BAMN

BAMN was formed in 1995 to oppose the July 20, 1995, decision by Regents of the University of California to ban affirmative action as The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary. It ran a slate of candidates in the April 1996 Associated Students of the University of California election on a platform of defeating California Proposition 209.Associated Students of the University of California Voter's Guide, 1996 The proposition passed in November, prohibiting state governmental institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity for employment, contracting, and education.

In 1997, BAMN expanded to Michigan, where it organized student support for the affirmative action policy of the University of Michigan Law School at Ann Arbor (UMLS) as a result of a challenge to that policy via Grutter v. Bollinger.

File:Berkeley Free Speech Week protest 20170924-8642.jpg in Berkeley holds a BAMN sign reading "Full Citizenship Rights For All! Pass the Federal Dream Act Now!"]]

In December 2005, BAMN disrupted a meeting of the Michigan State Board of Canvassers in which the Board voted to put a measure that would prohibit race-based preferential treatment in higher education on the November 2006 ballot. They did so by shouting down officials and overturning chairs and tables.{{cite web |url=http://www2.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=8721 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131031155610/http://www2.metrotimes.com/news/story.asp?id=8721 |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 31, 2013 |title=Wham BAMN: Group stirs controversy in fight for civil rights. |access-date=October 31, 2013 |work=Metro Times |date=January 11, 2006 }}

In December 2014, BAMN helped to organize a week of anti-police and Black Lives Matter protest in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. One of these protests shut down a part of Interstate 80 and led to the mass arrest of 210 people. Ronald Cruz, an attorney and organizer for BAMN, said that BAMN demanded that all of the charges against the protesters be dropped.{{cite web | publisher=Berkeleyside | title=Arrested anti-police protesters may wait up to a year to find out if they will be charged | url=http://www.berkeleyside.com/2015/01/07/arrested-anti-police-protesters-may-wait-up-to-a-year-to-find-out-if-they-will-be-charged/ | author=Tracey Taylor | date=January 7, 2015 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | quote=(BAMN), which helped organize protests the week of Dec. 6-13}} Another protest the same week resulted in violence and property damage.{{cite web | publisher=Berkeleyside | title=City of Berkeley told police to use restraint, avoid tear gas, on second night of protests | url=http://www.berkeleyside.com/2014/12/08/city-of-berkeley-told-police-to-use-restraint-avoid-tear-gas-on-second-night-of-protests/ | author=Berkeleyside Editors | date=December 8, 2014 | access-date=July 6, 2016 | quote=Ronald Cruz, the attorney for the group By Any Means Necessary, which helped coordinate the protests, told KQED Forum that police were the aggressors on Saturday night.}}{{cite news|last1=Ioffee|first1=Karina|date=June 28, 2016|title=FBI investigates threat against Berkeley school after teacher's counterprotest at rally|url=http://www.eastbaytimes.com/breaking-news/ci_30067746/fbi-investigates-threat-against-berkeley-school-after-teachers|access-date=September 27, 2017|work=East Bay Times|quote=By Any Means Necessary, an Oakland-based organization that describes itself as a 'militant anti-fascist group' that uses a variety of tactics, including violence, to spread its message ... was behind some of the violence during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2014, including looting in downtown Berkeley that left dozens of storefronts smashed}} Cruz claimed the police were the aggressors.

In 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union reported that in 2002 the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified BAMN as "thought to be involved in terrorist activities."{{cite web |title=Direct action FOIA document |website=American Civil Liberties Union |url=https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/direct-action-foia-document |access-date=June 27, 2016 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=31230 |access-date=February 18, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060530134437/http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=31230 |archive-date=May 30, 2006|title=Local Terrorist Activity Suspected}} According to the FBI, the group's protests were discussed in a meeting about alleged links to terrorist organizations.

In February 2019, the FBI opened an investigation into "domestic terrorism" against a California civil rights group whose members it called "extremists" after its 2016 alt-right protests, according to new documents to which some journalist has had access.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/01/sacramento-rally-fbi-kkk-domestic-terrorism-california|title=Revealed: FBI investigated civil rights group as 'terrorism' threat and viewed KKK as victims|newspaper=The Guardian|date=February 2019|access-date=March 22, 2020|last1=Levin|first1=Sam}} The documents included in-person surveillance. The agency

considered activism against "rape and sexual violence", and "policial brutality". The investigation started after a brawl that resulted in multiple people stabbed and beaten in a brawl in the city of Sacramento,

considering it sufficient grounds to open a terrorism investigation, creating controversy about the criminalization of the civilian movements.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/26/white-nationalist-rally-stabbings-california|title=Multiple people stabbed at Sacramento white nationalist rallywork|newspaper=The Guardian|date=June 26, 2016|access-date=March 22, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/428013-fbi-probed-civil-rights-group-as-terrorism-threat-and-kkk-as|title=FBI probed civil rights group as terrorist threat and KKK as victims: report|work=The Hill|date=February 2019|access-date=March 22, 2020}}

{{Main|2016 Sacramento riot}}

In June 2016, BAMN led a counter-protest against a rally held by the Traditionalist Worker Party, a white nationalist group, outside of the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Violence at the protests resulted in nine people being hospitalized, seven with stab wounds.{{cite news |last=Serna |first=Joseph |date=June 27, 2016 |title=Neo-Nazis didn't start the violence at state Capitol, police say |url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-neo-nazi-event-stabbings-capitol-20160627-snap-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=August 26, 2017 }} Yvette Felarca, a BAMN spokeswoman, said their protest successfully "chased away the neo-Nazis and kept them from recruiting new members."{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yvette-felarca-neo-nazi-fascism_us_59949dece4b0d0d2cc83d266 |title=Teacher Accused Of Punching Neo-Nazi Says Standing Up To Fascism Isn't A Crime |first=David |last=Moye |date=August 16, 2017 |publisher=Huffington Post |access-date=August 26, 2017 }}

In July 2017, a year after the riot, authorities arrested Felarca and charged her with "inciting and participating in a riot and assault likely to cause great bodily injury."{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory/anti-fascist-leader-arrested-california-capitol-brawl-48735850 |title=Anti-fascist leader arrested after California Capitol brawl |first=Olga |last=Rodriguez |agency=Associated Press |date=July 19, 2017 |work=ABC News |access-date=August 26, 2017 }} Felarca and her lawyer, BAMN's national chair Shanta Driver, say the white nationalists were the aggressors and BAMN members had the right to defend themselves. Felarca told The Guardian that she was stabbed in the arm and struck in the head which resulted in her getting stitches.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/25/yvette-felarca-trump-protest-charges-activism |title='I won't stop': Jailed activist blasts US crackdown on anti-Trump protesters |first=Sam |last=Levin |date=July 25, 2017 |work=The Guardian |access-date=August 26, 2017 }}

In December 2018 the group were present during the Central American migrant caravans of 2018. Various militants were present during riots and demonstrations against the security forces, in the city of Tijuana, holding back the eviction migrants in some parts of the city. Some civilian organizations distanced themselves from the group, for their violent protests and history of riots in the United States.{{cite web|url=https://www.elimparcial.com/tijuana/tijuana/Activistas-de-EU-frenan-desalojo-de-migrantes-20190105-0025.html|title=Activistas de EU frenan desalojo de migrantes|work=El Imparcial|access-date=March 22, 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://www.afntijuana.info/informacion_general/90370_en_tijuana_lo_mas_grave_de_la_migracion|title=En Tijuana "lo más grave" de la migración|work=AFN Tijuana|date=December 3, 2018|access-date=March 22, 2020}}

• Antifa (United States)
• Movement for Justice by Any Means Necessary
• Refuse Fascism
• Revolutionary Workers League (U.S.)

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{official|http://www.bamn.com}}
• {{caselaw source

|case=Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003)

|enfacto=http://www.enfacto.com/case/U.S./539/306/

|other_source1=LII

|other_url1=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?539+306

}}

• {{caselaw source

|case=Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003)

|enfacto=http://www.enfacto.com/case/U.S./539/244/

|other_source1=LII

|other_url1=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct-cgi/get-us-cite?539+244

}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bamn}}

Category:1995 establishments in California

Category:Civil rights organizations in the United States

Category:Far-left politics in the United States

Category:Left-wing militant groups in the United States

Category:Organizations established in 1995

Category:Black Lives Matter