MLK march sponsored by new campus group

After 12 years of organizing the Martin Luther King Day March, the Black Student Union has decided to cancel this year's march, stating that it is no longer effective in pushing the University towards progressive change.

The United for Affirmative Action organization, after learning the march would be canceled, rescheduled it as one of the events that they will sponsor on Martin Luther King Day on Monday.

The first Martin Luther King Day march began as a protest in 1987 "in response to racial incidents directed at the Black community and the University's refusal to recognize Martin Luther King Day," according to a press release issued by Jujuan Buford, speaker of the Black Student Union.

The University has since recognized Martin Luther King Day and has taken other measures to aid minority student organizations. Since 1987, the march has been an annual event.

This year the BSU canceled the march, stating that it believes it is no longer as effective as it once was.

"The protest aura of it is no longer in it," Buford said, adding that "it's not a protest anymore, it's commemorative."

But Luke Massie, member of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary, disagrees. "It should be more than a commemoration of a great man.

"We feel that this year's MLK Day march is particularly important ... to take a stand against racism," Massie said.

Massie said racism still exists on campus. Black student enrollment has dropped and the continuation of minority programs has been threatened, Massie said.

But through the years, the number of people attending the march has decreased, Buford said. The march held on MLK Day "doesn't seem to provoke students to come out anymore."

"There are other avenues to utilize to further our struggle ... besides marches and rallies" Buford said, adding that teach-ins and seminars are examples of ways to reach students.

"It is time to explore other opportunities," he said.

The Martin Luther King Day Symposium includes seminars, art exhibitions, lecturers and other events, as well as the march, scheduled for the next three weeks in honor of Martin Luther King Day.

Damon Williams, program coordinator for the Academic Office of Multi-Cultural Initiatives said "I think the day will be a positive day whether BSU has the march or the United for Affirmative Action has the march, or if anyone has a march."

Buford agrees: "The BSU is not sponsoring the MLK Day March, but does support the issues of the day."

But members of the UAA, who are holding the march, see it as an effective way to unify students against racism.

"We wanted to incorporate the fight for affirmative action ... and the integration in the school systems from kindergarten on," said Michigan Student Assembly Rackham Rep. Jessica Curtin, first-year student.

Other organizations on campus have joined the UAA in sponsoring the MLK Day march and an invitation has been extended to the BSU to join them in their protest, Massie said.

"The march is on and we're expecting a large turnout," Massie said.

In the end "most people don't know who sponsors what," Williams said, adding that people will go to what they want despite the change in sponsorship.

01-13-99