23.10.2013 Views

Black News - Freedom Archives

Black News - Freedom Archives

Black News - Freedom Archives

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

<strong>Black</strong> United Front Marches On King's Birthday<br />

On January -15 Brooklyn's <strong>Black</strong> United rront held an anti-Koch march and rally protesting the<br />

racist policies upheld by the Mayor and his Administration . After marching across the Brooklyn<br />

Bridge in freezing weather the 200 protestors held a high-spirited rally . The following is a statement'<br />

from Rev. Herbert Dau2htry, Chairman of theBUF.<br />

This memorial march calls to remembrance the<br />

birthday of Dr . Martin Luther King, Jr . by<br />

imitating his action . Sadly, the racism which<br />

killed Dr . King is very much evident in New York<br />

City today . The conditions which prevail in this<br />

city would disgrace a nation of savages . Over<br />

60 01o of <strong>Black</strong> teenagers and 40010 of <strong>Black</strong> men<br />

are unemployed . Hospitals are being closed .<br />

Seven out of ten <strong>Black</strong> children will not finish<br />

high school, and 50 010 of those who finish will<br />

not be able to read above an eighth grade level .<br />

Policemen are killing <strong>Black</strong> children and lawabiding<br />

citizens . Nowhere is this disgrace more<br />

clearly seen, than in the infant mortality rate in<br />

Fort Greene, where 30 .4 of every 1000 babies die<br />

before they have reached their first birthday .<br />

And seated atop these shameful conditions,<br />

dedicated to further deterioration, is a Mayor<br />

who has demonstrated insensitivity and<br />

arrogance at best, and naked racism at worst .<br />

Trapped in these suffocating state of affairs,<br />

we have to ask, "What would Martin do were he<br />

with us today?" It is inconceivable to us given<br />

the anti-<strong>Black</strong> and anti-poor policies of the Koch<br />

administration that Dr . King, were he alive,<br />

would spend the day quietly withdrawing to<br />

comfortable pews or television-watching . On<br />

the contrary, we are sure that he would be<br />

marching, demonstrating against Koch as he did<br />

a_ gainst Bull Connor . _<br />

Letus remember thatMartin Luther King jr .<br />

brought tension, not peace; disruption, not<br />

tranquility ; confrontation, not comfort . He<br />

assaulted segregation and discrimination . He<br />

challenged the imbalance of wealth - the everwidening<br />

gulf between the haves and the havenots<br />

. He _assaulted the unequal application of<br />

the law. He castigated political exclusion . me<br />

questioned the distorted priorities of the Nation .<br />

He condemned the awful war in Vietnam . He<br />

castigated the exploitation of African countries<br />

by the U .S .A . He quickened the feeling of the<br />

Nation, aroused the , conscience of the Nation<br />

and proclaimed and denounced the Nation's<br />

crimes against God and man .<br />

His last days were spent in the streets of<br />

Memphis - betrayed and weary . Yet he was<br />

planning a Poor People's Campaign which<br />

would bring the Nation's poor and dispossessed<br />

to Washington to disrupt "business as usual."<br />

When we ponder, then, the life of a man who<br />

spent so much of his time marching in the streets,<br />

who once said, "I've had few quiet days jn the<br />

last several years" - combined with the<br />

deplorable conditions, we are driven to endure<br />

the rigors of freezing cold, that we might feel<br />

something of his suffering, privation and<br />

commitment ; that we might dedicate ourselves. to<br />

the struggle for justice .<br />

We are again placing on the door of City Hall<br />

the ten demands which we put on the door on<br />

September 28, 1978 .<br />

We call upon the Mayor to cease his anti-<strong>Black</strong><br />

and anti-poor policies and attitudes, and commit<br />

himself to alleviating the suffering of the poor .

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!