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IL Congressman (Bobby Rush) Arrested In DC (protesting Sudan!?)
WMAQ-TV/DT Chicago ^ | 4.15.04

Posted on 07/15/2004 7:40:03 PM PDT by mhking

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush was arrested Thursday during a protest rally at the Sudanese embassy accusing the government of the African nation of practicing genocide.

Rush was led away in handcuffs by U.S. Secret Service officers to a police van after having blocked the embassy's entrance while shouting, "Power to the people! Power to Sudan!"

Within 30 minutes, the Chicago Democrat was released from a Metropolitan Police Department station on $50 bond, said the congressman's spokeswoman, Tasha Harris.

Rush was booked on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, Secret Service spokeswoman Ann Roman said.

Earlier this week, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) was arrested for unlawful assembly in a similar protest.

Embassy spokesman Abdelbagi Kabeir said Thursday it was difficult to understand the motive behind the campaign against the Sudanese government that some members of Congress are waging.

"There is no genocide," he said. "There is improvement."

Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in the Darfur region of western Sudan in the past year-and-a-half, and an estimated one million people have been driven from their homes.

"People are dying because they can't get the humanitarian relief they need right now," Rush said, blaming the problem on the Sudanese government practicing genocide on the basis of ethnic and religious grounds.

Rush said the Bush administration should urge the United Nations to send a military peacekeeping force to Sudan.

"All we need is 2,000 troops and we can stop this," he said.

Rush, a six-term House member and one of a handful who are ministers, said Thursday's arrest was his first since several decades ago when he was a Black Panther activist and jailed repeatedly.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: blackpanther; bobbyrush; congresscritter; genocide; protest; sudan; surprise
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1 posted on 07/15/2004 7:40:04 PM PDT by mhking
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To: rdb3; Khepera; elwoodp; MAKnight; condolinda; mafree; Trueblackman; FRlurker; Teacher317; ...
Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

2 posted on 07/15/2004 7:40:31 PM PDT by mhking (John Kerry & Al Gore: Cut from the same tree.)
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To: mhking

WTG Rush!


3 posted on 07/15/2004 7:45:42 PM PDT by ETERNAL WARMING (He is faithful!)
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To: mhking

Bravo for a congressman that believes - and ACTS - in his principles!


4 posted on 07/15/2004 7:47:20 PM PDT by steplock ( www.spadata.com)
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To: mhking
Rep. Bobby Rush (D., Il) helped found the Illinois Black Panther Party in 1968. He became its deputy minister of defense.

The Panthers called for and in some cases carried out assassinations of police and public officials as well as horribly brutalizing its own members if they didn't toe the party line.

Rush spent 6 months in prison in 1969 on a weapons charge.

To anyone's knowledge, Rush has never disowned or repudiated his past with the Black Panthers.

Leni

5 posted on 07/15/2004 7:53:58 PM PDT by MinuteGal
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Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: mhking

I am of the belief that angry protests in a representative republic simply reveal the impotence of the protestor. He's a congressman, but I don't see any bills hitting the fore and it certainly wasn't a hot topic at the NAACP convention.


7 posted on 07/15/2004 7:55:33 PM PDT by AmishDude
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To: mhking

I really don't believe that Defense Minister Rush is out for anyone but himself.


8 posted on 07/15/2004 7:58:10 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
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To: Chi-townChief
"I really don't believe that Defense Minister Rush is out for anyone but himself."

Must be he's up for reelection. How long has the problem in the Sudan been going on, and this is the first that people like Rush and Rangel have had any voice on the matter. Too little, too late in my estimation.

9 posted on 07/15/2004 8:08:30 PM PDT by mass55th
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To: mhking
I bet there aren't many times you'll hear me say this, but...
WAY TO GO, BOBBY RUSH!!!
10 posted on 07/15/2004 8:38:46 PM PDT by inkling
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To: mhking

What about those of us, who have protested at the Embassy of Sudan long before the CBC got their late asses involved.


11 posted on 07/15/2004 9:31:35 PM PDT by Trueblackman (Terrorism and Liberalism never sleep and neither do I)
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To: mass55th
It's never too late to do the right thing.
12 posted on 07/15/2004 9:35:30 PM PDT by Cultural Jihad
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To: inkling

At least he's drawing attention to the horrors here.


13 posted on 07/15/2004 9:53:17 PM PDT by formercalifornian (Democrat platform: Hate, hate, hate, hate, tolerance, hate, hate, hate, hate)
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To: mhking

What do they care? They possess no WMDs. There is no link to 9/11. They are not a threat to us. They are only killing their own. I thought it's none of our business.


14 posted on 07/15/2004 9:59:19 PM PDT by Ron in Acreage (Kerry is a threat to national security)
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To: inkling

Try living in Chicago, in his district. He is an embarrassment. Is Rush trying to beat Photo-op Jesse Jackass at his own game?


15 posted on 07/15/2004 10:06:09 PM PDT by Rollee
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To: Trueblackman
What about those of us, who have protested at the Embassy of Sudan long before the CBC got their late asses involved.

You get no photo op or headlines, but the undying admiration of this FReeper.

16 posted on 07/15/2004 10:21:48 PM PDT by mrustow ("And when Moses saw the golden calf, he shouted out to the heavens, 'Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!'")
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To: Trueblackman
"All we need is 2,000 troops and we can stop this," he said"

Yeah, that will work. My favorite charity is one missionary in the Sudan. They tell me that they need 2000 just to protect their church.
17 posted on 07/15/2004 10:26:14 PM PDT by bulldogs (The King will come)
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To: Trueblackman
Some how I don't see the UN or the French stopping the Genocide that is happening in Sudan. The only thing the UN, French and the Dems can stop is a good case of diarrhea, because of all the constipation that is the French, UN and Dems.
18 posted on 07/16/2004 3:51:55 AM PDT by Warrior Nurse (Black & white liberals practice intellectual apartheid when in comes to black conservatives!)
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To: Cultural Jihad
"t's never too late to do the right thing"

That depends on what your motivating factors are for doing it.

19 posted on 07/16/2004 4:27:00 AM PDT by mass55th
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To: mass55th
Only God can search the human heart to see anyone's true motives. The Congressman is going to jail for opposing genocide? More people should follow his example, even if they only want to get their names in the papers!
20 posted on 07/16/2004 5:57:27 AM PDT by Cultural Jihad
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