March Against the War on the Black Community and Measure Y

African People’s Solidarity Committee
484 Lake Park Ave #369, Oakland, CA 94610
uhurureparations [at] yahoo.com, (510) 625-1106

For Immediate Release! March for Social Justice Demands an End to War
on the Black Community from the Schools to the Prisons, and No on Measure Y

What and When: 5K March-a-Thon, Saturday, October 23rd, 11am
Where: East Shore Park, Lake Merritt at Grand Ave and Mac Arthur Blvd (across from Gold's Gym), Oakland
Media Contact: African People’s Solidarity Committee, 510-295-7834

On Saturday, October 23rd, activists demanding justice and reparations for the black community will take to the streets in Oakland. As they wind through the Grand Lake neighborhood, marchers hope to raise awareness about America’s "Other War" – a war they say targets the African population in the U.S. with unjust imprisonment, police brutality, economic embargo, substandard education and the destruction of black communities through gentrification.

The African and Mexican populations have long been a majority in that city and are fighting the state and corporate take-over and closing of public schools, the police violence brought to the spotlight following the infamous "Oakland Riders" trial and the notorious California prison system for its abusive conditions and forced labor. March organizers hold the city of Oakland and the Oakland Unified School District partially responsible for the disproportionate numbers of African people in the California prison system. From the lack of economic development and an imposed drug economy, through the police containment of East and West Oakland and the 44% graduation rate for African students in Oakland schools, the city and district ensure that a high rate of young African people from Oakland will end up in the California Youth Authority and the California prison system.

Last May, the local Uhuru Movement organized a boycott of the Oakland schools to protest the state takeover and the actions of the state administrator Randolph Ward in closing down schools in black neighborhoods. The Uhuru Movement worked with Castlemont High School students on the boycott, a high school down the street from the Uhuru House community center where only 25% of the entering freshman class in 1999 graduated from the high school.

The March will raise funds through pledges gathered from supporters for the work of the Uhuru (Swahili for "freedom") Movement, a black rights group advocating African self-determination and economic development. The Uhuru Movement is based nationally in St. Petersburg, Florida and is most well known in Oakland for their vocal opposition to police brutality and their support of community control of housing and education.

The 5K March is being coordinated by the African People’s Solidarity Committee, a wing of the Uhuru Movement that seeks to organize white people in support of the movement for black rights. According to March organizer Matthew Willis, "It’s not enough to vote against Bush or march against the war in Iraq. White people are the beneficiaries of an ongoing war against the black community right here in our city. African men are framed up, beaten or killed by the Oakland police. Their families are destroyed through poverty and the destruction of their neighborhoods, while city rallies support for more police presence. It’s time for honest white people to stand up and support the rights of black people to the same positive self-determined future that we want for our own children."

The march kicks off from Lake Merritt at East Shore Park across from Gold's Gym on Saturday, October 23rd at 11am. The march will follow a route alongside the lake and loop back around Grand and Lakeshore Avenues and end at the same park for a rally at 1pm. Uhuru Movement founder Omali Yeshitela will be featured as the keynote speaker at the rally following the march. The 1pm rally will include statements by Penny Hess, Chairwoman of the African People's Solidarity Committee, Quetzaoceloacuia of the Barrio Defense Committee, Kawal Ulanday of the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, the No on Measure Y campaign against more money for the Oakland Police Department and others.

To register to participate in the March for Social Justice or sponsor a marcher and contribute to the Uhuru Movement, call (510) 625-1106 or visit http://www.marchforjustice.net.