March 3, 2005

Open Letter to the leadership of United for Peace & Justice

We, the undersigned, are activists from communities of color and from within the anti-war movement. As the time nears for the March 19th march and rally and the second anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, we call for national and local show of unity, similar to March 20th of last year in opposition to the war. While we applaud UFPJ for its initiation of the January 26th meeting with representative of the Troops Out Now Coalition to discuss March 19th we are deeply disappointed to learn that UFPJ has announced it will not support nor participate in the March 19th New York City Central Park mass rally scheduled to kick off in Marcus Garvey Park, located in the heart of Harlem.

We call upon UFPJ to revisit its decision as a matter of urgency since the major burden of this war falls on communities of color and working class youth. We appeal to UFPJ and to all anti-war organizations that have taken courageous stands against this war to stand shoulder to shoulder with people of color who carry the greatest weight of this war both home and abroad. We believe working class youth and their communities can ill afford to have any thing less than the maximum amount of principal unity in opposition to war. We believe this is demanded of all of us who have taken on the responsibility of building an anti-war movement in this country.

Further, we strongly believe it is imperative that the anti-war movement sends a clear message against the war, a clear message to take our children out of harm’s way and a clear message against the war budget. While we recognize and understand that there are differences that reflect various constituencies and organizational agendas we nevertheless call on all anti-war forces to build a united front. We call upon all those who are engaged in the struggle to build an un-bought and un-bossed anti-war movement to not turn their backs on the absolute necessity to build a united front against this war and all future wars of aggression declared by the US.

Principle dialogue must take place before and after March 19th within the anti-war movement for the purpose of resolving the following: (1) Issues facing the anti-war movement and what differences exist in our attitudes and approach to these issues; (2) How can we overcome these differences; and (3) Jointly organizing dialogue within our organizations and communities. But let’s resolve to move forward in unity today!

In conclusion we urge United for Peace and Justice to participate, mobilize, and join us on the platform at the Troops Out Now Coalition March and Rally on March 19th. Finally, we request that all of the anti-war coalitions and organizations come together to discuss the issues raised in this letter. We all owe this to working people and all victims of US aggression. We request that you contact Nellie Bailey at nelliehester (at) yahoo.com. We wait for your response.

Peace and solidarity always,



(List of signatures in formation) *Organizations listed for identification purpose only.

Brenda Stokely, President of District Council 1707/AFSCME

Trent Willis, President of Local 10/ILWU

Keith Shanklin, Treasurer of Million Workers March Movement

Chris Silvera, Secretary Treasurer, IBT/Local 808

Clarence Thomas, Executive Board of ILWU Local 10

December 12th Movement

Cleo Silver, 1199er for Peace & Justice

Nellie Hester Bailey, Blacks in Solidarity Against the War\Harlem Tenants Council

Jim Haughton, Harlem Fight Back

Narciso Castillo, NJ Action 21

Tylon Washington, Black Wax Production

Nana Soul & Shanna Glover, Artists & Activists United for Peace

Nia Francis Mason, Action for Community Empowerment

Author Mamadou Chinyelu

The New York Committee to Defend Palestine

Jesse Heiwa, Asia Pacifica Action