Obama Faces First Anti-War Demonstration at NAACP Convention

Harlem, NY - On Thursday, July 16th starting at 4:30 PM on the East side of the street at 6th Avenue between 53rd and 54th Street two major Black organizations, Harlem Anti-War Coalition and the Uhuru Movement will unite with World Can’t Wait in a protest demonstration against the unjust wars and domestic policies of President Barack Obama. On July 16th the President will deliver a keynote address on Criminal Justice at the annual convention of the NAACP, the oldest Black civil rights organization in the nation celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding at the plush Hilton Hotel in mid-town Manhattan.

The demo will kick off with a 4:30 PM press conference. Nellie Hester Bailey, a spokesperson for the Harlem Anti-War Coalition (principal initiator of the March 19, 2005 anti- war demo from Harlem to Central Park that drew a crowd of 10,000) called on African American communities, particularly its most progressive voices, to abandon their on the knees apologist posturing for the Obama administration because he is the nation’s first Black President.

According to Bailey African Americans cannot ignore $12.8 trillion spent, lent or committed to bankers while Black employment, an issue President Obama refused to address directly, shot up 14.9% in May of 2009. The current cost of war in Afghanistan stands at $2 billion per month and will increase 60% before the end of 2009 while body bags continue to arrive on US shores. Obama’s silence on the bloody siege of Gaza pales in comparison to the current actions of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and NYC City Councilman Charles Barron, both part of the Viva Palestina relief efforts prepared to enter Gaza, ironically on the 16th. Not a word from Obama when the Israeli’s government threaten to blow out of the water the relief boat carrying McKinney and others last month.! For sure, the Obama administration’s façade has cracked under the weight of the President’s flip-flop centrist and right of center politics. Having sold himself as a transformative political leader, Obama within six months of his presidency abandon virtually every major campaign promise for peace abroad, and economic and social justice on the domestic front.

Critics argue while it is natural for African Americans to assume a race pride adulation for Obama’s catapult to the Presidency it should not exact the price of turning a blind eye to the bankruptcy of US foreign and domestic policies that essentially mimics, in many instances, those of former Republican President Bush. Blacks must recapture their moral high ground by holding Obama accountable. African Americans, impacted hardest by the economic depression, have no choice but to organize militant demonstrations, rallies teach-ins and education forums. This is the only way Obama will pay attention to Black issues that he dodges so artfully! African Americans, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama, are constituents like any other groups. We, too, deserve the respect and attention of the nation's first Black President.

Harrisburg NAACP calls on Governor Rendell to impose Martial Law on city's already traumatized community

SEAN SIMMERS, The Patriot-News

Shariyka Muhammad of Harrisburg cries while listening
to 21 year-old Tamicia Burhannan tell the story of finding
out that her cousin, Darrell Evans took his own life during
a police chase last week.

by Diane White, Philadelphia Front Page News

Harrisburg- While hundreds of residents came together at the Heinz-Menaker Senior Center Thursday evening to work on solutions to the recent wave of shootings in the city, NAACP Harrisburg Chapter President Stanley Lawson called on Governor Rendell to bring in the state National Guard for at least 30 days and to impose a curfew in Harrisburg neighborhoods. The NAACP called for the imposition of martial law in the community for its own good. Martial law is a system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice, normally in times of emergency by a show of force. Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell responded to Lawson's call for the suspension of civil liberties and the imposition of martial law on the community almost simultaneously by committing the Pennsylvania State Police to patrol the streets of Harrisburg .

So far 12 shootings have occurred in the city during the month of June. Some related some unrelated. A shoot out over a $40 e-pill, A shoot out in retailiation, two in one robbery one as a result of a love triangle. One involving an unarmed teen suspected of being involved in a drive-by who was shot in the face by the same police officer who shot and killed another unarmed black man while off duty. One determined by the coroner to be a suicide as a result of a self inflicted gun shot wound when a teen was found dead by the police officer who was chasing him. One drive by at a play ground where luckily no one got hurt.

The NAACP Harrisburg Chapter was not represented at the community meeting, while Govenor Rendell made a surprise appearance along with Steven Reed, District Attorney Ed Marisco and Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick "I came to work" said Hartwick", the best way I can help is to be a good dad."

The meeting was organized by Pastor Brenda Alton, President of the IMC and City Council President Linda Thompson who recently defeated Reed in the Mayoral primary.