King marches connect racism, poverty & war

New York WW photo: G. Dunkel

From the East Coast to the West Coast, in small and large cities in every state, Martin Luther King, Jr. events took place during the third weekend in January involving millions of people.

Jan. 15 is the birth date of the slain civil rights leader. His contributions to the struggle for social equality and justice are commemorated by a federal holiday on the third Monday every January, won by the masses’ determination.

While the majority of events celebrat ed the life of King as an heroic individual, many activists took the opportunity to try to strengthen today’s movement by linking some of the most important social issues of the day as King did as the leader of the civil rights era.

For instance, in San Antonio, Texas— a military town—Black activists led a protest against the inclusion of Air Force jets flying above the annual King march there, saying that King was staunchly opposed to the Vietnam War and would have been against the Iraq War if he were alive today. The anti-Air Force protesters, who wore yellow and black armbands and chanted “Shame, shame!” when the jets flew by, made national news. The Web site of the King Center in Atlanta has more information about King events here and worldwide (www.thekingcenter.org/holiday/info. html). Below are just a few of the King events that occurred on Jan. 16.

Detroit WW photo: Cheryl LaBash

DETROIT

The third annual downtown Detroit Martin Luther King Day Freedom March demanded “Money for our cities, not for war! Bring the troops home now!” A youth drum corps led over a thousand people waving blue and white silk-screened placards along with homemade banners and signs. Demonstrators streamed in the street and sidewalks right outside the Cobo Hall convention center over police objections. The
program before and after the march featur ed home daycare worker union organizers, a speaker on the Delphi workers’ crisis, youth performers and essay contest winners.

LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles WW photo: Sekou Parker

The International Action Center in
Los Angeles participated with SEIU Local 660’s African American Committee in this year’s Martin Luther King Parade as part of the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council contingent. Unity was the theme of the labor contingent—which included both AFL-CIO unions and Change to Win member organizations—as reflected on the main placards carried by the labor contingent reading “Unite to fight war, racism and poverty” and the chants of “We are the union—the mighty, mighty union.”

The large IAC banner read, “From New Orleans to Iraq, Stop the War on the Poor.” Anti-war chants of “Money for jobs and health care, not for war” were led by both SEIU and IAC members.

Towards the end of the route, where most of the television cameras were placed, a Wal-Mart store is prominently located at the Crenshaw Mall. As marchers from the labor contingent approached the union-busting store, people chanted “Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart, you can’t hide, your workers will be unionized!”

NEW ORLEANS

Over 100 residents of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward took to the street in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., flanked by crowds of supporters. The residents - some of whom have been rebuilding their houses in spite of city threats of demolition, others still stranded in exile who traveled home for the celebration day - marched, sang and orated in a direct challenge to Mayor Ray Nagin’s plan to raze the neighborhood.

“One of the lessons we learned from Katrina is that the government abandoned us, left us here to die. We had to depend upon ourselves to save ourselves. And today we know we have to depend on ourselves and our unity to rebuild our homes and our lives, even against the government’s wishes,” said Malcolm Suber, a resident and community organizer with the People’s Hurricane Relief Coalition. “We’re here carrying on the work of Dr. King. Just as he stood against government oppression of Black people & the unjust war in Vietnam, we today stand against the attacks on people of New Orleans and Iraq.”

The Lower Ninth Ward community has already begun to rebuild homes and is making independent plans to reopen the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. But many residents are scrambling to find temporary housing that will allow them to begin reconstruction, since the City and FEMA have failed to provide it. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has also so far refused to deploy its resources to remove arsenic- and diesel-infused sediment around the city.

SEATTLE

Four thousand multinational demonstrators marched 2.5 miles to the federal building on Martin Luther King Day. They marched with a thousand signs that said, “Racism, Poverty, War—Iraq, Katrina, No More,” condemning the racist Iraq war, and demanding that resources from the war go instead to help reconstruct New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. A special tribute was given for the late Rosa Parks, and a vintage 1955-era bus followed the march bearing her picture. The mass march was sponsored by dozens of community groups with strong support from labor unions.

Community Labor United, Cheryl LaBash, Jim McMahon and John Parker contributed to this article.