Civil rights leaders see 2008 as year of movement ‘Beyond Freedom’ to equality
By Hazel Trice Edney
Leaving what could be described as the most intense year for civil rights activism since before the death of Dr. Martin Luther http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2916 Jr. nearly 40 years ago, civil rights leaders vowed recently to move into 2008 with the vigor to go beyond the freedoms gained in the 1960s to the equality that is yet to be achieved.
“On Dr. King’s birthday 40 years ago, he spoke on the triple evils of racism, capitalism and militarism,” the Rev. Jesse http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1820 Sr. told the NNPA News Service. “And today it’s still racism, capitalism without checks and balances and militarism that’s eating up our budget and still undermining our ability to grow. Those triple evils remain real.”
He continued, “We’ve got freedom in public accommodations and the right to vote. The issue now is to go beyond freedom to the fight for equality, equal access and equal protection, equal access to health care, equal access to education, equal access to capital, equal access to industry and technology.”
Jackson, who last month in New York led a protest against subprime lending that has resulted in a mortgage crisis, said his RAINBOW/Push Coalition will start 2008 demanding the end to record home foreclosures, which have disparately affected African Americans.”Around the country, we’re seeing right out, straight out racial steering. The instances of http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=3002 loans are 40 percent Latinos and 60 percent black,” Jackson said. “The issue of restructuring and not repossession, it clearly affects us in every city and every state.”
The year 2008 being the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King by James Earl Ray in Memphis is expected to illuminate the necessity for African Americans to take inventory of their gains as a race in order to determine next steps.
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