Black News - Freedom Archives
Black News - Freedom Archives
Black News - Freedom Archives
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<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 .