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Rev. Cortly CD Witherspoon and Sharon Black 410-218-4835
Dr. King Jr. March for Jobs and Justice Planned for Saturday, January 14, 2012
Protesters Plan 41 mile Civil Rights Walk from Baltimore to Occupy Washington D.C.
A host of organizations committed to economic justice, civil rights and peace will be joining together this Saturday to hold a Jobs March from Union Baptist Church, 1917 Druid Hill Ave. to Baltimore's downtown Reads Drug store, the historic site of the 1955 sit-ins for civil rights.
Dr. King Jr. March for Jobs and Justice Planned for Saturday, January 14, 2012
Protesters Plan 41 mile Civil Rights Walk from Baltimore to Occupy Washington D.C.
A host of organizations committed to economic justice, civil rights and peace will be joining together this Saturday to hold a Jobs March from Union Baptist Church, 1917 Druid Hill Ave. to Baltimore's downtown Reads Drug store, the historic site of the 1955 sit-ins for civil rights.
The groups gather at 10 A.M. and their March steps off at 12 P.M. Following a rally at Reads Drug store, a group will then continue through Baltimore to Route 1 on a 41 mile, three day walk to Occupy Washington D.C.
Participants in the civil rights walk for jobs represent all ages, nationalities and a variety of constituencies, from community groups, civil rights organizations, unions, students, unemployed and Occupy movement members.
Marchers vary in age from as young as 12 to as old as 71 years of age. The group expects to sleep over in Elkridge area the first night, later in College Park, and finally arrive in Washington D.C. on Monday, January 16, 2012.
Reverend Cortly CD Witherspoon, President, Baltimore Southern Christian Leadership Conference, stated, "People are excited about this march! Joblessness is a critical issue for the people of Baltimore. Over 56% of our youth are unemployed."
He continued, "We are also immensely proud that the senior civil rights leaders like Dr. Helena Hicks who participated in the historic Reads Drug store sit-in will help lead a major segment of the Baltimore March and that Occupy Baltimore has joined."
Job Is A Right Campaign/Occupy 4 Jobs Network, spokesperson, Sharon Black added, "Young people are planning to have a "Jobs, not jails" contingent in the March to highlight the need for jobs and education rather than jails and incarceration."
"Our March has national significance for the unemployed everywhere. We will be representing people from every city, county and state this coming weekend when we march to demand a jobs program," she added.
Below is a partial list of sponsors: Balto. Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Job Is A Right Campaign/Occupy 4 Jobs; Dr. Helena Hicks, Sit-in participant; Walter Dean, Civil rights leader; Occupy Baltimore; National Action Network; All Peoples Congress; Liberate Baltimore; Fred Mason, Pres. MD & D.C. AFL-CIO Council; Baltimore Move On; Howard County Move On; Andre Powell, AFSCME Del. Metro-Balto AFL-CIO; B-Heard Affinity Group Occupy Baltimore; Millions More Movement; Baltimore Black Think Tank; ANSWER Coalition; Pledge of Resistance; Fund Our Communities; R.B. Jones, writer & playwright; Jamaat al-Muslimeen; Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle; Ron Kipling Williams, spoken word artist and many others
'He hated Black people,' the sheriff said
A racist white man killed three black people in a racially motivated attack then killed himself in Jacksonville, Florida.
The man, identified by local media as 21-year-old Ryan Palmeter, entered a Dollar General store and opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle.
Sheriff T K Waters said three blacks - two men and a woman - were killed by the gunman, who wore body armor and left manifestos of his “disgusting ideology of hate.” The gunman had swastikas drawn on his AR-15-style rifle
“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people,” Sheriff Waters said.
"He targeted a certain group of people and that's Black people. That's what he said he wanted to kill. And that's very clear," Sheriff Waters said. The manifestos made it clear: “He wanted to kill n******,” the sheriff said.
The attack happened less than a mile from the historically black Edwards Waters University.
The shooter first went to the university campus, where he was asked to identify himself by a security officer, the university said in a statement. When he refused, he was asked to leave.
"The individual returned to their car and left campus without incident," the statement added.
Ryan Palmeter lived with his parents in nearby Oakleaf and was a registered Republican, according to Florida voting records.
Mass shootings have become commonplace in the U.S., with more than 469 so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
'Our legacy of resistance & building never ends'
Tens of thousands of Americans converged on Washington Saturday to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a turning point in the 1960s U.S. civil rights movement at which Martin Luther King Jr gave his galvanizing "I have a dream" speech.
Organizers say today's march was not a commemoration but a continuation of the demands made in 1963.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s only grandchild Yolanda Renee King, 15, told the gathering that if she could speak to her grandfather today, she would say, "I am sorry we still have to be here to rededicate ourselves to finishing your work."
"Sixty years ago, Dr. King urged us to struggle against the triple evils of racism, poverty, and bigotry," she said. "Today, racism is still with us. Poverty is still with us. And now gun violence has come for our places of worship, our schools, and our shopping centers."
"When people say my generation is cynical, we say cynicism is a luxury we cannot afford," she said. "I believe that my generation will be defined by action, not apathy."
“We have made progress, over the last 60 years, since Dr. King led the March on Washington,” said Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. “Have we reached the mountaintop? Not by a longshot.”
'Why Democrats must ignore the corporate wing of the party and instead put forward a bold agenda'
US Sen. Bernie Sanders returned to New Hampshire Saturday to deliver a speech entitled “The Agenda America Needs” at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
“I have always believed that good public policy is good politics,” Sanders said in a statement before the speech. “The American people are increasingly disgusted at the growing levels of income and wealth inequality in our country and the rampant corporate greed we are seeing.”
“We invited him, but he’s coming here for a reason,” New Hampshire Institute of Politics executive director Neil Levesque told the Concord Monitor. “I think it opens the door for a lot of other sorts of thoughts about whether or not Biden’s going to be the nominee, whether or not Biden is going to be running in next year’s presidential election.”
I’m LIVE in N.H. to give a major address on why Democrats must ignore the corporate wing of the party and instead put forward a bold agenda.
(The audio improves after the first few minutes}