SAN FRANCISCO
Spirited march for Mumis says: 'Stop the execution'
By
Richard Becker
San Francisco
Led by a large contingent from the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union carrying a banner reading "An Injury to One
is an Injury to All," 15,000 to 20,000 people marched here on
April 24 demanding freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The ILWU closed
all the ports on the West Coast, from Bellingham, Wash., to San
Diego, in solidarity with Abu-Jamal.
The spirited, multinational gathering came from all over
California and beyond. Buses and vans traveled to San Francisco
from as far away as northern Idaho, Seattle, Portland, Ore.,
and Tucson, Ariz. A majority of the demonstration was made up
of young people, as the local media noted, and there were
several youth and student speakers.
More than 50 speakers from many communities and
organizations addressed the opening and closing rallies at
Dolores Park and the Civic Center, including actors Ed Asner
and Peter Coyote; Angela Davis, who read a statement from
author Alice Walker; ILWU President Brian McWilliams; and S.F.
Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano.
The crowd broke into a thunderous ovation for Native warrior
Bear Lincoln. Lincoln, the victim of an attempted police
frame-up since 1995, learned one day before the march that all
charges against him had been dropped.
Among the largest and most spirited contingents in the march
was one organ iz ed by the National People's Campaign, led by
Youth and Students for Mumia. The NPC section also included an
anti-war, anti-racist contingent and was joined by many
activists from Rainbow Flags for Mumia. Rainbow Flags, a
lesbian/gay/bi/transgender contingent, held a feeder march from
the Castro District to Dolores Park.
Gloria La Riva of Workers World Party roused the crowd at
the Civic Center with her call for militant action to free
Mumia and stop the war against Yugoslavia.
Rashad Richardson, president of the Black Student Union at
Chapman University and a Youth and Students for Mumia
organizer, stressed that the amount of people at the rally
showed the movement's power. "I want to tell Pennsylvania
Governor Ridge and the U.S. government to go to hell,"
Richardson said. "I'll fight for Mumia's life and I'm not going
to die for them in any of their racist wars."
The rally was co-chaired by Traci Owens, Jeff Mackler and
Cristina Vasquez of the Bay Area Mobilization to Free Mumia,
Cameron Sturdevant of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty,
and John Parker of the National People's Campaign.
Parker, an African American organizer from Los Angeles,
asked: "Why do the government and its corporate media
mouthpieces confuse the issue of Mumia's right to a new trial?"
He answered: "So they can try and keep us debating whether we
should or shouldn't support Mumia; whether we have to worry
about looking legitimate to the corporate media and
government.
"All we have to worry about being legitimate to is our own
working people," Parker asserted. "The child who is hungry and
living in poverty as a result of Clinton's welfare reform
doesn't care about what degrees we have. She wants to know what
we are going to do about getting food to her family.
"The child in Yugoslavia watching bombs get dropped on his
family isn't concerned about whether we are taken seriously by
the corporations and government here. He will see us as
legitimate when we do something about stopping that bomb from
falling on his head.
"Don't let them set the parameters of the debate," Parker
told the marchers. "We know what needs to be done. Let's go out
and do it."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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