WASHINGTON (KRT) – The demonstrators were packed so tightly against barricades near the Supreme Court recently that some complained they couldn’t breathe.”Did gravity just shift?” wondered one man. “I feel like I’m being held up, not down.”Thousands gathered from around the country as the high court met to debate race-conscious admissions policies at the University of Michigan.A little girl grimaced from atop her father’s shoulders as people pressed closer. Her parents are graduate students at the university in Ann Arbor.”It’s an important part of American history,” said the girl’s mother, Imani Goffney.Let the legal scholars speculate on what the court will rule. On this morning, the debate was on the streets, in a rain-soaked, sometimes sweaty mosaic. Police kept the crowd from the steps of the court. And they kept the opposing sides separate: A small group of protesters who oppose the university’s policy chanted, distant from the massive crowd that favored it.All morning, people lined the streets carrying signs and chanting. A helicopter whirred overhead. The scene was relatively peaceful, considering the weariness of many who rode buses all night to get there.SGA President Kristie Swink made it possible for Winston-Salem State University students to be a part of the protest. The school had two buses leave for Washington at midnight to participate. “For me, just to see this come to pass was a great experience. I was proud that so many of our students were able to go and see that the world is much bigger than WSSU,” Swink said. “More importantly, that the cause is supported by everyone, no matter what your race is. This long march is for my sister, and for the family I will have in the future.”Many of the WSSU students who participated in the event said they were proud to be a part of it.”Dynamic. Prestigious. Excellent. Today’s event was a great mark in American history, and I feel great to have been a part of it” said Jaramial M. Lee, a freshman political science major.Nebra N. Bess, a sophomore sociology major, said, “This mark in history was an experience that I will proudly tell to my generations to come.”WSSU students started singing “We Shall Overcome,” which is what Martin Luther King Jr. and his people were singing years ago in their civil rights march. The protest for equality and affirmative action couldn’t have been at a better time. The first week in April marks the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s death. Many protesters were looking forward to keeping Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream alive. Crystal Barnes, a senior English major, said, “Today I celebrated the one principle in American culture that I feel makes us divide. … I appreciate the opportunity to attend and embrace the challenge set by the speakers to spread the words. It was an awakening.”Signs read: “We need affirmative action to combat affirmative racism,” and “400 years of slavery is worth 20 points.”Across the street and away from the throng, a banner introduced the group “Angry White Guys for Affirmative Action.” Young black students cheered as they passed the older whites.About 1,000 University of Michigan students rallied separately with political leaders from Michigan such as U.S. Reps. John Dingell, John Conyers, Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.Most wore T-shirts that said, “I support Affirmative Action – race must be a factor because racism is a factor.”Conyers predicted a 5-4 vote to sustain affirmative action guidelines.Few speakers and signs rallied the counter-protesters. No chants rang out calling for a halt to using race as a factor in admissions.Perhaps it was because people who oppose affirmative action were afraid of being branded as racist. University of Michigan senior John Books said that perhaps people rally “only when something they value is threatened.”Beatrice Lee, 71, of New Jersey watched it all while she rested her feet and remembered the civil rights movement.”There’s a lot that young people don’t understand,” she said in a slow lilting tone that hinted at her southern Virginia upbringing. “But they’re working. I saw them today, and I was very proud.”The crowds began to thin by 2 p.m., four hours after the court began hearing arguments. Groups of students reunited to hop on planes, trains and buses.The group that arrived on Bus No. 1 from Detroit was scheduled to leave even earlier. They’d spent 25 hours on the road. By noon this day, three hours after they rolled into town, they were summoned for the trip home.They met at a corner near the Supreme Court, walked to the subway, rode to RFK Stadium and boarded their charter bus parked in the stadium’s vast parking lot.Was it worth all the trouble?”I’m tired,” said Gregory Roberts, a Detroit resident who works for Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office. “But it’s a good tired.”
Staff writer Stephanie Price contributed to this story.