oin us this Saturday for a community rally where we will demand:
Justice for Trayvon Martin?arrest George Zimmerman! Create jobs in our community?more jobs for our youth! Stand Against racism?fight for equality!
All across the country people from many communities have come together in the streets to demand justice for Trayvon Martin, the African American youth who was gunned down by George Zimmerman in Florida. Zimmerman has yet to be arrested for this crime and the lack of police investigation, combined with the indifference of the government, shows all of us that despite the gains we have made in this country, we still live under a system that does not value Black lives.
Right now unemployment in the Black community is about twice the national average. As of September 2011, the real unemployment rate for African Americans has reached 50 percent in some places. The official unemployment rate for Black youth is more than 15% higher than the rest of the nation. As we march for Trayvon Martin we also need to march for Black youth who are still living in our community, trying to build successful lives and being faced with little or no job opportunities. Without decent jobs many in our community turn to crime to pay the bills. And where does that get us? Right now one in nine Black men between the ages of 20-34 are in jail compared to one in 30 other men of the same age.
We want to call on the government to invest in our community and create jobs for the unemployed. We want an end to the job discrimination that has plagued us for centuries. African Americans are too often the last hired and first fired?where we can get hired at all. We believe that the government has the obligation to create a massive jobs program, providing education, training and job opportunities to our youth. This government has plenty of money. In 2008 Obama spent 13 trillion dollars to bail out the big banks that created the economic crisis. Where is the bailout for the people?
Some people have called Trayvon Martin this generation?s Emmett Till. When 14-year-old Till was brutally lynched in 1955?and his racist killers were set free?it sparked the outrage of millions across the country and helped inspire the Civil Rights movement. This was a movement for dignity, freedom, political equality and jobs. Never forget that Dr. King?s last campaign was organizing the Memphis Sanitation workers, fighting for better working conditions. At a time when so many of our people are unemployed, we need to remember the legacy of Civil Rights struggle and fight for Trayvon Martin and for jobs, the basis for real equality.
This event has been endorsed by: ANSWER LA, Rev. Eric Lee of SCLC LA, Najee Ali of Project Islamic Hope, C.H.A.N.G.E., Jim Lafferty- Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild in LA, Women of Watts and Jewel Schuller of From Saggin II Success.
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