Poor, Black, White, and Brown Together we will Overcome
By Mike Rhodes
May 22, 2004

Rev. Floyd Harris, who organized the march for peace in West Fresno, said “we are here today because it is time for people to take their community back. We feel that all of the money that is being spent in Iraq could be spent here for education in our own community.” Gloria Hernandez and Pollo Chavez of the group El Comité No Nos Vamos led the march in chanting “the people united, will never be defeated” and “poor, black, white and brown, together we will overcome” as they marched though the streets of West Fresno. West Fresno is the part of Fresno where mostly African American, Latino, and South East Asians live. The march today included a significant number of allies from the Anglo community.

When the march arrived at the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene the first speaker was Minister Daryl Mohammad, from the Nation of Islam. Minister Mohammad called for unity and called on those present to take responsibility for their actions and to bring peace to the neighborhood.

Rev. Bryan Jessup from the Unitarian Universalist Church said “that every community has to look at where the violence is happening in their community. They have to hold their people accountable - but I’m sorry to say that it is my people (Anglos) in the white house and I want to hold them accountable and I want to say - how can you talk about peace in the world if you don’t practice it?” Rev. Jessup said that he was there to join the marchers in West Fresno to end the violence and injustice both in Fresno and the world.

Loretta Kensinger, spoke on behalf of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She started her talk by saying that she is “a fan of music and thinks that the world would be a much safer place if the artists had more funding than the militaries of this world.” She spoke of her fears and hope in these dangerous times. “It is a mean time when, as one report notes, the number of people in prison, those in jail, and on parole increased three fold between 1980 and 2000 to more than 6 million humans.” Loretta’s entire speech will be posted (soon) as a comment to this article.

The building of a movement for peace and social justice was advanced today by this march in West Fresno. Rev. Harris and the National Action Network can be contacted by phone at (559) 265-3652 or email: xyfloyd [at] aol.com

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