Students march for affirmative action
April 18, 2008
William Lounsbury/Staff Photographer MU students march past Johnston residence hall Monday in protest of the proposed Missouri Civil Rights Initiative’s ban of most forms of affirmative action. During the march from Plaza 900 to Jesse Hall, students stopped to speak to onlookers.
Marching though Tiger Plaza, senior Rickey Lee chants with fellow protesters on Monday. The Missouri Civil Rights Initiative aims to ban most forms of affirmative action from Missouri jobs, contracts and schools on the November ballot.
“We won’t take re-segregation! Equal quality, education,” was one of many chants heard throughout campus Tuesday afternoon as MU students rallied in support of affirmative action.
The rally’s purpose was to keep affirmative action on Missouri campuses and in employment, said Anthony Martin, Legion of Black Collegians president and co-leader of the Missing Minority Campaign. A movement by the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative aims to put an initiative to ban most forms of affirmative action in Missouri on the November ballot.
Affirmative action is “the set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” according to a flier distributed by the Missouri Minority Campaign.
By Any Means Necessary is a youth-led organization whose goal is to build a new civil rights movement by going to campuses, high schools and churches to defend affirmative action nationwide, BAMN Coordinator Tristan Taylor said. BAMN representatives have come to Missouri and MU to help fight the initiative.
Since 1996 California, Washington and Michigan have banned affirmative action. However, Oklahoma recently denied the petition, and Taylor said he hopes Missouri will be the next state to do the same.
After hearing about the petition, LBC and leaders of other organizations came together to get the word out about the issue and how to act within the MU community, Martin said.
LBC provided funds for the blue “Missing Minority Campaign: No MoCRI” T-shirts, food and microphones, Martin said.
The rally began at 1 p.m. outside Plaza 900, then moved to Brady Commons, then to Speaker’s Circle and finally ended outside Jesse Hall around 5 p.m. At each location, protesters chanted slogans, displayed posters, thrust their fists into the air and listened to speakers who spoke on behalf of the rally and its cause.
Students were able to come and go as they pleased, but the group remained sizable as it moved through campus.
As the rally ended outside of Jesse Hall, the LBC Gospel Choir performed songs about the triumph of the civil rights movement, the Negro National Anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and a chorus of “I Believe.”
With a “Cry No 4 MoCRI” sign dangling from a string around her neck, sophomore Khadija Tejan said she thought the rally was great because it affected everybody, including women and minorities.
“It affects me, my brothers, my family, my future and my kids to make sure they have an equal opportunity to go to college,” Tejan said.
Tejan said affirmative action helped her father get hired. Years ago, before affirmative action was put into place, her father could only get a job working in maintenance even though he had a master’s degree, she said.
When he finally got a job, he had to take a test to see if he was qualified enough for the position. White people were not required to take such a test, Tejan said.
“He shouldn’t have been a maintenance man with a master’s degree,” Tejan said.
Tejan said “civil rights initiative” is a misnomer for MoCRI because affirmative action policies were a result of the civil rights movement.
Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences President Krystal Purnell said she told her organization to participate in the rally.
“It brings back the black community to voice its opinions,” Purnell said. “I absolutely love it.”
Taylor said the rally was positive because it brought a voice to the initiative issue.
“Students are defending their right to be here,” he said.
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