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Posted on 01/17/2003 9:26:28 PM PST by kattracks
Washington (CNSNews.com) - In a final attempt to mobilize "hundreds of thousands" of people opposed to a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq, organizers of weekend demonstrations in the nation's capital and San Francisco accused the Bush administration Friday of siding with white supremacists.
"One thing that is true is that when we look at George Bush and his impotence right now -- what he has done -- on January 15, the actual birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., he spoke out against affirmative action and against what the University of Michigan was all about. It was a chosen day to send a message to white supremists [sic] in this country, because that has been the mentality of this administration," said International A.N.S.W.E.R. endorser Rev. Graylan Hagler, of the Plymouth Congregational Church in Washington, D.C.
Hagler's remarks were in reference to Bush's decision this week to side with white University of Michigan law students challenging the university's current practice of using race-base preferences in its admission policies. The policy is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to Hagler, it is very clear to "people of color" at home and abroad that they must act now to prevent continued suffering under the insensitive policies of the administration.
"I think it's also important that we challenge the rhetoric of George Bush and this administration," Hagler said. "It seems as if our president talks North, but he walks South."
At the White House Friday, presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush "welcomes the fact that we are a democracy and people in the United States, unlike Iraq, are free to protest and to make their case known."
"That's a time-honored part of American tradition, and the president fully understands it, Fleischer said. "It's a strength of our democracy."
Fleischer also sought to dampen speculation that Saturday's anti-war protests could be the largest in the nation's capital since the Vietnam era.
"I'm not sure that it's fair to say that it's sizeable. I think it is anybody's guess. But there are equal numbers of people who -- larger numbers of people who, of course, are very much in support of what the president is doing. I think the fact of the matter is, most people who support what the president is doing are not going to take the street to say disarm Saddam Hussein," Fleischer added.
Hagler said Americans should look no further than their own neighborhoods to understand why the administration wants to wage war against Iraq.
"When you look around the world ... what is currently going on is that we are engaged in a posture of war against people that tend to be people of color," Hagler said. "It clearly relates to the war at home against people of color."
It's not just African-Americans that are being oppressed by the Bush administration, said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.
"It seems as if when it comes to John Ashcroft and Muslims," Bray said, "it is 'justice' - just us - the Muslims who are basically under attack by this administration."
Larry Holmes, co-director of the International Action Center, expanded on Bray's accusation, warning that the world is afraid of the American government.
"You go to Europe, go to Asia, go to Africa, go to Latin America and the Caribbean ... they think that the United States 'government' - the empire, you know, the big cup, the bully, my way or no way, might makes right - this is where the world is now and this is why people are so opposed to the government around the world, not the American people," Holmes said.
Holmes said the Saturday protest rally will mark a turning point in America's relationship, as minorities will be uniting against Bush and "his war."
"Tomorrow -- no matter what the numbers are and they're going to be big - if you look at what's out there, you're going to see more African-Americans, more Latinos, more Asians, more Arabs than you've ever seen at these demonstrations," Holmes said. "This is good for the peace movement and dangerous for Bush."
And, it's not just minority groups that will be protesting against the administration, said Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center.
"There is a new unification taking place among civil rights, anti-war, student and youth, women's organizations, unions," Becker said. "The full cross-section organizations are coming together."
International A.N.S.W.E.R. announced that its next protest event would take place on Feb. 21, the anniversary of the assassination of slain black militant, Malcolm X.
"We feel that Malcolm X embodies the spirit of struggle against militarism and racist establishment," said Peta Lindsay, the group's youth coordinator. "We will honor his life and legacy the right way -- with resistance."
President Bush will not be in Washington this weekend. He'll be at the Camp David retreat in Maryland instead.
E-mail a news tip to Michael L. Betsch.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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There is no "new" unification. The Radical Left has been well organized and well coordinated for decades. As the war with IslamiNazism escalates, their efforts will blow up in their faces. When their survival is at stake, the American people will turn on the Left with a vengeance.
Hell, left wing wacko ideas like gun control, abortion on demand, and banning DDT have done more to kill people of color than anything President Bush could possibly do.
These people are truly paranoid delusionals.
Bush has more "people of color" in higher positions of power in his administration than any other has.
The hysterical claims made by these wackos are laughable.
Oh, yeah, and then last year at the pro-Palestinian rally in DC it was stuff like: "We support the Palestinians because Mumia is an eloquent speaker." And now it's: "We think everyone should oppose the war because Saint Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted it that way." Actually, I wonder if for the older hippies if attaching MLK to their war protest is just another way of trying to bring back the old days. MLK must be kind of symbolic of the civil unrest they miss so much.
Can anybody say NUTCASE. I bet this guy Hagler mutters the phrase "people of color" in his sleep.
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