in Latina/o and black enrollment at
UCLA this year is the direct result of the walkouts, marches
and rallies by millions of Latinas/os in 2006 and the
continued walkouts by Latina/o youth who refuse to accept
second class treatment and are leading the struggle for
dignity and equality. The continued development of the new
integrated youth-led civil rights movement fighting for
immigrant rights and committed to ending the new Jim Crow is
certain to put an end to the completely undemocratic and
politically and socially unviable policies of excluding
Latina/o, black and Native American students and youth from
the UC system. Treated as invisible by most conservative and
liberal forces involved in the debate over affirmative
action, Californias poor and partially disenfranchised
Latina/o communities are the one force in California with the
political will and the social power to re-integrate the UC
system.
There is no question that Connerlys policies will be
reversed -- the only question is how soon. The sooner we
build a leadership of Latina/o youth prepared to assert our
rights and mobilize the tremendous power of our communities,
the sooner we prevail.
We will not overcome racism or racist inequality by refusing
to recognize it or speak its name. We must expose it and
decry it boldly and loudly -- black, Latino, white, Asian,
Arab, men, women, gay and straight -- standing shoulder to
shoulder, demanding and winning equality.
BAMN is building a new civil rights movement of young
leaders determined to win equality for all. A new chapter of
BAMN is forming at UCLA. If you are interested in getting
involved, contact us today.
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Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration, &
Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality
By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)
Myspace.com/nationalbamn www.bamn.com
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Donate to the new civil rights movement! Send a tax-deductible
donation and send a check payable to UEAALDF to:
UEAALDF, c/o BAMN
P.O. Box 12872
Berkeley, CA 94712
Northern CA, Oregon, Washington contact:
Yvette Felarca 510-502-9072 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Southern CA contact:
Hoku Jeffrey 323.317.7675 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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