Ann Arbor - More than 200 affirmative action supporters from schools across the country rallied at the University of Michigan's campus Friday to protest a possible ballot initiative on affirmative action.
Ward Connerly, chairman of the Sacramento-based American Civil Rights Coalition, is working to pass a ballot initiative that would become a state constitutional amendment against the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling allowing the University of Michigan to consider race in admission to its law school.
The march was part of the three-day Seventh National Conference of the New Civil Rights Movement, which was sponsored by activist group By Any Means Necessary.
The group supports affirmative action.
Some BAMN members traveled from as far as California and Pennsylvania to participate in the march and to protest Connerly's initiative. Others - some as young as 7 - came from Detroit-area schools to support affirmative action.
Connerly needs an estimated 317,000 signatures for the proposal to be on the November 2004 ballot, said the Rev. Mark Lyons, from Second Baptist Church of Ann Arbor, who spoke at the rally in opposition to Connerly's initiative.
"There is a massive fight in front of us," Lyons said. "This is a fight in which we have an enormous opportunity in front of us.
"But opportunity means facing challenges."
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court decided on two U-M admission cases. In Gratz v. Bollinger, the school's undergraduate admissions policy, which applied a point system to racial and ethnic minorities, was ruled unconstitutional by a vote of 6-3.
In the U-M law school case, Grutter v. Bollinger, the high court upheld U-M's policy, 5-4.
Lyons told the crowds he was confident BAMN members could defeat Connerly's push to end race-based admissions.
"We'll march together, forever, to defend affirmative action and integration and fight for equality," Lyons said. "Ward Connerly is destined for defeat; affirmative action will win, justice will win, and equality will win."
Luke Massie, national organizer for Detroit-based BAMN, said the conference brings attention to the importance of creating diversity in schools.
"Everyone is here to rally support with fighting for affirmative action," he said.
Massie said next year is a massive struggle for BAMN to try to keep the Connerly ballot initiative from coming to Michigan and to realize the promise of 1954's Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case, which ruled the country's "separate but equal" doctrine to be unconstitutional.
Natasha Green, a senior at the University of California-Berkeley and member of the California BAMN chapter, said she participated in a similar march in Los Angeles in 1996 to fight the passing of Proposition 209, an initiative that eliminated race-based admission in California colleges.
She said she came to Ann Arbor to bring awareness of Connerly's actions in Michigan.
"Our actions in this march are historic and I am confident Connerly's initiative won't pass here," Green said.
Bystander Chris Pomy, a kinesiology senior, watched the march as he was on his way to class and said it was an everyday occurrence on campus.
"This is typical over here in the University of Michigan," Pomy said. "Affirmative action is a big part of the university and I am supportive of those that voice their opinion."
But complete support of the march was interrupted by several insults from protesters.
Co-chair of Young America's Foundation Laura Davis led eight others in a protest of the pro-affirmative action march.
"People should be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin," the U-M, second-year English student said. "Young America's Foundation believes racial preferences is wrong and a form of discrimination and we disagree with BAMN's support of racial preferences."
Some of the protesters held signs with slogans supporting Connerly's initiative and one sign equated the BAMN group with communism.
Davis said she is confident Connerly's initiative will pass with at least 100,000 signatures more than the required amount.
"Once the collection for signatures gets underway in January, more people will get involved," Davis said.
Following several police escorts, the crowd marched past several on-lookers holding signs that read, "Justice, or just us denied?"
Bystander Sarah Long, a psychology freshman, said she wasn't impressed with the number of BAMN supporters.
"They all seem pretty gung-ho about their cause, but it looks like a pretty small protest," Long said.
Amy Davis can be reached at davisam8@msu.edu
