Call to action by Black leaders
A call to "Maximize Black participation in the peace
movement" was initiated in New York in early February by the
Rev. Herbert Daughtry and others and already has hundreds of
signers. Below are excerpts.
A call to action
People of African ancestry have a unique role in the growing
movement to stop President Bush's war on Iraq. If war comes, it
will be Black soldiers who will bear the brunt of the fighting
and dying. The Black community will bear more than its share of
deprivation as a result of massive funds invested in war, money
that is robbed from healthcare, education, nutrition, and jobs
programs. War is the epitome of everything that Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. fought against his entire short life. And
stopping the war on Iraq is a matter of life and death for
everyone, especially people of color. In the coming days and
weeks, let us work to insure maximum participation from the
Black community in the peace movement and in all the important
protests, especially the International Day of Protest for
Peace, Feb. 15.
Take a stand for peace
We thank all the organizations and influential people in the
Black community who have taken a strong public position against
the war. We encourage those who have not to add their voices to
the opposition.
Make Black History Month--Black Protest For Peace
Month
February is Black History Month. We encourage everyone who
is planning a Black History Month program in February, whether
at school, or a religious institution, or the community center,
the union hall, or in the streets, to devote their program
protesting the war. Black history is nothing if not a history
of struggle against what Dr. King called the three evils:
racism, poverty, and militarism. All the things that we recall
and commemorate during Black History Month can be connected to
the need to stop this war. Let us turn Black History Month into
"Black Protest for Peace Month."
Support GIs who refuse to go to war
Many of us have family members in the military. Young
African Americans often join the military to find the jobs and
educational opportunities not available to them in civilian
society. Our protest is not against Black soldiers, it is
against an unjust war. Indeed, we protest in the hope that we
can save the lives of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers and civilians.
Let us also open our arms with moral support and practical
assistance to those soldiers, women and men, who decide they
cannot in good conscience participate in this unjust war.
REMEMBER MALCOLM X
Support the student protest on Feb. 21
On Friday, Feb. 21, anti-war students across the country
will commemorate the 38th anniversary of the assassination of
Malcolm X (Al Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) by leaving classes to
protest the war. We encourage students, faculty, and the
community at large to participate in this important day of
protest and help to make it truly massive and powerful.
Reprinted from the Feb. 20, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
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