The Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) was founded in July 1995 in Berkeley California in response to the attack on affirmative action in the University of California system. BAMN was formed for the purpose of organizing the struggle against the resegregation of higher education. The basic character of the coming period in American politics will be determined by the development of fight over affirmative action. In historical terms the question of affirmative action is no more likely to be resolved by court suits and ballot initiatives than were slavery or Jim Crow. What is necessary now in order to successfully defend affirmative action is the power of a social movement like the one that secured affirmative action in the first place: a new