New York City: U.S. hands off Venezuela! Stop Trump coup now!

Monday, February 4 – 3:00 pm

U.S. Mission to UN, 45 St. & 1st Ave., Manhattan

Sponsored by December 12th Movement

Frigid weather and the first winter snowstorm couldn’t chill the spirit of solidarity and struggle at the 16th annual Detroit Martin Luther King Day rally at historic St. Matthews and St. Joseph Episcopal Church on Jan. 21. Gail Walker, executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), gave the keynote address, reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call for fundamental political and economic change — even using the word “socialism” at a time when it was not viewed as favorably as today.

Abayomi Azikiwe emceed the program. In his welcome, Father Kenneth Near explained his church’s roots in the anti-slavery struggle. Other speakers explained current hot struggles in Detroit and Michigan plus some recent victories.

UNITE HERE Local 24 President Nia Winston’s union won its strike at Marriott’s swank Book Cadillac hotel, part of the victorious nationally coordinated “One job should be enough” strikes. The University of Michigan Lecturers’ Employees Organization (LEO-AFT Local 6244) won a decent contract for nontenured faculty, reported Aurora Harris, union representative, poet and cultural organizer for the annual Detroit MLK rally.

The tax foreclosure mill continues to displace longtime Detroit homeowners in favor of profiteering investors. The property assessment of poor Black, Brown and white working-class Detroiters is out of whack from the actual exchange value of their homes, jacking up their tax bills. Youth organizer Jonathan Roberts coordinated a citywide campaign to organize people facing this wave of foreclosures. He asserted the right of his generation to decent housing and all the necessities of life.

Sean Crawford, an autoworker at GM’s Poletown plant — a target of the latest round of plant closings — called for international working-class solidarity to fight back against capitalism.

Elena Herrada, member of the Detroit School Board in Exile, challenged the notion that migrant workers are “illegal.” She pointed out that the corporations that hire and exploit their labor are never considered the illegal ones.

The Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellerman, one of the Poor People’s Campaign activists arrested for blocking the downtown Q-line trolley, urged support in court for the “Gilbert Seven,” whose jury trial was set to begin the next day. There, they will challenge the crimes of the capitalist system against the poor.

IFCO administers the U.S. applications for scholarships at Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine. Walker encouraged those interested in applying for one of the 10 annual scholarships to learn the educational requirements at the Medical School tab on the IFCOnews.org website.

A cultural afternoon followed the community meal served by Food Not Bombs.

On Jan. 28, the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., hosted a reception on the occasion of Cuba’s National Day and the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, plus the centennial of the opening of the Cuban Embassy. The date marked the 166th anniversary of the birth of Cuba’s national hero, José Martí.

Cuban Ambassador José Ramón Cabañas Rodríguez welcomed those gathered, explaining the significance of the date and noting the destructive Category 4 tornado that had hit Cuba’s capital city Havana the night before, killing 4 and injuring nearly 200 others.

Grey Reddit, president of the Mobile-Havana Society, introduced photographer Chip Cooper and the photo exhibit “Common Ground,” with images from Havana and Mobile, Ala., displayed throughout the embassy.  

At a time when the U.S. government threatens to tighten the unilateral economic, financial and commercial blockade of its smaller island neighbor and openly engineers regime change in Venezuela, the large color photos of similar sites in both countries reminded guests of the enduring friendship and solidarity between the people of the U.S. and the people of socialist Cuba.

Comrades,

My political voyage inside these prison walls is inspired by many revolutionaries, one of whom is Mumia Abu-Jamal. All of the trials Mumia has been through, from the time he was on the street to the 30-plus years he has been falsely incarcerated, touches me deeply.

For one thing, Mumia’s saga teaches that the system will go above and beyond to destroy any person(s) or organization(s) who have a revolutionary agenda … period. Secondly, Mumia teaches that no matter what hardships you go through, you never give up the fight … especially if it’s for the “cause.”

Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the strongest people I have ever known of. He has witnessed a number of threats on his life and has overcome those threats one at a time. Mumia’s survival was most certainly partially made possible by the help of comrades. Do you know why this is? Assistance of the masses does not go unheard, particularly when it comes along with the sacrifices that Mumia has made himself on behalf of all oppressed people.

I’ve read all of Mumia’s essays contained in “Live from Death Row.” Each time I pick up that book, it ignites a revolutionary flame within me. Certain things Mumia has experienced in prison, I have also experienced. Mumia has inspired me to want to become a voice for my community and my city. In this way, we can all contribute to the struggle for liberation.

Solidarity always,
James F. Young III

Young is currently incarcerated in Cumberland, Md., at North Branch Correctional Facility.