| Hundreds board buses to D.C. for rally
Associated Press
Several hundred area high school and college students, educators, community leaders and others packed charter buses Monday night to attend a Washington, D.C., march and rally in support of affirmative action.
Erica Parker, 19, a Western Michigan University freshman from Detroit, said she would board one of the buses lining a parking lot of the Michigan State Fairgrounds because she feels conflicted about affirmative action and wants to learn more about it.
“I think this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me,” she said.
“I want to get the inside scoop about what everyone is thinking.”Tuesday’s massive rally was planned for the same day oral arguments were to be made before the U.S. Supreme Court in the University of Michigan admissions cases.
The court is expected to rule this summer on whether Michigan can use race as a factor in admissions to its undergraduate college and law school.
The ruling has the potential to write the demise of affirmative action as the nation knows it or rewrite the rules for when race can be part of government decisions.
Parker said affirmative action policies could be good because they would help minorities get into college and get jobs but also could be bad because minorities could feel like tokens.
Several hundred people stood in line to register for the trip Monday night at the fairgrounds, their arms filled with blankets, pillows and snacks.
Most had bought the $20 tickets for the sold-out trip in advance while others showed up hoping to put themselves on waiting lists for a spot on one of the buses.
The caravan leaving from the fairgrounds was sponsored by the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the national group, the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action & Integration, and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary.
Other groups also organized trips that left Detroit and Ann Arbor Monday night. Kristina Spivey, 14, of Detroit’s Northern High School, said she thinks the trip will be good for her. Her mother, Tamiko Oyeneye, agreed.
“I think it’s going to be an important experience for her. She’s an intelligent young girl and needs the experience. We didn’t have these things when I was coming up. She’s really very fortunate,”
Oyeneye said. Janee Moore, a student organizer from Detroit Renaissance High School, said the voices of the city’s students will be heard in Washington.
“Detroit high school students and youth have been in the lead of the growing student rights movement to defend affirmative action and integration,” she said.
“We have mobilized the city of Detroit in this effort. The youth of Detroit are truly leading the nation.”
Speakers at Tuesday’s rally, organized by national civil rights, student and community groups, are expected to include NAACP Chairman Kweisi Mfume, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy and students, religious leaders and activists from around the country.
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