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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative Action, Part I: landmark
rulings hailed as sweeping victory for University of Michigan
and colleges across the country
INTRO: we go to the steps of the University of Michigan
student union and hear the reaction
The Ghost of Republicanism Past Triumphed over the Conservativism
of Republicans Today": Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative Action,
Part II
INTRO: In a roundtable discussion with a leading U Michigan
lawyer and an opponent of affirmative action, leading race
critic Manning Marable argues the Supreme Court backed affirmative
action to help the U.S. compete under globalized capitalism
not to make reparation or to level the playing field
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative Action: landmark
rulings hailed as sweeping victory for University of Michigan
and colleges across the country
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld affirmative action in
higher education.
The Court's two landmark rulings were the most important
rulings on affirmative action in a quarter of a century.
By a vote of 5 to 4, the high court ruled the University
of Michigan Law School's admission policy is legal.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the majority: "In
order to cultivate a set of leaders with legitimacy in the
eyes of the citizenry, it is necessary that the path to leadership
be visibly open to talented and qualified individuals of every
race and ethnicity." She wrote, "Effective participation
by members of all racial and ethnic groups in the civil life
of our nation is essential if the dream of one nation, indivisible,
is to be realized."
O'Connor's majority opinion is based on the idea of "compelling
state interest" in diversity. That is, the majority court
did not support affirmative action because it is a way of
redressing past oppression and injustice, or because it is
a way of leveling the socio-economic playing field. Rather,
the justices backed it because they felt it is in the interest
of the state, that college campuses and professional schools
achieve diversity. This idea harkens back to the 1978 Bakke
case, when Justice Lewis Powell, Jr. ruled there is a "compelling
state interest" in racial diversity, and permitted the
use of race as one "plus factor."
Proponents of affirmative action are hailing the court's
decision as a major victory. Back in the 1978 Bakke case,
Powell was the lone author of the controlling opinion in the
case. The Supreme Court itself appeared to undermine his position
in subsequent rulings over the years, and some lower federal
courts flat out rejected the idea. With yesterday's ruling,
the idea has been firmly entrenched in U.S. jurisprudence,
by five Supreme Court justices.
Big business, labor, major colleges, and the military filed
friend-of-the-court briefs urging the court to uphold affirmative
action, including General Motors, the AFL-CIO, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf.
Justice O'Connor cited these views, writing for the majority:
"Major American businesses have made clear that the skills
needed in today's increasingly global marketplace can only
be developed through exposure to widely diverse people, cultures,
ideas and viewpoints." She wrote that high-ranking retired
officers and civilian leaders of the U.S. military linked
diversity among the officer corps to the safety of the nation.
In the second case, the court ruled 6 to 3 against the University
of Michigan's undergraduate admissions policy. The undergraduate
school awards 20 points on a scale of 150 to an applicant
if she or he is a person of color. Fixed numbers of points
are also awarded for other factors, including alumni connections.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist, writing for the majority,
rejected the point system because race factors in a non-individual,
mechanical way. But the justices affirmed that race can be
used as a factor in admissions.
Taken together, the rulings are a slap in the face to President
Bush. The Bush administration had intervened in the case,
asking the court to invalidate both Michigan programs. President
Bush had personally announced he was against the university's
affirmative action programs.
But yesterday, Bush issued a statement praising the court
for QUOTE recognizing the value of diversity on our nation's
campuses." He said, "I look forward to the day when America
will truly be a color-blind society.
- Agnes Aleobua (al-ee-oh-bwa), University of Michigan
student, and organizer with the activist group, By Any Means
Necessary. She was named defendant in Grutter v. Bollinger.
She became a defendant while a Detroit public school student
in high school; beneficiary of affirmative action. Organized
University of Michigan student contingent for the April
1st march.
Contact: www.bamn.com
Yesterday, jubilant students gathered on the steps of the
University of Michigan student union after hearing the decision.
We spoke with some of them there:
Students react to historic Supreme Court Ruling, June 23,
2003:
- Jodi Masley, graduate of the University of Michigan,
U of Michigan law student, student intervenor in the case,
and a founding member of Law Students for Affirmative action.
She says she herself benefited from affirmative action as
a poor, white woman.
- Ebony Ross, 15-year old African-American high school
student from Detroit
- Ronald Cruz, Philippine-American student, University
of California at Berkeley
Contact: www.bamn.com
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 "The Ghost of Republicanism Past Triumphed over
the Conservativism of Republicans Today
We've just heard the reaction of students at the University
of Michigan to the news that the Supreme Court has upheld
affirmative action.
Right now, a roundtable discussion, with Miranda Massie,
lead attorney for the student defenders in the University
of Michigan Law School Case, affirmative action opponent Edward
Blum with the Center for Equal Opportunity, and leading race
critic and historian Manning Marable.
- Miranda Massie, lead attorney for the student defenders
in the University of Michigan Law School Case.
- Edward Blum, Senior Fellow for the Center for Equal Opportunity
Contact:
www.ceousa.org
- Manning Marable, Professor of History and Political Science,
and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and founding
Director of the Institute for Research in African-American
Studies. His most recent publications include Black Leadership
(1998), Black Liberation in Conservative America (1997),
Dispatches from the Ebony Tower edited volume (2000) and
Let Nobody Turn Us Around, edited with Leith Mullings (2000).
Contact: www.manningmarable.net
For his essay, "G.W. Bush: Affirmative Action Baby," see:
www.jacksonprogressive.com/issues/civilliberties/marable/
bushaababy021003.html
8:40-8:45 South Carolina Man Charged with Threatening the
President's Safety For Holding Protest Sign
A South Carolina man by the name of Brett Bursey goes on
trial today for simply holding a sign that read "No War For
Oil" outside a President Bush speech last October.
For that he is being charged with the federal crime of threatening
the president's safety.
He is believed to be the first protester to ever be arrested
on these charges for simply holding a sign.
He faces six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Back in October he was originally charged by the state with
trespassing at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. But the
state dropped the trespassing charges perhaps because they
knew the courts would rule in Bursey's favor.
In fact they did 33 years ago when he was also arrested
at the same airport for protesting Richard Nixon. He was charged
with trespassing. Bursey challeneged his arrest and the state
Supreme Court ruled in his favor.
But much has changed since then.
After the state dropped the trespassing charges the local
US Attorney, Strom Thurmond Jr., filed the much more severe
charges of threatening the safety of the president.
The federal charges have not sat well with some members
of Congress.
A few weeks ago Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank and 10 other
members of Congress wrote a letter to Attorney General John
Ashcroft condemning the arrest. They wrote: "This prosecution
smacks of the use of the Sedition Acts two hundred years ago
to protect the President from political discomfort. It was
wrong then and it is wrong now. We urge you to drop this prosecution
based so clearly on the political views being expressed by
the individual who is being prosecuted.
Today Brett Bursey goes to trial. We spoke to him earlier
this morning.
- Brett Bursey, South Carolina man charged with threatening
the president's safety for holding up a sign that read "No
War For Oil" outside a Bush fundraiser. He goes to trial
today and faces six months in jail.
8:45-9:58 Youth Activism and Media, the Educational Video
Center
Nine years ago students at the Educational Video Center
produced the documentary "Some Place to Call Home" which examines
the foster care system through the eyes of eight young women
and men living within it.
Well recently some new members of the Education Video Center
decided to track down some of the former foster care youth
who were interviewed in the first film.
The result is the new film "Life After Foster Care.
he EVC is a not-for-profit media arts center that teaches
documentary video production and media analysis to youth,
educators and community media organizers. The goal is to develop
the literacy, research, public speaking and work preparation
skills of at-risk youth.
The Educational Video Center in collaboration with Human
Rights Watch Film Festival will be holding a benefit screening
this Wednesday, June 25 from 6-9pm at the Lincoln Center here
in New York City which will showcase the student produced
documentaries. We are joined by Steve Goodman of the Educational
Video Center and two of the filmmakers Rafael Polo and Anthony
Cordova.
- Steve Goodman, with the Educational Video Center and
author of Teaching Youth Media: A Critical Guide to Literacy,
Video Production and Social Change
Contact:
www.evc.org
- Rafael Polo, graduate of City As-School High School
in Brooklyn. He worked on the youth activism video, "Whose
Streets, Our Streets
- Anthony Cordova, student filmmaker
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Ana Nogueira and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer.
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