FOR IMMEDIATE RELEAS

June 24, 2003

Contact: Ermias Alemayehu

323 782-1980

STATEMENT OF REV. JESSE LEE PETERSON REGARDING

U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday to uphold the University of Michigan Law School's affirmative action policy promotes racial quotas and is unconstitutional. The 5-4 decision allows U of M Law School admissions officials to continue using race as a factor when considering applicants for admission. The decision also allows the school to consider race over grade point average and standardized law school test scores.

The court's decision legalizes racism. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says, ãNo State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States - nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.ä

This decision will divide the university and the country further along racial lines. It stigmatizes blacks that have earned their way into the law school. It will foster resentment among whites that are being unjustly discriminated against. And it sends the wrong message to universities and colleges across the land. 

I do applaud the justices who voted to strike down the U of M's undergraduate admissions policy which unfairly gave blacks, Hispanics and Native-American applicants a 20-point advantage over others to gain entry into the university.

I encourage the U of M and other schools to stop discrimination and racial quotas. And to judge all students based on standardized test scores, merit, and character. Racism and discrimination are wrong when directed at blacks; they're equally wrong when directed at whites. Let's end racial quotas and discrimination÷our nation will be better off for it.

BOND "Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man"

Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny

P.O. Box 35090

Los Angeles, CA 90035

Tel: (323) 782-1980 / Fax: (323) 782-0122

Website: www.bondinfo.org