Larry Holmes featured at Black History Month forum

Larry Holmes, a national leader of Workers World Party, spoke at a Black History Month forum in Detroit Feb. 26 hosted by the party's Detroit chapter.

Larry Holmes

Holmes said that the thousands who honored the life of the late Ossie Davis after his death last month needed to emulate Davis' bravery and activism--from the times Davis defended Paul Robeson during the 1950s witch hunt up until the day he died on Feb. 4.

"The challenge today," Holmes continued, "is ideological: whether or not to struggle.

"Capitalism is saying there is no alternative and it can no longer afford decent wages, pensions, unions, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, libraries, food stamps. To many this may seem daunting and overwhelming. It has affected the progressive movement especially after the election. They will come out of it."

Holmes explained why the struggle needs to be more anti-capitalist. What's needed, he said, is to go beyond the demand of "no cuts" and demand that "we have a right to the best health care, to decent housing, to first-rate education. Our class has to assert itself. It is self-defense."

Holmes also talked about the mistake the anti-war movement made in 2004 by supporting a pro-war candidate, John Kerry. And he pointed out that the labor movement missed an opportunity to launch a national struggle for health care during the 2003 grocery workers' strike in Southern California.

"The exception in 2004 are the leaders of the Million Workers March--who should be celebrated as heroes!"

Holmes, an organizer with the Troops Out Now coalition in New York, spoke about the march from Harlem to Central Park planned for March 19, the second anniversary of the U.S. war on Iraq. Holmes said:

"The coalition is not a token relationship with the Black and Latin@ communities, but a deep substantive alliance ... having a rally in Marcus Garvey Park focusing on housing and Black unemployment and its relationship to the war budget.

"The city was willing to give permits for a march from Harlem to Central Park. But they don't want to give a permit to march 15 blocks down Fifth Avenue to Mayor Bloomberg's private residence on 79th Street and Fifth Avenue. They don't want us to bother the rich people.

"It will be a struggle unfolding in the next few weeks."

Other forum speakers included Detroit WWP member Kevin Carey reporting on the lynchings exhibit on display at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History Museum. Andrea Hac kett reported on the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice's plan to demonstrate on the March 18 anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.