[Major Protest In Washington, D.C.]
Amidst growing disaffection in some quarters of Black America with President Obama’s failure to directly address a myriad of crises afflicting distressed Black communities, contingents of “Drum Majors for Justice” are planning a Day of Direct Action, Monday, June 17th in Washington, D.C., to mark the 42nd Anniversary of the “War on Drugs.”
Mobilized by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), drug and criminal justice policy reform advocates, faith leaders, heads of community-based organizations and formerly incarcerated leaders will call on President Obama to end the War on Drugs as a “pipeline” to the mass incarceration of Black people. Leaders will also demand massive, direct investment of jobs and economic development projects in urban inner-city neighborhoods plagued by joblessness, drugs, gun violence and fratricide.
Declaring the crises in distressed Black communities a “State of Emergency,” Dr. Ron Daniels, President of IBW says, “There is a direct connection between the so called War on Drugs as a racially biased strategy and the devastation, death and destruction in America’s dark ghettos. The recent ALCU Study of marijuana arrests clearly confirms what we have known for some time, the War on drugs is a war on us, a war that has severely damaged Black communities across the country. We need President Obama to go beyond lecturing us about ‘personal responsibility’ and declare the State of Emergency in America’s dark ghettos a moral and political crisis which requires immediate action.”
Date: Monday, June 17th – 42nd Anniversary of the War on Drugs
Where: Washington, D.C.
Time: 10:00 AM – Pre-Rally, Historic Metropolitan AME Church, 1518 M Street, NW 20005— (Main speaker-Rev. Jesse Jackson)
11:00 AM – March to Lafayette Park (Across from the White House)
12:00 Noon – 2:00 PM – Rally at Lafayette Park
www.ibw21.org
