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The Richmond FREE I n t h e FREE S p i r i t o f G a b r i e l , N a n , N a t T u r n e r, The Richmond J o h n B r o w n , M a r y B o w s e r, E l i z a b e t h Va n L e w & John Mitchell Jr. Bimonthly Newspaper ofEFENDER The Richmond Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality Vol. 4, No. D4, Issue 28 Circulation: 16,000 copies July - August 2008 Nat’l anti-war forces unite to demand ... ‘NO WAR ON IRAN!’ Special to the Defender Representatives from a broad range of major anti-war coalitions, which in the past have national and regional anti-war coalitions and local not always worked together. These included Act organizations have issued a strong condemnation Now to Stop War & End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R), of any military attack, sanctions or internal Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC), United for interference in Iran. Peace and Justice (UFPJ) and U.S. Labor Against In additon, several organizations are calling the War (USLAW). Dozens of statewide and for intensifying protests to press the issue. local networks were also represented. Responding to a call by Rostam Pourzal, U.S. the newly formed National president of CASMII, and Assembly to End the Iraq Defenders Phil Wilayto, editor of War and Occupation, more The Richmond Defender than 400 anti-war activists endorse call for and organizer of the gathered June 28 and 29 in 2007 People’s Peace Cleveland, Ohio. Aug. 2 protests Delegation to Iran, held The stated goal of against attack a workshop on Saturday, the conference was to June 28, to draw attention mobilize the anti-war on Iran. to the increasing threats movement for one day of See page 5 against Iran. mass protests next spring They also drafted a Photo by Phil Wilayto with the single demand resolution calling on the of an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces National Assembly to declare its unequivocal Members and supporters of the Defenders’ Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project appeal to passing motorists to help save Rich- from Iraq. opposition to: mond’s “Burial Ground for Negroes.” The June 14 vigil was one of many But the conference also adopted a resolution (1) any military attack on Iran, by the U.S., being held at the Gabriel Marker on East Broad Street overlooking the opposing any military attack on Iran after Israel, or any other country acting at the behest VCU parking lot that now covers the Burial Ground. representatives of the Campaign Against of the U.S.; Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran (2) the imposition or continuation of (CASMII) and the Richmond-based Defenders sanctions, whether economic or military, against Struggle heats up to for Freedom, Justice & Equality led an effort to Iran; and broaden the new network’s mission. (3) any attempt by the U.S. government or reclaim Richmond’s’ Both groups are affiliates of the Virginia any of its agencies to interfere with or influence Anti War Network (VAWN), which endorsed the the internal political process in Iran. African Burial Ground effort to raise the issue of Iran at the conference. Addressing more than 30 workshop Although some 70 percent of the U.S. public participants, Pourzal answered the main U.S. By Ana Edwards now favors withdrawal from Iraq, there has been lies – that Iran is attempting to develop nuclear no national anti-war conference or mobilization weapons, that it is a military threat to the United It was a chance encounter that just may have saved Richmond’s oldest in the U.S. this year, in part because activists and States and Israel, that it sponsors terrorism and Black cemetery. other people of conscience are distracted by the that it is a source of instability in Iraq. Richmonders Shanna Merola and Kenneth Yates were downtown this November presidential elections. Wilayto discussed how activists can more past May, visiting the parking lot that covers Richmond’s “Burial Ground for In this context, it was significant not only that forcefully raise the issue of an attack on Iran in Negroes.” The 1.6-acre site lies just north of East Broad Street, between the the Cleveland conference took place, but that it their ongoing work. entrance to I-95 and the CSX railroad tracks. included among its speakers leaders of most of the See IRAN on PAGE 5 See BURIAL on PAGE 7 HUD vouchers fail Dove Court Immigration raids spread fear tenants - next up: Gilpin & fightback throughout Virginia By Phil Wilayto By Phil Wilayto with Gilpin Court, the 783-unit complex the area of the building. Richmond police So much for housing vouchers. that sits on what has become prime real May 7 started out as just another officers were not involved in the raid. The Richmond Redevelopment & Housing estate, just north of rapidly gentrifying workday at the new Federal Courthouse Thirty-three workers were arrested: Authority, or RRHA, was hoping that its Jackson Ward. under construction at 7th and Broad streets 29 men and four women. They were from renovation of the Dove Court public housing The problem is – as housing advocates in downtown Richmond. Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador community would be a model for future across the city have pointed out – there’s “We were just standing there working,” and Nicaragua – all countries that have renovations. The 59 units in the Highland not enough low-income housing in the city a construction worker across the street at seen poverty rates skyrocket in the current Park complex are to be replaced with 64 to move people into before their public the Performing Arts Center told Channel global economic slowdown. townhouses that would then become the core housing homes are torn down. 12 News. “Next thing you know, one guy Richmond’s Channel 8 reported that of a new “mixed-income” community. Not even with vouchers. just yelled ‘police!’” the arrested workers were held in the new You know, break up the “concentrations Case in point: as of late May, almost That’s when federal agents from the courthouse’s own recently completed of poverty” and spread them out among two dozen Dove Court families were still Department of Immigration and Customs detention cells. middle-class homeowners. struggling with finding landlords willing to Enforcement (ICE) jumped out of vans and Immigrant rights workers in the area It’s so much easier than actually accept their Section 8 housing vouchers. surrounded the seven-story courthouse, associated with the Virginia Immigrant addressing the issue of poverty itself. One of those was Mitzi Styles, president grabbing anyone who ran. People’s Coalition (VIPC) immediately If it works, RRHA could move on to of the court’s tenants’ council. Meanwhile, State Police officers were went to work, trying to contact the redeveloping other communities, starting See RRHA on PAGE 3 on the streets keeping traffic moving in See RAIDS on PAGE 4 ”If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” — Dr. Carter G. Woodson, 1933, “The Mis-Education of the Negro” Page 2 The Richmond Defender July - August 2008 THE DEFENDERS regional & national news for Freedom, Justice & Equality National conference PO Box 23202, Richmond, VA 23223 Ph: 804-644-5834 Fax: 804-332-5525 takes stock of Black Left E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.DefendersFJE.org By Ana Edwards Not too many years ago, leftist forces played and of the need for national Black Left forces The Defenders for Freedom, Justice & a leading role in the Black Liberation Movement. to help provide political direction to the many Equality is an organization of Richmond- Organizations on the front lines of heroic struggles, formations that could respond most strategically area residents working for the survival such as the Black Panther Party and the Detroit and effectively to these and other attacks. of our community through education and Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM, In particular, participants said, the failure of social justice projects. promoted an anti-capitalist, pro-socialist view in contemporary Black liberation formations to We started out in June 2002. Many of their communities. Photo by Barry Carter us had relatives in the Richmond City Jail or effectively defend the victims of the Gulf Coast In an attempt to revive that tradition in a way Particpants in the Southern Route of the state prisons and were concerned about the disaster demonstrated the need to reassess the that’s relevant to today’s struggles, more than Longest Walk 2 cross into Virginia from physical conditions of these institutions. overall state of the struggle for black liberation. 80 people came together for the “2008 National North Carolina. As we worked around these issues, Growing support by the Black masses for the Gathering of the Black Left: Black Left Unity we learned more and more about the possible presidency of Barack Obama also means connections between jails, jobs, poverty, Conference,” held May 30 through June 1 at the Native walkers declare: that organized analysis and response to his campaign racism, sexism, class, war and political Sonja Haynes Stone Black Culture and History and policy platforms are critical to ensure that the representation. We began to organize Center on the University of North Carolina campus “All Life is Sacred, needs of the Black, working poor and otherwise around these issues as well. in Chapel Hill. politically and economically vulnerable people of Save Mother Earth’ We now have a bimonthly newspaper, The goal was to develop a process for activating a weekly radio program and a Web site.
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