United New York's Celebration of 
Dissent a Big Success


On April 4, at New York's Riverside Church's Christ Chapel a
standing room only crowd of over 200 gathered to celebrate the 35th
Anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's historic 1967 speech against
the Vietnam War.  The meeting, initiated by the United New York Black
Radical Congress, was cosponsored by Harlem churches, elected officials and a wide array of organizations representing the peace and justice movement. These included progressive organizations fighting for women's equality, for peace in the Middle East and against the Prison Industrial complex.  This diverse group of sponsors came together under the BRC slogan "No to racism, repression! Yes to peace, justice and reparations!"

In many ways, this was a breakthrough event for United New York BRC
and other progressive forces. During this era of homeland security and the
so-called war on terrorism, a new coalition of forces, primarily based in
the New York's Black and Latino communities, came together to commit
themselves to Dr. King's legacy of struggle for peace and justice.

     The program integrated culture and politics. Abyssinian Baptist Church
choir director Jeff Bolden, and three members of the choir, opened the
meeting with their moving rendition of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going
On?"  Well-known actor, Vinie Borrows, presented a reading of excerpts from Dr. King's speech and a dramatization the current plight of  welfare mothers.

     There were speakers from a wide variety of groups and many sectors of
the community. As people spilled out of the room and into the hallway, Rev. Dr. James Forbes, pastor of Riverside Church, encouraged those present to continue the struggle, started by Dr. King. Humberto Brown, National Council member of the BRC, called on the crowd to reject the policies of Condolezza Rice and Colin Powell and to take up the struggle of Martin Luther King. City Council member Bill Perkins spoke on behalf of himself and Councilman Robert Jackson, who was in the audience.

     There were many speakers representing young people, including
Sydcharise Goler from the Uptown Youth Committee for Peace and Justice; Martine Caverel represented the Prison Moratorium Movement. Jeremy Hoffman spoke for Jews Against the Occupation and May La Vor represented the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, the initiating group for the April 20th march on Washington.  Derrick Mohammed spoke as the youth representative from Rev. Al Sharpton's, National Action Movement, and Eware Osayadande the head of the Philadelphia BRC, read a moving poetic tribute to Rep. Barbara Lee.

     There were several international guests. Lee Jasper, Afro British
member of the mayor of London's Advisory Cabinet brought solidarity
greetings from the mayor of London.  Representatives from the UN mission
of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam also attended.

     One of the many high point of the meeting was the speech by Rita
Lasar, who lost her brother in the WTC on 9/11, and who visited Afghanistan and witness the horrors of that war.  She represented the group "Sept. 11th Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow" and made an emotional speech against Bush's use of her brother's death to further his war of revenge.

     The meeting closed with a rousing speech by Manning Marable, the Chair of United New York and director of the African American Institute at
Columbia University. Throughout the evening, the predominantly African
American and Latino crowd responded enthusiastically to calls to respond to the tragic events in Israel and Afghanistan by stepping up the struggle for peace and justice.  They were encouraged to continue the struggle  started by Dr. King by packing the buses to Washington on April 20th, as an answer to Bush's so-called war against terrorism.

   As a result of the April 4th meeting, a new coalition around the
struggle for peace and justice is in formation in upper Manhattan.  The
BRC is playing a leading role in these activities. It helped to fill two
uptown buses on April 20th and continues to have an active unifying
presents in the ongoing struggle for peace and justice.

Jarvis Tyner

Black Radical Congress
National Office
Columbia University Station
P.O. Box 250791
New York, NY 10025-1509
blackradicalcongress@email.com