Rosa Parks Day

She sat down so we can stand up

We mourn the passing of a civil rights giant Let's honor her memory by continuing the struggle DEC 1 - Rosa Parks Anniversary Nationwide Day of Absence Against Poverty, Racism, & War Actions in more than 100 cities nationwide. March on Wall Street in NYC /Dec. 1 National Day of Absence http://www.troopsoutnow.org

News conference at New York City Hall.
Listen Watch

ENDORSE http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml the December 1 Rosa Parks Anniversary National Day of Absence Against Poverty, Racism and War LIST http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml your local activity

VOLUNTEER http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml to help build the Strike

DONATE http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml to help build a movement against war & racism

Dear Supporters of The Rosa Parks Anniversary Nationwide Day Of Absence Against Poverty, Racism & War

We are deeply saddened by Rosa Park's passing, and we send our heartfelt sympathy, condolences and solidarity to Rosa's family and friends, as well as all who mourn this sad occasion. The world has lost a freedom fighter, and a symbol of equality, social justice, unity and peace at a time when needs such thing more than at any time in memory. Even thought declining health had made it difficult for Ms Parks to have much of a public life in recent years, all of us were hoping that she would be able to experience the satisfaction of the 50th anniversary of her arrest, and to know that around the country the movement was honoring that anniversary with a day of protest and absence against poverty racism and war. Know she will be with us in spirit on the anniversary, and we hope that the events around the country on December 1st will do justice to her spirit and memory.

If you haven't done so already, let us know this week what your local plans are for December 1.

Our day of nationwide protest remains more urgent than ever.

2000 of our love ones and friends have lost their future in an unjust war and occupation with no end in sight.

The hundreds of thousands of people forced to leave New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities remain desperate and homeless and if the government and big business have their way, Black people will never be able to return.

Money earmarked for hurricane relief and rebuilding is going into to the pockets of rich contractors instead of the people while the government plans for even deeper cuts in healthcare and social programs to finance the war and windfalls to the rich.

On Oct. 27^th , New York City Council member Charles Barron will formally ask the City Council to declare December 1 Rosa Parks Day and call on businesses and schools to either close for the day, or allow students and workers to leave work and school to participate in protest during the day.

Plans are moving forwards for a mass march and rally on Wall St. on December 1. Many veterans of the civil rights movement have been invited to participate in the Wall St. March.

We have a once in a half century opportunity to turn a landmark civil rights anniversary into a coast to coast popular expression of unity against poverty racism and war and a commitment to continue and deepen the struggle to end these barriers to human progress.

As people everywhere are remembering Rosa Parks, let's work hard over the next month to turn that remembrance in to forward motion on December 1.

Next Step: Momentum builds for December 1

The movement to build a truly massive Rosa Parks Anniversary Nationwide Day of Absence Against Poverty, Racism and War is gaining momentum. Following the phenomenal success of the September 24 antiwar marches and the Millions More Movement rally, the December 1 strike is a necessary next step to keep the pressure on and broaden the movement that has been reborn. Over 750 groups and individuals have already endorsed the call (see endorsers list http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorsers.shtml ).

The time is now to take action! Form a December 1Day of Absence Committee in your area and plan your activity for December 1 - 3! Go to the link below LIST YOUR ACTIVITY http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml to list your local activity and local organizing contact information. Please try to list your information within the next few days so we can post it on the site!

The time has arrived to take our struggle to a higher level. Let us work together and organize a Nationwide Day of Absenceagainst Poverty, Racism and War on Dec. 1, 2005, the 50th anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks helped launch the modern civil rights movement - no work, school, or shopping - continued protest through Dec.2 and 3 - and a Mass March on Wall Street in New York City. It is time for the people to demonstrate that they can stop business as usual coast-to-coast when justice requires the people to do so.

We owe it to the victims of Katrina, to poor and working people, to the world and to ourselves to find the way to help turn the outrage over Katrina into a mass grassroots movement for social justice, the likes of which this country has not seen for some time. Moreover, it is vitally necessary, and much more possible now, to forge real unity on a phenomenal scale between the movement against the war and the movements of African Americans, people of color, and poor and working people in a struggle for economic, social and political rights.

The war and occupation of Iraq and the Katrina outrage have demonstrated to the world the urgent necessity for fundamental change and a movement that is big enough and determined enough to achieve the goal. Katrina has exposed the ugly truths about class and race, poverty, war and militarism. Our solidarity with demands of the survivors of Katrina must evolve from empathy, charity and symbolism to a mighty social force to be reckoned with. Key to this mighty potential will be the forging of a strong alliance with activists and leaders within the African American community in the Gulf States, taking direction from them regarding the kind of solidarity that they need and the demands they are making. Our demand to end the war in Iraq and to bring the troops home now must be backed up by the kind of mass tactics that signal that we mean business.

Fifty years ago, Black people in Montgomery, Alabama were forced by law to sit in the back of public buses, and give their seats to any white person who demanded it. When Rosa Parks, a garment worker and civil rights activist, refused to give up her seat to a white man, she sparked the Montgomery bus boycott against segregation on public buses, one of the most successful and truly mass boycotts in history. The Montgomery bus boycott also introduced to the world a young reverend named Martin Luther King Jr., who became the boycott's principal public leader.

A Dec. 1 Day of Absence Working Committee was set up at a Sept. 10 Natl. Strategy Meeting of the Troops Out Now Coalition (TONC) attended by more than 100 activists. The working committee will develop outreach and building plans for the Dec. 1 strike.

Dec. 1 Nationwide /Day of Absence/ against poverty, racism and war -- Initiating Organizations: Troops Out Now Coalition, Million Worker March Movement, Teamsters National Black Caucus, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice.

How Can You Help Build The December 1 Rosa Parks Anniversary Nationwide Day of Absence Against Poverty Racism and War?

- Set up an organizing committee or have your group serve as an organizing committee on your college or High School campus - or within the community that you live and work in - or at your place of work; for the purposes of planning your December 1st event/s.

- Draft your own local December 1 Day of Absence leaflets , reflecting local issues and struggles or download flyers from http://troopsoutnow.org/flyers/dec1call.pdf

- Circulate a petition/ or introduce a resolution to your student senate, union executive or delegates council, church or mosque, or your city council concerning December 1st.

Some of the kinds of activities that are being planned for December 1 in cities and towns across the country:

- Signing pledge cards to take off work, or participate in extended lunch breaks, or sick outs, are amongst the many creative methods that are being planned to get working people involved in the strike.

- Student walkouts are being planned for Dec. 1st. Some students will be marching to, or assembling at military recruiting stations for rallies and demonstrations.

- Some local organizers or planning rallies in downtown shopping areas, or in front of Walmart stores, to encourage shoppers to boycott several or one major store on Dec. 1

- Some or planning a boycott of all public transportation on December 1, in honor of the Montgomery bus boycott

LIST YOUR LOCAL ACTIVITY http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml

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Endorse http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml the December 1 National Day of Absence Against Poverty, Racsim, and War

List http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml your local activity

Volunteer http://www.troopsoutnow.org/dec1endorse.shtml to Help Build the December 1 National Day of Absence Against Poverty, Racsim, and War

DONATE http://www.troopsoutnow.org/donate.shtml to help build a movement against war & racism

Rosa Parks Background Resources:

- For a short essay by historian and author Horace Randall Williams on the significance of the Montgomery Bus Boycott: http://www.troopsoutnow.org/statements/mntgbus.shtml

- For quick and easy reference to Rosa Parks try this website: http://teacher.scholastic.com/rosa/index.htm - There are a number of excellent and available film documentaries and dramatizations of the Montgomery bus boycott including /The Story of Rosa Parks/, starring Angela Bassett, and /The Long Walk Home/, starring Whoopi Goldberg.

Troops Out Now Coalition http://www.troopsoutnow.org/