Jackson-led march to protest rule ending affirmative action
October 20, 1997
Web posted at: 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT)
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Monday
announced a planned march on Sacramento to protest
California's Proposition 209, which does away with
affirmative action programs in all state institutions.
Jackson likened the march, planned for October 27, to the
civil rights marches of the 1960s.
Proposition 209 was approved by California voters last year.
Jackson said the measure violates equal protection provisions
of the U.S. Constitution, and he called on the Department of
Justice and President Clinton to fight the measure.
Jackson said such action would follow in the tradition of
federal action to overturn segregation in Little Rock,
Arkansas, in the '50s.
In the week leading up the demonstration on the steps of the
California state capitol, Jackson will be leading a caravan
of buses north. The procession will stop for rallies and
news conferences in Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, Fresno, Davis
and the Bay Area.