Vote for Racial Justice Week October 18-24! (call to action)

A Call to Action: Vote for Racial Justice Week October 18-24!

During the week of October 18-24, 2004, we call for groups and coalitions around the
country to organize local actions and campaigns in support of racial justice. Once
again, just like other elections, we're hearing almost nothing about these issues
from the major Presidential candidates and many other candidates seeking office, so
we need to make our presence felt! As Frederick Douglas said, "Power concedes
nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will."



Let's speak truth to power!



-Let's talk about the race and class bias in our legal system and the unequal
resources for our public schools.

-Let's call for a strong jobs and human needs programs and a moratorium on the use
of the death penalty.

-Let's demand a truly fair and democratic voting system and repeal of the USA
Patriot Act.

-Let's speak out against the racist "war on drugs," the scapegoating of immigrants
and for immigrant rights like the right to a drivers license and the right to
organize without retribution.

-Let's support stronger environmental justice policies for communities of color and
poor communities.

-Let's stand tall for affirmative action and a national reparations commission to
address historic oppression and crimes against humanity.

-Let's unite for Native American sovereignty and treaty rights and a foreign policy
of peace with social and economic justice for all.



These issues can be raised, and the cause of racial, economic and social justice
advanced, in various ways: marches and rallies, workshops, trainings, candidates'
forums, educational leafleting, widespread outreach and get-out-the-anti-racist-vote
activity. Local groups and coalitions can determine what they want to do; the
national coordinating body for Vote for Racial Justice Week will provide resources,
communications mechanisms and support and will work to garner national press for
this historic week.



What will this week accomplish?



-We will show each other and the country that there is a multi-cultural network of
many thousands of activists in the USA who are committed to dealing with racism and
integrating on-going work around it into our personal and organizational lives.

-We will agitate and organize among masses of people in the period right before the
November 2 elections, urging them to come out and cast an informed and intelligent
vote.

-We will lay the basis for an on-going, pro-justice movement that understands the
interconnections among issues and will support strong anti-racist leadership as we
build it.



Let us hear from you! Let's rise to the challenge and make our voices heard this
October!

To join this campaign as a participating organizaton or for information, contact the
Vote for Racial Justice Week coordinating committee at: racismwatch [at] earthlink.net,
http://www.racismwatch.org, 973-338-5398.



Initiated by: 2004 Racism Watch, Black Radical Congress, Black Voices for Peace,
Green Party of the United States, Independent Progressive Politics Network,
Institute for Southern Studies, League of Pissed Off Voters, National Coalition
Building Institute, National Youth and Student Peace Coalition, Project South,
Solidarity, Southern Anti-Racism Network, Student Environmental Action Coalition