2/16 SF Peace March Outreach & Black History Month

We have a little more than 2 weeks to reach enough people to have 1 million march for peace in San Francisco on February 16, 2003. That means we need everyone to participate in one way or another to build for this important event.

You can download, copy and distribute the leaflet from:
http://www.actionsfbay.org/images/pdf-files/f16flyer.pdf

You can make a financial contribution by following the instructions at:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/donate.html

Saturday, February 1, 2003, participate in outreach by picking up leaflets and posters from 2489 Mission, Room 24, San Francisco, tel: 415/821-6545. You can also pick up your leaflets and posters any other day of the week as this ANSWER office is open 7 days a week about 12 hours a day.

FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH. We all must do what we can to encourage maximum participation by everyone in this peace march, and that includes the African-American community. Below is the outreach call from http://www.iacenter.org:

IT'S TIME TO MAXIMIZE BLACK PARTICIPATION IN THE PEACE MOVEMENT

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, February 15th [in San Francisco, February 16-peacenik].

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 at church, or the mosque, or the community center, the union hall, or in the streets, to devote their program to 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 G.I.'S 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 the 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 FEBRUARY 21ST

On Friday, February 21st, anti-war students across the country will commemorate the 38th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X (El Haj Malik 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.

(Initial signers as of 1/28/03)

Rev. Herbert Daughtry, National Pastor, the House of Lord Church

Rev. Grayland Hagler, Pastor Plymouth Congregational Church, Washington D.C.

Brenda Stokely, President AFSCME Council 1707, New York

Mumia Abu-Jamal, Death Row Political Prisoner, Journalist

Mahdi Bray, Executive Director Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation

Council Member, Charles Barron, Brooklyn, NY

Dennis Serrette, Educational Director, Communication Workers of America

Consuela Lee, Musician, Director Snow Hill Institute of Cultural Arts and Heritage, Snow Hill, Alabama

Viola Plummer, December 12 Movement

Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor Pan African News Wire

Elizabeth Davis, Washington D.C. Teacher Federation

Larry Holmes, ANSWER Act Now to Stop War & End Racism

Chuck Turner, City Council person, Boston, Massachusetts

If you, as a member of the Black community, would like to publicly sign the open letter to the Black community, please forward your name along with organizational affiliation and/or identification to mgm1952 [at] hotmail.com no later than February 1, 2003