Uptown Notes

So much to comment on, we’ll go local to national… alright, here we go.

This past weekend, various student leaders from the U of M African-American community were convened to discuss the state of Black U of M, more of less. The meeting was well attended, but to garner more representation, a meeting for September 27th from 10 to 1pm has been scheduled. If you represent a Black org or are a concerned Black citizen, this will be a great meeting. Check back for more details later.

I’ve gotten a number of questions about the boycott of Coors that is now being pushed by BAMN. The long and the short of it is this, Coors is evil… well who their monetary contributions have gone to is pretty evil. Joseph Coors was one of the charter funders of The Heritage foundation, a conservative foundation, which funds most attacks on any progressive measures. For years, the LGBT community and other like minded communities have called for a boycott of COORS. In particular, the COORS connection to Affirmative Action is through their funding of anti-Affirmative Action activists. For an amazingly detailed break-down of how the conservatives have systemtically attacked racial and gender justice check out

The Assault on Diversity.

Speaking of social justice, the local college chapter of the NAACP is holding a mass meeting on Wednesday at 8pm. Pop Quiz: Do you know the difference between the NAACP and the BSU … well if you don’t, go and find out!

That same night, U of M will be sponsoring a panel on Affirmative Action moderated by Mark Kamimura, former SCOR president. The panel entitled, “The Affirmative Action Rulings: How they will impact our campus,” will feature Marvin Krislov, Lester Monts, Theodre Spencer, Patricial Gurin, and Terrence McDonald. The panel will be held in the Michigan League Ballroom at 7:30pm on the 17th. The panel participants are all very well informed on the issue, this should answer a number of questions for people, and provide the basis for more indepth and accurate questions on Affirmative Action and this campus.

The Black Student Union will have its first meeting on Thursday night at 6pm in the Trotter House! Come check that out!

Okay, now to the national front. The California Recall election will likely not occur on the October 7th, it will likely be postponed to March. So you may be wondering, why does this matter? Well, more important to frequenters of this page is Proposition 54, aka CRENO, will be voted on the same day as the recall. If you don’t know about Prop 54 check the above link and my political corner. Some experts suggest this delay will allow more people of color to become informed about the truly terrible nature of Prop 54. Also, for all my Cali folks, the Trotter House is setting up a absentee ballot station for you all, when I get more details, I’ll put them up!

As the tempatures begin to cool down, the race for Democratic presidential nod seems to heat up. Last week’s debate at Morgan State University, the first ever at an HBCU has really ignited discussion about the role of the Black vote. There are two really interesting commentaries on Howard Dean and his relationship to Black voters and his chances of winning the actual 2004 election. Black vote is a powerful thing to throw away!

More to come later!