Marilyn Luper-Hildreth
Template:TOCnestleft Marilyn Luper-Hildreth
Affirmative action forum
"It's hard to start a race when you start behind." That how Marilyn Luper-Hildreth, a civil rights activist and daughter of Clara Luper, who led lunch counter sit-ins in Oklahoma City in 1958, summed up the theme of a public forum on the anti-affirmative action State Question (SQ) 759.
The measure--a proposed amendment to the state constitution that seeks to eliminate affirmative action programs in the state and prohibit "preferred treatment based on race, color or gender"--is up for a vote on Oklahoma's November 6 ballot.
The September 20 meeting, hosted by the Oklahoma City Peace House and the Oklahoma City chapter of the NAACP, brought out about 80 people and featured a panel of six professors, activists and church leaders representing African American, Native American, Latino and women's groups.
In addition to Luper-Hildreth, Rev. Dr. Lawrence Ware, a professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University, spoke fiercely about the issue of racism in the U.S.
"They [the authors of the bill] assume that race is no longer a problem in society," said Ware. "One out of every two Black children is born in poverty. Thirteen percent of the U.S. population is Black, but they make up 40 percent of the prison population. There is still injustice in America!"[1]