Anti-Affirmative Action proposal on the ropes???

This is good news.

I'm not sure who the judge is in this case, but this is a clear victory for the side of the right and the just. While America is not the anti-racist nation it could be, it is not quite the racist nation that it once was. What that means for those of us who support Affirmative Action is that it is very difficult to gut Affirmative Action in a straightforward manner. It has to be cut a piece at a time, usually using minor to major forms of deception. As long as organizations maintain vigilance we should be ok. The trick though is still to build up k-12 given our 25 year window.

(Edited to add the question mark. Ward Bell notes that this probably shouldn't be called a "victory" given that signatures are still being collected. We'll know more soon, but he has a point.)

Comments

[Ward Bell]

Victory comes when these kinds of initiatives are allowed to reach the ballot and then voted down by large margins.

There are some who suggest that this ruling on the technicality means nothing. Certainly, the supporters of the initiative are moving forward to collect their signatures.

An interesting sidelight to this subject is the group that seems to be getting most of the mentions in the student newspaper as opposing the initiative. "BAMN." What was currious to me was that in none of the accounts was this acronym identified. I searched back through other articles and could not find what it stands for.

Finally, I did a Google search and found that the organization has a very long winded, all inclusive name that ends with the words, "... by any means necessary." Interesting.

[lks]

you're talking about the end of the war, ward. i'm talking about hamburger hill.

i know the folks that started bamn. it wasn't just an acronym based on malcolm x. it was really an attempt to hijack BAM (the three university of michigan Black Action Movements of '69, '77, and '86). the bamn folks used to be the revolutionary workers league, but had to change their brand. they've done a literal 180 since 1991. i used to think they were good for nothing...thought they were government plants for a LONG time.

their actions here changed my view SIGNIFICANTLY.

[Ward Bell]

The title is mis-leading, Lester. This court decision doesn't put the anti-affirmative action program "on the ropes" (which implies that it is in trouble); it is a blip in the road that some feel is meaningless. It isn't anybody's "Hamburger Hill." But thanks anyways for publishing the story: without it, I would not have learned about BAMN.