Remembering Vickie White

PHOTO: PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS

Revolutionaries sacrifice much of their personal lives to devote their time, energy and skills to the fight for social justice for their communities and humanity as a whole. One exemplary revolutionary was Vickie White, who tragically passed away at the young age of 46 this past July 1 in New Brunswick, N.J. She died from heart failure arising from complications from deep vein thrombosis.

White was well-respected and loved by all who knew her for being a tireless community and political activist in northern New Jersey. A member of the African-American-based People’s Organization for Progress for almost a decade, White was appointed chairperson of POP’s Central Jersey branch in 2005. One of her first tasks was to organize mass support of Hurricane Katrina survivors’ right to return to the Gulf Coast in 2006. She organized youth from New Jersey to go to New Orleans to assist in rebuilding the then-devastated Ninth Ward.

In 2007 POP helped bring together more than 120 organizations in the Peace and Justice Coalition. The coalition’s main goals were to build class solidarity among anti-war, community and labor activists by linking the struggle against war and occupation abroad with the struggle against racism and economic injustice at home. White played a leading organizing role in building the largest Black-led anti-war march and rally in the streets of Newark, N.J., in August 2007. Some of POP’s other campaigns include opposing rampant police killings and hospital closings and demanding reparations.

White was an important ally of the New York-based Troops Out Now Coalition, a member of the PJC. She spoke on domestic violence against women at an International Working Women’s Day rally on March 7 this year in New York’s Union Square called by the Women’s Fightback Network.

At a packed memorial service for White on July 10 in Highland Park, N.J., an International Action Center statement was read by Larry Holmes, one of its co-directors. The following are excerpts from that statement:

“To say that we are heartbroken over Vickie’s untimely death is an understatement. It is still so hard for us to comprehend that she is gone at such a young age. Vickie was a tireless leader whom every activist should know about and emulate.

“Her leadership role in People’s Organization for Progress and in the Peace and Justice Coalition was enormously important and will be sorely missed. She was always a consistent voice for building unity with all movements and struggles of workers and oppressed peoples in New Jersey, the U.S. and worldwide. The Women’s Fightback Network will remember Vickie at next year’s International Women’s Day event. ...

“Vickie would want all of us to honor her memory by continuing to organize and unite around all the issues until social justice and equality become a lasting reality for all of humanity. Just like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer and countless other strong, courageous Black women warriors, we will proudly add the name of Vickie White to this list. Vickie White, ¡presente!”