Thousands march for affirmative action U-M hearing attracts politicians,
activists Wednesday, April 2, 2003
Thousands march for affirmative action U-M hearing attracts politicians,
activists
Washington Bureau Lisa Nipp / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Thousands demonstrated at the U.S. Supreme Court building Tuesday, and for many it was a forceful echo of the civil rights rallies of the 1960s. "I was very inspired to see the young people becoming activists in a cause for social justice," said Greg Mathis, the nationally syndicated television judge who grew up in Detroit.
"In the '60s, it was college students and other youth who fought for social justice and to end the Vietnam War. I'm inspired to see they're re-energized." Mathis, who grew up in poverty after his father left the family, said he never would have escaped the streets and jails of Detroit as a high school dropout if Eastern Michigan University hadn't had an affirmative action policy.
"Affirmative action was necessary for me to be on equal footing with others who had not faced such adversity in their lives as a result of racism and denial of opportunity in their families," he said. Politicians and civil rights leaders from all over the country gave speeches and mingled in the crowd -- estimates of which ranged from a few thousand to more than 50,000 -- with students, children and older folks who energetically but peacefully demonstrated outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the judges heard oral arguments on the issue of affirmative action at the University of Michigan.
The vast majority of the demonstrators supported the university's admissions policy intended to promote classroom diversity. But at least one opponent said he thought the policy should be changed. "Racial preferences should be replaced with preferences for anyone who is financially disadvantaged, white or black," said Chetley Zarko of Kalamazoo, who graduated from U-M in 1993.
"The white person in rural northern Michigan should get the same preferences as a black person in an inner city school." Though much of the crowd was African-American, several other minority groups and white people were represented. "We're trying to bring attention to the fact that more white people are for affirmative action," said Barry Shapiro of Oakland, Calif., who was carrying a banner that read "Angry White Men for Affirmative Action." "People who write and enforce affirmative action policies are largely white."
Some of the phrases that the crowd chanted throughout the four-hour demonstration included "Hey, hey, ho, ho, affirmative action must not go," "Equal equality education, we won't take resegregation," and "Separate but equal is a lie, affirmative action must not die." Frank McMillan of Detroit, an electrical repairman at the Cadillac plant in Hamtramck, said he was hurt that the Bush administration had come out against affirmative action. "That's why I'm down here because our civil liberty is being threatened," he said.
"Every generation needs to make it better for the next generation." Angela Conner came with her 11-year-old daughter Ashley Allen on one of the more than 80 buses that drove from Detroit. "We have to take a stand for what we believe in," said Conner. Brandis Taylor of Southfield paused for a moment while considering why she made the trip. "We need to let legislators and policymakers know that this generation has a voice that will be heard and cannot be silenced," said Taylor, a third-year student at the Ann Arbor school. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it would" make a difference, she added.
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