Dec 1 Rosa Parks Nationwide Day of Absence!

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Troops Out Now
39 W. 14th St. #206
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646



Dec. 1 - Rosa Parks Anniversary National Strike Against Poverty, Racism, and War

How do we remember Rosa Parks?

By making The 50th Anniversary Of Rosa Parks' Arrest, December 1, a Nationwide Day of Absence and Protest Against Poverty, Racism & War.


(button printed in a Union shop with a union bug)
Donate! - Order buttons!

Rosa Parks Resources

Official Website of the Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development

Rosa Parks Biography at Africana Online

Gallery of Rosa Parks photos

Full length interviews with Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks Story at My Hero Project

Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights
Includes Teachers Resources, Lesson Plans, Resources

No School, Work Or Shopping - Protests Across the Country

50 years ago, Rosa Parks Helped Start a Movement - We must re-start that Movement.

The 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest is much more than the anniversary of single person's actions. It is the anniversary of the opening of the mass Civil Rights movement and the struggle that brought Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.to prominence.

The war in Iraq that has now destroyed the lives of more than 2100 U.S. soldiers and 100,000 Iraqi people; the racism and negelct at all levels of government in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; growing poverty and inequality; the drive to make the Supreme Court even more anti-woman and anti-civil rights; and Rosa Parks' death just days ago, have made this 50th anniversary of her arrest an even more serious and somber occasion to reflect on the need to restart the movement against poverty, racism and war.

Let's utilize this anniversary to move the movement forward. We urge you to join the more than 1,000 organizations that are also supporting and participating in the Dec.1st Rosa Parks Anniversary Nationwide Day of Absence Against Poverty, Racism and War. On that day, no school, no work, and no shopping--only protest marches, rallies and teach-ins.

Fifty years ago, Rosa Parks helped start a Movement. We must re-start that Movement. Part of the problem is that our movement is too fragmented. Surely, the memory of Rosa Parks should provide us with fresh inspiration to build the bridges between movements that would make all of us so much stronger. From the Sept. 24 antiwar protest to the Millions More Movement to the "World Can’t Wait" day of protest, it is clear that the mass of the people are ready to end both the war in Iraq, and the war against so many of us here at home.

During the course of Dr.King's journey from Montgomery to Memphis where his life was cut short, he came to see not only segregation, but poverty, economic inequality, and war as the enemies of freedom. We must restart the Movement for social justice, equality and peace because if we don't, we will not only fail to finish the unfinished business of the civil rights movement-- we will also continue to lose ground.

Let us use this anniversary as an occasion to affirm that the struggle must continue, and that we cannot separate the struggle against racism from the struggle for the right to health care, a quality education, affordable housing, and jobs that pay a living wage with benefits including the right to organize. Moreover, central to a new Movement must be ending the war in Iraq and bringing the troops home now. Most of all, we must recommit ourselves to the goal of uniting all who can be united.

On Dec. 1, people will march in every region of the country. In NYC, thousands will march and rally on Wall Street because a relatively handful of people who either own, control or profit from the economy, must know that we consider the right to live free of war and the right to a job, to be as much of a civil right as the right to sit in the front of the bus.

It is time to declare that poor and working people will not sit in the back of the economic bus that only runs to make the rich richer. We will not ride in the back of a bus that wants to run over the rights of women, people of color, immigrants, youth, LGBT people and workers. We will not ride in the back of a bus that will cut health care, food and housing programs to pay for war and transfer more wealth to the rich. Let us signal a new resolve that we will not be pushed backward-- that we will march forward, and keep Dr. King's dream alive through courage, commitment and struggle, which is the legacy that Rosa Parks has left us.

* ENDORSE the December 1 Rosa Parks Anniversary National Strike Against Poverty, Racism, and War
* VIEW initiators and endorsers
* DOWNLOAD national flyer and local flyers for New York March on Wall St (in English y español) and demos in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Norfolk, VA, Philadelphia, San Francisco, UCSD Student Walkout, and Washington, DC!
* VIEW list of Rosa Parks Day ACTIVITIES
* LIST your local activity
* VOLUNTEER to help build the National Day of Absence!
* DONATE to help build a movement against war & racism