ST. PETERSBURG, FL–The police murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th has propelled the issue of police violence against the black community to new heights.
On November 1st and 2nd, the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations (BIBC) will emphasize the largely unreported cases of Africans who have fallen victim to police violence and murder by police throughout the U.S.
Starting at noon at Malcolm X Park the rally will feature a broad range of speakers that will include former NY City Councilman Charles Barron, Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report, Pam Africa from the MOVE organization and Friends and Family of the imprisoned Mumia Abu Jamal and Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African Socialist International and the Coalition itself.
The rally will end at 3 p.m. when the protest march on the White House will begin, the 5th such march since the 2009 founding of the Coalition, which had as a major aim the exposure of the Obama presidency as hostile to world peace and the interests of black and oppressed peoples within the U.S. and throughout the world.
Coalition leaders are calling on black people from throughout the U.S. to march with placards with the names and pictures of family members and friends who have suffered brutality and murder at the hands of the police
On November 2nd the Coalition will conduct a “teach-in” at Howard University, Blackburn Center beginning at 11am.
Presenters will discuss U.S. escalation of the wars in the Middle East as well as U.S. complicity in the Israeli massacre of Palestinians in Gaza Strip.
Other discussions will expose the Ebola scare in West Africa as continuation of U.S. and European war against Africa.
An important part of the teach-in agenda will deal with the mass incarceration of African people within the U.S. and the police murder and violence against black people that was brought to public attention with the murder of Mike Brown.
The police murder of Brown resulted in inspirational mass resistance by the people that defied police repression and attempts by some middle class African leaders who would sacrifice justice in the name of peace.
The theme for the entire two-day event is “Peace through Revolution.”
It is a theme that organizers feel necessary to direct attention to the fact that the attacks on world peace are a normal feature of the U.S. capitalist system that has its origins in the enslavement of African people and the land theft of the native people who suffered near-genocide in the “founding” of the U.S.
For more information the public is invited to call: 224-572-9887; 727-821-6620. Or go to BlackisBackCoalition.org
