SAN FRANCISCO — Middle school, high school and college students — including some from UC Berkeley — united in protest Monday as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed a lawsuit against Proposition 209.
Dozens of students bearing signs in front of the courthouse voiced their opposition to the 1996 bill — which bars public institutions from using affirmative action in admissions decisions — as the court considered arguments in favor of repealing the proposition.
The group of protesters included members of several UC Berkeley student groups such as MEChA, a national student organization formed to stimulate pride in Chicano culture and history, the Black Student Union and the student political party CalSERVE. Several students from UCLA’s Afrikan Student Union also participated in the protests, as well as students from Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and Oakland’s Skyline High School.
“Just as the Supreme Court repealed Brown v. Board of Education, we believe that this is the court’s chance to rectify past wrongs,” said Salih Muhammad, chair of UC Berkeley’s Black Student Union.
About 40 students met on Lower Sproul Plaza around 8 a.m. Monday morning to travel together to the San Francisco courthouse where judges were presented the lawsuit, filed by the activist group BAMN. Dressed in black, the students walked in two lines to the Downtown Berkeley BART station. As part of their protest, the group passed through the station’s emergency exit without paying.
Three people were detained for fare evasion at the Civic Center BART Station, according to BART Police Lt. David Chlebowski. But Muhammad said no students affiliated with his group were detained.
The same morning, a bus approved and commissioned by the ASUC Senate last Wednesday to transport students to the courthouse left with only three people aboard at 9 a.m. but brought several more students back to campus, according to CalSERVE Senator Sydney Fang. The senate allocated almost $400 to support the Day of Action.
“The Senate should investigate this situation, and make sure that the number of students reached by any funded item is significant so as not to waste student fees,” said SQUELCH! Senator Noah Ickowitz in an email.
Fang said the bus was meant to carry students with disabilities and students unwilling to participate in the BART protest, although the bill passed Wednesday approving funds for the bus made no such distinction.
Once in San Francisco, protesters gathered outside the courthouse, chanting and holding signs decrying the proposition.
“We are not going to stop until we win,” said Yvette Felarca, a national organizer for BAMN and a teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School who brought members of the school’s “I Have A Dream” club to join in the protest. “We will expect nothing less than full integration and equality.”
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau also spoke out against the proposition Monday, personally pledging his support for overturning the act.
“Whether we like it or not, racial disparities remain a reality in Californian society,” he said in a statement. “The playing field will really only be level when Prop. 209 is repealed.”
But despite the backlash against the proposition, BAMN national chair Shanta Driver — who represented the activist group in Monday’s hearing — said the chances of the judges’ ruling in BAMN’s favor is unlikely.
“We had blockheads as judges,” said George Washington, another attorney representing BAMN. “Today is the beginning, not the end, and we’re fighting.”
Muhammad said whether student groups would work with BAMN on this issue in the future was still unclear. However, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, he said student groups in favor of overturning the proposition would likely organize teach-ins and other activities to build awareness of the issue.
“The court case is not an end-all with us,” he said.
Damian Ortellado is the lead higher education reporter.
Correction(s):
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the senate allocated $400 to only buses. In fact, the money went to buses and other supplies for the Day of Action.
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Racism- treating people differently based on color. Affirmative action- treating people differently based on color.
No one really takes brown/black Berkeley grads too seriously because of affirmative action
One of the two key elements of Prop 209 is that it bans discrimination based on ethnicity, race, etc. Sure, let’s repeal it so we can begin discriminating again.
The student population of Cal doesn’t reflect the population of California. To do that, we’d need to double the number of white students enrolled at Cal.
In case anyone was confused, Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was a landmark Supreme Court decision that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional.
The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed state-sponsored segregation.
Never did ASUC survey students regarding Prop 209. Instead, they wasted $400. Who are they representing?
It is an error to refer to the minority proponents of prop 208 as “racists”, when in fact structural socio-economic disparities in this country have historically divided along “racial” lines. But it is also an error to believe that prop 208 assists minorities. What if you knew your admission was not based on your academic merit, but your identity? How does that assist your self-esteem? How does that assist you, given that you may have been a slacker and remain so after the fact? Work hard, study hard, and earn your way in, so that NO ONE can QUESTION your PLACE in the UNIVERSITY or ANY WHERE ELSE for that matter.
I’m what is considered in this nation a “minority”. This does not equate seeking special treatment. What I expect is an equal playing field (a President Theodore Roosevelt like “Square deal), that is it. I concede that some are reared in tough socio-economic conditions in contrast to others, but this should serve as all the more motivation correct?
I support Prop 209
You support racial discrimination?
Prop 209 OPPOSES racial discrimination, unlike these protesters who in fact support such discrimination as long as members of their particular group are the beneficiaries. One more example of the general level of ignorance found among campus progressives.
Absolutely not. Not sure how you made that leap in logic.
WOW! Seriously! ASUC you are a joke! Some of us are struggling to put together the money to keep up with UC fees and you spend $400 for this!
BAMN is a cult. The people in BAMN are lifeless weirdos who are basically in a cult. Period.
The protesters must not have gotten the memo…the UC’s have already figured out how to get around Prop. 209.
Are you seriously equating Prop 209′s abolition of a discriminatory policy that advantaged students solely on the basis of race (NOT socioeconomic status as there are plenty of poor and well-to-do students across the racial spectrum) with Brown v Board? Your fantasy blinders must be pretty thick.
The ASUC passed a bill to fund this? Those liberal idiots must be in the pockets of the radical racist group BAMN.
Senator Fang spoke to my class encouraging us all to join the protest…I guess three of them listened!
What a bunch of losers and racists.
“Dressed in black, the students walked in two lines to the Downtown Berkeley BART station. As part of their protest, the group passed through the station’s emergency exit without paying.”
How is this part of their protest? The ASUC spends about $400 in student fees to pay for a bus to transport them, and then they instead steal about $170 in rides from BART. This is outrageous. And Senator Fang now gives us new information about the purpose for the bus that was not revealed when the ASUC voted 0n this bill.
This incident reflects badly on Cal students. All of us ought to contact our ASUC representatives to demand that such an irresponsible use of money not be allowed to occur again.
Lib sheeple love free stuff paid for by others. It’s only fair.
The usual suspects supporting racial discrimination…