Reconstructing the Dream: March and Event Mark African American History Month 4 p.m. Feb. 25
by Joelle Fishman, CT People’s World
The 44th People’s World African American History Month Celebrations, “Reconstructing the Dream” will be keynoted by Rev. Scott Marks, director of New Haven Rising and co-founder of Connecticut Center for a New Economy. He will address the way forward for equality and justice in 2018, 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, and 150 years since W.E.B. DuBois was born. A national leader of Unite Here, Marks has organized people from all races, nationalities and genders to fight for their homes, jobs and communities. He is traveling the country to train new African American union leaders and is organizing the I AM 2018 effort to carry forward Dr. King’s legacy.
The event will be held on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m. at Troup School, 259 Edgewood Ave, New Haven, CT 06511. Prior to the event, a march has been organized from the New Haven Peoples Center through the Dwight neighborhood to Troup School. The march, themed “Jobs for Youth, Jobs for All,” will remember neighborhood youth who have been killed, and is sponsored by Ice the Beef, New Elm City Dream/YCL and New Haven Rising.
The event will be opened with drumming by Brian Jarawa Gray. Prizes will be awarded in the Arts and Writing Competition Grades 8 through 12. Students were asked: “What lessons can we learn from Dr. King’s courageous life? What kind of collective action is needed in 2018 to carry his legacy forward? A video “Remembering Dalzenia Henry, Grace Cummings, Emma Fair” will honor the memory of three African American Communist women leaders in Connecticut. Ice the Beef will perform excerpts from King and DuBois.
A donation of $5 or what you can afford is requested. No one will be turned away
Urgent Request to Connecticut Citizens
Please Phone Senator Blumenthal’s Office
Encourage him to prevent a war with North Korea
860-528-6940 (Hartford office)
As passions run high over important local and national issues, something far more ominous threatens: Plans of an impulsive president to launch a “preventive” war on North Korea sometime this spring. South Koreans cannot stop this. We must.
“GOP Senator Says Trump Ready to Start War with Korea”
The US and Korea are planning massive war games this spring—a season when North Korea resumes its habit of testing weapons. Trump’s advisors McMaster and Kelly are rumored to be about to resign and may be replaced by novitiate “Yes men” who will do anything Trump says. Trump will be under increasing pressure from the Mueller investigations and will more likely resort to war to divert attention.
Alarmed by this convergence of events, a group of 15 knowledgeable citizens was scheduled to meet Senator Blumenthal at his Hartford office on Feb. 23, to hear his views on the ways Congress might use its legislative power to prevent a Korean nuclear war, and explore how citizens can support this.
But his office cancelled the meeting. The group—made up of long-time peace activists, academics with expert knowledge, and members of Indivisible groups—was intent on entering into dialogue with him. So far he has resisted many attempts by constituents to get him to act on this issue.
So, it is up to citizens to contact him to convey deep and wide-spread concern about this issue in Connecticut. If we can show him that, he is much more likely to support us with his usual skill. He needs to hear from a lot of us from all across Connecticut.
This is urgent because president Trump has the power to launch a first strike, nuclear or conventional, on his own authority, with no one to veto him, at any time. And there is no formal restraint on his power to act unilaterally. Most experts believe that the people around him ultimately would not be able to dissuade the president if he were determined to go ahead. And the Congress has long shown that it lacks the courage to restrain a president from launching attacks, even though that is in defiance of the Constitution, Article 1 Section 8, which gives Congress the sole power to declare war. Congressmen need to reassert their constitutional power.
Senator Blumenthal has the power to address this issue in a variety of ways. One of the simplest is for him to co-sponsor bills now in Congress preventing the president from launching a first strike without first getting Congressional authorization as required by the Constitution. You can learn about the three bills by reviewing the attached one-page summary description, or by clicking to get full information: S. 200, S. 2016, and S. 2047.
Please phone Blumenthal’s office (860) 258-6940 to share your concerns about the Korean nuclear threat and ask him to cosponsor these bills. A sample phone script is below. If you prefer to write, here is the link: Blumenthal’s office . Please forward this, asking your friends to do the same.
Thank you,
Marta Daniels and Jock McClellan
Marta is the co-founder of the Connecticut Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and Jock is Organizer of Indivisible NE CT and Professor Emeritus, Quinebaug Community College (courses on conflict resolution and the nuclear dilemma)
Sample Script: I am deeply concerned about the danger of war on the Korean Peninsula. I am calling to ask the Senator to please use his power to prevent the pre-emptive use of military force against North Korea without Congressional approval.
Attachment: