Austin Students for a Democratic Society protests Supreme Court affirmative action decision

“UT is 5% Black and 21% Hispanic/Latino, Texas is 12% Black and 39% Hispanic/Latino,” Jules Lattimore through a megaphone to a crowd of tourists and families outside the gates of Texas Capitol plaza. “The job ain’t done yet!”

Last Saturday, Lattimore and nine other members of the Austin chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held an emergency protest responding to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that reversed affirmative action, ruling that race cannot be a factor in college admissions.

SDS reached out to other University political groups potentially interested in educating students and the Austin public about the issue, said Jake Holtzman, a graduate student in the Butler School of Music and president of SDS. Several members of the University Democrats also attended the protest.

“There is something significant about this issue,” said James Hallamek, former president of University Democrats, at the demonstration. “It impacts students and is definitely something (University Democrats) cares about. Our interests align often with SDS.”

Since the announcement of the decision, SDS members have handed out flyers to West Campus residents detailing the issue, with last Saturday marking their first demonstration of the summer. Holtzman said education remains an important priority for the group.

“Most people here defend affirmative action, and we’ve been met with a lot of support for that,” Holztman said. “But then on the other side of that, you have some people that don’t even know what that is, so we always try and spell it out as well. I’m spelling out the fact that these are attacks on Black and brown students. You’ll see that in some of our chants and the slogans that we are uniting behind. We’re out to defend affirmative action (and) defend diversity programs.”

Promoted on SDS social media and local cable news, the organization invited passionate students and Austinites to join in the protest.

“When I heard about affirmative action I started seeking out political protests,” said Fronrich Puno, a computer science alumnus who joined several friends at the demonstration. “Affirmative action is necessary. A lot of Black and brown students don’t have access to some of the biggest benefits of college. It isn’t necessarily about race at the end of the day, it’s more about providing equitable opportunities.”

“In the face of all these attacks, we will not back down, we will not go home, we will take to the streets and fight back!” the National SDS statement read. Holtzmann said the group has plans for future demonstrations, hoping to mobilize students returning to campus in the fall.

“We want to really rally people together now so that we can prepare to get organized as a student movement,” Holtzman said. “When everyone’s back on campus, we’ll be able to make demands of our University and make sure they’re really being held accountable.”

“I think people are ready for change and willing to fight for it,” Holtzman said.