DAY OF EDUCATION AND ACTION at UCLA
Wednesday, March 16
(There will be a carpool from Berkeley - if interested, contact BAMN - info below)
* Reverse the Drop in Underrepresented Minority Enrollment throughout the UC system!
* Open Up UCLA to Mexican, Latina/o, black, and Other Underrepresented Minority Students
* Eliminate the S.A.T. requirement
* Mexican, Latina/o, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, other minority, white, documented and undocumented - We Are All Californians
* Build the New, Integrated Independent Civil Rights Movement
9:00 am: Rally before the UC Regents Meeting, at Covel Commons, UCLA
10:00 am: Attend the meeting and speak to the UC Regents
11:00 am: March! (Gather at Covel Commons)
====================================
In January, the New Civil Rights Movement succeeded in forcing Ward Connerly from his post as a Regent of theUniversity of California. The petitions we signed and circulated, the marches and conferences we participated in won us this very important victory.
For over 12 years, Ward Connerly used his position as a Regent to promote and protect white privilege and depriveLatina/o, black, Native American, and other underrepresented minority youth in California of their right to an equal, quality education.
His actions have made our state a place inwhich public education is increasingly segregated, separate and unequal. Now he is gone from that position. A very significant opportunity is now open to us. We must grab hold of this opportunity with our full determination. Already, a process of mass discussion and movement to reverse the drop in underrepresented minority enrollment has begun in the UC system.
On March 3, BAMN organized a day of action atUC Berkeley in which nearly one thousand college, high school and middle school students rallied and marched to demand a reversal of the drop in underrepresented minority enrollment at Berkeley.
More than 350 professors from across the UC system, other professors from as far away as North Carolina, and the UC Berkeley student government endorsed the events. In response to the growing movement, UC-Berkeley ChancellorRobert Birgeneau stated "reversing the drop atUC-Berkeley is the top priority of his administration."
This movement must spread to UCLA and become a statewide campaign.
This March's UC Regents meeting will be the first Regents meeting without Ward Connerly.
This meeting will be very important for two reasons. First, the decisions they are making now, in his absence, will shape the future of the UC system. By acting now, we can set the agenda for the University of California.
Despite the increasing numbers of applications from Latina/o, and black students to the UC system, they have been systematically kept out in increasingly greater numbers. This makes clear there is no substitute for active affirmative action measures in admissions to the UC system.
The new SAT which students will soon take will be more discriminatory than the previous one and will magnify white privilege in California. Mexican, Latina/o, Asian American students and others whose first language is not English are certain to do worse with the new essay section that has been added.
To make the turn that must be made in the UC system, the active positive use of race in admissions must be restored and the S.A.T. must be eliminated. We must fight to make the UC system an institution of openness and opportunity, not segregation and white privilege.
We must remake the UC system into an institution that is truly representative of the state of California, and can bring forward the intellectual vitality that our state holds.
Second, this meeting comes at a particular time in the admissions cycle. Decisions are being made right now that will determine next fall's incoming class across the UC system. Immediately we must reverse what has been an unacceptable decline of Latina/o, black, and Native Americana admissions across the UC system this past year.
Black student enrollment on every UC campus dropped last fall. Last fall atUCLA less than two dozen black male students entered who were not on an athletic scholarship. (See chart below)
This is not acceptable! The forces for progress and equality in California have a tremendous amount of power now. This Day of Education & Action can take important steps in mobilizing our full strength. The New Civil Rights Movement is uniting California. Shoulder to shoulder, Mexican, Latina/o, black, Asian American, Native American, other minority, and anti-racist white - together we are struggling for a state and nation of sister and brotherhood where the abilities of all are developed to their fullest.
Together we must struggle for a society wholly free from racist inequality and segregation, discrimination and prejudice, sexist abuse and degradation that stifles human potential and dulls the mind and spirit.
If we take up this struggle with our full determination and creativity, we can transform our state from being the center of attacks on minorities and immigrants into the center of progress for equality and justice.
Where California goes, so will the nation.
====================================
UCLA FRESHMAN ADMISSIONSUCLA 1997
Chicano/Latino - 1,461 (15.4%)
Black - 470 (5.0%)
Native American - 79 (0.8%)
Underrepresented Minority Total - 2,010 (21.2%)
Total # of Students - 9,467
UCLA 2003
Chicano/Latino - 1,303 (13.8%)
Black - 267 (2.8%)
Native American - 33 (0.3%)
Underrepresented Minority Total - 1,603 (16.9%)
Total # of Students - 9,461
UCLA 2004
Chicano/Latino - 1,152 (13.1%)
Black - 199 (2.3%)
Native American - 31 (0.4%)
Underrepresented Minority Total - 1,382 (15.7%)
Total # of Students - 8,823
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES 2003
Chicano/Latino - 34.2%
Black - 7.3%
Native American - 0.9%
Underrepresented Minority Total - 42.4%
Sources: UC Office of the President, California Department of Education
====================================
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action,
Integration, & Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality
By Any Means Necessary (BAMN)
www.bamn.com (510) 502-9128
california@bamn.com
For more information on the movement, go to http://www.bamn.com
or write to http://us.f410.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=california@bamn.com&YY=50262&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b .
*************************************************************
Brief Commentary: I refer the reader to earlier post related to Affirmative Action and my full support of its effort as an Affirmative Action admit and a Regents Scholar.
Of historical note: California has a long establish history of race base segrationist behavior, legislation and other overt actions towards people of color. Acts like anti-misceganation laws to prevent inter marriage with "brown" men (read Filipino and other communities who served as the laborers to the state and white women), Bakke Case, "yellow" journalism (Hearst Newspaper being its largest practioner),, Chinese Exclusion Act et al. We have a long way to go to achieve a just society. I applaude the efforts of BAMN.
No comments:
Post a Comment