INCRIMINATING BAMN – RELATED LINKS

BAMN seems to have connections to a variety of organizations. Evidence suggests all are organized by the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL) and created by the same person or people. First, the RWL websites:

·         Revolutionary Workers League/U.S.

·         Revolutionary Workers League (apparently older version)

   These sites seem to be fronts by the RWL. Most have not been updated since 1997, contain links to each other, or list the same Detroit phone number or email addresses.

·         Movement for Justice - Home page

·         Hospital Workers Organizing Committee

·         Homeless Power Union

·         National Women's Rights Organizing Committee

  All of these sites are listed on a page by “The Voice”

·         The Voice

  On the University of Michigan there is BAMN, but also:

·         BAMN - Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary

·         Defend Affirmative Action Party

·         National Woman's Rights Organizing Committee – A website on the Umich web space controlled by Jessica Curtin, but with the same name as the RWL-affiliated group above

BAMN was condemned by socialist organizations for aggressive and counter-productive actions during the Affirmative Action controversy at the University of California in 1995. Read the statement here: “Socialist organizations condemn attack at UCB by "Coalition to defend affirmative action by any means necessary" and the Revolutionary Workers League/NWROC”

Luke Massie, BAMN organizer and probable Revolutionary Workers League member, pops up in interesting places:

·         An article about the planned KKK march on Washington, D.C. “Only 4 neo-Nazis show up in D.C.”,

·         In an article as a member of the Ann Arbor Anti-Racist Defense Campaign: The State News - E.L. mans says police officer lied in court - Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1999

·         He and Shanta Driver are members of a political party in Detroit: Fighting Worker Slate

·         He makes an appearance at Michigan State: The State News - Students protest senator’s proposal - Monday, March 29, 1999

·         An Ann Arbor News article reveals that his sister is attorney Miranda KS Massie, who herself has been associated with some of the groups listed above, and is an attorney for the intervening parties in the affirmative action lawsuit.

Luke Massie and Shanta Driver, NWROC and RWL members from Detroit, and Jessica Curtain, BAMN coordinator and NWROC member, were arrested for alleged involvement in a riot during a 1998 KKK demonstration in Ann Arbor. Coverage:

·         The Michigan Review: “BAMN, NWROC Members Arrested”

·         The Ann Arbor News: Mirror of the AA News’s Coverage

·         The Michigan Daily:      Ku Klux Klan rallies at City Hall

·         The following articles from the daily often mention Luke Massie and the NWROC:

·          Court to rule on KKK protestor

·         KKK opponents speak out against conviction

·         NWROC is protesting again at City Hall

·         KKK protesters crash city council meeting to denounce rally arrests

The charges were eventually dropped:

·         Detroit Metro Times: “Metro Beat (Detroit Metro Times)”

When Shanta Driver, and others from the RWL in Detroit, organized the first BAMN chapter at UC Berkeley, there was quite a reaction, including allegations of unethical behavior:

·        A news article in the Daily Californian about BAMN’s conflict with the existing Affirmative Action group, Diversity in Action: “Affirmative Action Groups Clash Over Tactics”

·        An op-ed piece in the Daily Californian: “BAMN Be Gone”

·        An allegation that BAMN stole 7,000 papers with the above editorial: News In Brief: Daily Cal Stolen - Again

·        Disrupting Jesse Jackson’s visit: “Jesse Jackson Addresses Campus Audience”

·        Op-ed piece about disrupting a “Take Back the Night Rally”: “The Daily Cal - Group Defied Rally’s Noble Purpose”

·        Students Speak Out Against Prop. 209