Most blacks have not even been invited to come to any anti-war demos. Those blacks who have come to anti-war demos -- black leftists, some black immigrants, blacks who have lived in predominantly white neighborhoods and gone to predominantly white schools, etc. -- exist in social and cultural networks through which announcements of anti-war protests travel. Other blacks, which is to say the majority of blacks, live outside of the existing anti-war networks, so they don't know about protests until they happen to drive by a bunch of mostly white folks holding up signs (in which event nine out of ten black drivers appear to honk in support). No national anti-war coalition has devoted resources to get the word out to predominantly black neighborhoods. In some cities, local anti-war coalitions may have made some efforts to that end, but most of us have not done so doggedly and systematically.
At 5:18 PM -0400 4/8/03, Doug Henwood wrote:
>You're forgetting knocking on doors, selling the revo like Girl Scout cookies!
Why don't we bring flyers and petitions to blacks by knocking on doors in black neighborhoods? Organizers and activists, of whatever color, have to give blacks still left out of the existing networks a chance to turn us down. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>