The struggle against racism—from Katrina to San Francisco

The Feb. 18 Black History Month Forum here, sponsored by the International Action Center, featured a dynamic line-up of anti-racist, anti-war and pro-labor activists. The evening was a loud protest against the killings, evictions and displacement of the Black residents of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. And the event was a celebration of revolutionary optimism unfolding all over the world, from Venezuela to Palestine.

Speakers at San Francisco forum: Larry Holmes, Clarence Thomas and Mesha Monge-Irizarry. Photo: Patricia Jackson

Larry Holmes, national IAC co-chair, called upon everyone to unite for justice for the Katrina evacuees. Holmes stated that reparations and the right to return are essential demands for the movement. “What’s happening in New Orleans is gentrification, pure and simple,” he said. He noted the bitter irony of the U.S. government evicting poor African American people during Black History Month.

Clarence Thomas, national co-chair of the Million Worker March Movement, talked about the involvement of rank-and-file labor leaders in the Millions More Movement. “We need to begin to forge new alliances and new coalitions,” he said. Thomas, a member of International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10, challenged the left in this country to be more active in these coalitions.

Mesha Monge-Irizarry, the mother of Idriss Stelley—a young Black man who was shot and killed by San Francisco police four-and-a-half years ago—also spoke. Monge-Irizarry, who is active in many social justice campaigns in Bayview-Hunters Point, invited everyone to attend the following week’s human rights and civil rights festival, “Bang4Change.”

“We are organizing this festival to reach out to youth. The young are the people most at risk,” she said.