Wall Street Rally Against War, Racism & Poverty To lead National Commemoration of the 50thAnniversary of Rosa Parks Arrest

Wall Street Rally Against War, Racism & Poverty To lead National Commemoration of the 50thAnniversary of Rosa Parks Arrest

NY City Council to call on business to close or allow workers time off to attend rally

Rosa Parks-inspired events scheduled across the country will have strong anti-war, anti-racist message

Businesses and Schools are being asked to either close, or allow workers and students to leave early in order to attend an afternoon rally on Wall Street to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the day that Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Thousands of people including students leaving school early and workers in the financial district as well as activists from across the tri-state area will be attending the Wall St. rally.

It was the arrest of Mrs. Parks, who died this past October 24th, on December 1, 1955 that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott and the modern civil rights movement against legalized segregation.

The Wall St. rally, one of many planned across the country that day, is scheduled to begin at 3:00pm at the corner of Wall St. and Broadway. The rally will be addressed by civil rights struggle veterans like Ben Chaney, the brother of James Cheney, who was one of three civil rights workers murdered in Mississippi in 1964, and members of the New York City Council who are expected to pass a resolution declaring December 1st "Rosa Parks Day" in NYC the day before. Former U.S. Attorney Ramsey Clark is also scheduled to speak at the Wall St. rally.

The resolution that the New York City Council will vote on this Wednesday, Nov. 30, urges all businesses and schools, both private and public, to either close on December 1 or allow workers and students to take part of the day off to attend the Wall St. rally. The resolution is modeled after resolutions that have already been passed by city councils in Boston, Detroit, Oakland, Cleveland, Baltimore, as well as other cities in every part of the country including Atlanta, Georgia and Montgomery.

The December 1 events are being organized by the Rosa Parks 50th Anniversary Nationwide Day Of Absence Coalition, made up of over 1000 local and national organizations, including the Baltimore NAACP, Troops Out Now Coalition, Teamsters National Black Caucus and many other antiwar and civil rights groups and individuals.

The coalition has sent letters to groups that represent businesses like the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, DownTown Alliance, and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, requesting that they encourage businesses to participate in the commemoration of Rosa Parks by allowing workers the afternoon off to attend the Wall St. rally.

New York city Council Member Charles Barron, the primary sponsor of the Rosa Parks resolution said, "Rosa Parks was a revolutionary and the best way to honor her is to inspire everyone to intensify the struggle against racism and injustice."

Barron continued, "The government's response to the Katrina hurricane has made it clear that reviving and broadening the movement against poverty and racism is our most urgent task."

Leilani Dowell, a youth organizer for the Rosa Parks Anniversary Coalition added, " The demand to bring the troops home now from Iraq will be echoed across the country on Dec. 1 and it should be that way because Dr. Martin Luther King who came on the scene during the Montgomery boycott, concluded that fighting legalized segregation was not enough."

Ms. Dowell further stated, " King saw poverty racism and militarism as the main enemies of human progress which is why he opposed the Vietnam War and advocated that everyone should have a right to a job that pays a living wage."

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