Civil rights organizers
protest police brutality
Mumia Abu-Jamal addresses
'Redeem the Dream March'
By
Andre Powell and Steven Ceci
Washington
On
Aug. 26 Martin Luther King III stood where his father had given his historic
"I Have a Dream" speech 37 years earlier. King repeated his father's challenge
to the people of the United States: "I dare you to fulfill the dream."
Police
brutality, racial profiling and eight years of the Clinton administration's
broken promises brought tens of thousands of people from across the country to
the Lincoln Memorial for the Redeem the Dream March.
The
rally replicated the 1963 March on Washington that brought over half a million
protesters to Washington to demand basic civil rights, including the right to
vote and an end to Jim Crow laws and segregation.
King,
the Rev. Al Sharpton and hip-hop producer Russell Simmons called for the march.
"The day my father dreamed about has not yet been realized in our lending
institutions, nor in our employment offices, nor even our nation's courtrooms,"
King said.
He
challenged President Bill Clinton to issue an executive order outlawing racial
profiling, the police practice of stopping and harassing motorists who are
people of
color.
"A
Black man can walk over a bridge, but he cannot drive over it without being
stopped," King told a cheering crowd.
Sharpton
challenged Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush to address these
issues. "Both of you are running for the presidency, but you can't run from us,"
Sharpton said.
Many
civil-rights leaders and celebrities addressed the crowd, including NAACP head
Kweisi Mfume, Coretta Scott King, comedian Dick Gregory, Rep. John Conyers and
comedian Chris Tucker.
In
addition, victims of police brutality spoke to the crowd. One of them was Abner
Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was brutalized and sodomized with a broken
broomstick in the bathroom of a New York police station in 1997.
"We
are tired of being judged by our skin color. We want to be judged by our hearts
only," Louima said. He added, "Elected officials become blind to racial problems
once they are in
office."
Kadiatou
Diallo and Saikou Diallo, parents of Amadou Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea who
was shot at 41 times by New York cops, also spoke.
Mumia:
'Why vote for
oppression?'
A
very important part of the rally came when Pam Africa, leader of International
Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and minister of confrontation
for the MOVE Organization, presented a taped message from death-row political
prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Abu-Jamal
made a blistering attack on the Democratic and Republican parties, hitting them
on such issues as the growing prison-industrial complex, police brutality and
the racist death penalty.
"I
know many people at this rally will not like what I have to say," Abu-Jamal
said. "Many here will tell you to vote. But I ask you: Why would you vote for
your own
oppression?"
Abu-Jamal
pointed out that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't just a dreamer. King asked
questions about the capitalist system, like, "Who owns the oil? Who owns the
iron ore? Why is it that people have to pay water bills in a world that is
two-thirds
water?"
There
was a strong push by organizers for people to return to Washington Oct. 16 for
the Million Family March. They pointed out that there is a growing new
civil-rights
movement.
International
Action Center members staffed a table at the rally to build support for the
continuing struggle to free Abu-Jamal. They passed out many placards that read,
"Not one more legal lynching," featuring photos of Abu-Jamal and Shaka
Sankofa/Gary Graham.
Many
people at the rally stopped to get an update on Abu-Jamal's case. Others signed
up for the IAC's mailing list and e-mail alert list and pledged to do support
work in their own
communities.
IAC
organizers saw the high level of interest as proof that support for Abu-Jamal is
growing.
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