Special to the NNPA
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Blacks were active participants in the anti-war demonstration that took place on Jan. 27 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
An estimated 100,000 people from across the country came to Washington to protest the Bush administration’s escalation of the war in Iraq. The protestors said that the war was wrong, the troops should come home and if the troops do not come home, Congress should cut off funding.
The march was facilitated by the New York-based United for Peace and Justice. Its mission is to educate the American people about the war and to demonstrate how social change can take place within the context of democracy through protest, education and activism.
”Bring home the troops,” the Rev. Graylon Hagler told the crowd. ”We aim to be heard by the Congress of the United States and by George Bush.
”We are going to push to end this war.”
Hagler, a candidate for the Ward 4 position on the D.C. City Council and the pastor of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, said that people are outraged by the loss of life and the administration’s casual attitude toward the death of Americans and the Iraqi people.
Felicia Eaves, president of Black Voices for Peace, said that Bush has shown little regard for life in the past.
”When Bush gave his ”State of the Union,” he did not mention Katrina at all,” Eaves said. ”That should tell you that George Bush does not care for Black people.
”We have to stop this war. We have to.”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said that the Congress needs to be pressed to cut off funding for the war.
”We are going to push, push, and push to keep the debate going,” Waters said. Speaking to the protestors, she said, ”You have come here to save your country and you are the real patriots.”
Waters made it clear that she is not afraid to speak out against the war.
”My name is Maxine Waters and I am not afraid of George Bush,” she said. ”I am not intimidated by Dick Cheney. I worked to get rid of Donald Rumsfeld.
”Condi Rice (Black secretary of state) is a neo-con and she does not represent me. George Bush said that he was the decider.
”He is not the decider, he is a liar.”
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said that a group of progressive Democrats in the Congress will attempt to stop the funding of the war in the Congress. Conyers said that the president is off track.
”Bush fired his military leaders when they told him he was wrong,” Conyers said. ”Cheney said that we cannot do anything about the war. That’s not true, we can fire Bush and we need to remember that.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of the Rainbow-Push Coalition, said that ”peace is possible” and ”peace is imperative.”
”Today we march for the soul of our nation, to preserve our nation’s honor,” he said. ”The war in Iraq is causing a war on the poor at home.
”Money needed for the working poor, the aged and the young, are being sacrificed for this misadventure.”
Jackson said that the war in Iraq is part of a larger problem in the country.
”We need more than new leaders; we need new direction, new priorities, and a new way for a new day,” he said.
The speakers throughout the rally encouraged the protestors to support the bill, Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act of 2007 sponsored by Waters, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). The bill calls for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and mandates that the administration allow the Iraq government to function by itself.
On Jan. 29, the protestors took their case to the members of Congress on Capitol Hill. They lobbied the lawmakers to stop the war by cutting off funding by visiting their offices and talking to the members or high ranking staff members.