9/5 Charleston ILA Local 1442 Organizing Labor Day Weekend "Charleston's Days Of Grace, Love's Work Is Justice"

9/5 Charleston ILA Local 1442 Organizing Labor Day Weekend "Charleston's Days Of Grace, Love's Work Is Justice"
CHARLESTON'S DAYS OF GRACE: LOVE'S WORK IS JUSTICE
September 5, 9am, Wragg Square: National Mass March & Rally | September 5, 2-6pm/September 6, 7:30a – 3pm: Strategy Conference

En español

“It would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again”—President Barack Obama (6/26/15)

In recent weeks, the Mother Emanuel AME Church community and the family of Walter Scott have shown the world the radical possibilities of resilience, love, and forgiveness. However, as the President reminded us at Senator Pinckney’s funeral, real healing will take hard work.

Guns inflicted the fatal wounds of April and June, but racism, poverty and the politics of rancor and discord have long inflicted grave wounds on the state’s poor and most vulnerable people. This Labor Day weekend, people of faith and conscience will come together in Charleston to remember our fallen friends and to reflect on the racism and hatred that lay at the root of their deaths, as well as the violence that tears away at the fabric of our communities.

Specifically, the gathering will call for an end to racist violence and the transformation of our commemorative landscape—our monuments, markers, and historic sites—to fully reflect South Carolina’s traditions of diversity and democracy. We will also come together to honor Clementa Pinckney and to affirm the moral principles that he stood for as pastor and public servant. These include:

An end to discriminatory policing
Expanded voting rights
A living wage and collective bargaining rights for all working people
Affordable healthcare and Medicaid expansion
Quality education as a basic human right
An end to gun violence

Out of this mass gathering and a one-day strategy conference, we will build on the efforts of many grassroots organizations who have worked tirelessly and often thanklessly over the years to bring about a better South Carolina.

If you believe that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and if you understand that what happened at Emanuel AME has implications far beyond Charleston, and if you believe that we can build a movement together to save South Carolina’s soul and the soul of the nation, then join us as we proclaim "Forward Together, Not One Step Back!"

Issued by: International Longshoremen’s Association, Local 1422

ILA Local 1442 Organizing Labor Day Weekend "Charleston's Days Of Grace, Love's Work Is Justice"
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12 AUG ILA LOCAL 1422 ORGANIZING LABOR DAY WEEKEND “CHARLESTON’S DAYS OF GRACE, LOVE’S WORK IS JUSTICE”
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ILA Local 1422 Organizing Labor Day Weekend “Charleston’s Days of Grace, Love’s Work Is Justice” Saturday and Sunday, September 5 & 6, 2015; ILA President Harold Daggett Urges Full Participation In March, Rally & Conference

NORTH BERGEN, NJ – (August 12, 2015) Following up on plans first announced by International Longshoremen’s Association Vice President Kenneth Riley at the union’s convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico in July, the ILA Charleston local Riley leads as President (ILA Local 1422) has announced plans for a Labor Day Weekend March, Rally and Conference named “Charleston’s Days of Grace” in the South Carolina city where innocent African-Americans lost their lives in two separate and tragic events in April and June. ILA International President Harold J. Daggett is urging the entire ILA membership to fully support “Charleston’s Days of Grace” in any way they can.

“Guns inflicted the fatal wounds of April and June, but racism, poverty and the politics of rancor and discord have long inflicted grave wounds on the State’s poor and most vulnerable people,” announced ILA Local 1422. “This Labor Day, people of faith and conscience will come together in Charleston to remember our fallen friends and to reflect on the racism and hatred that lay at the root of their deaths, as well as the violence that tears away at the fabric of our communities.”

Charleston’s Days of Grace comes as the result of two violent and racist acts that occurred earlier this year. In April, Walter Scott, an unarmed African-American was gunned down by a white North Charleston police officer. In June, nine members of the Emanuel AME Church were murdered by Dylann Storm Roof, who the New York Times described as “a 21-year-old white man with an unsettled personal life and a recent history of anti-black views.”

Both violent acts touched the ILA deeply and personally. Walter Scott had relatives who were members of the ILA and two of the nine church victims were relatives of ILA Local 1422 member Tyrone Saunders, including his youngest son.

“As Ken Riley told our ILA delegates at our International Convention in July, we cannot simply mourn the dead and talk about reform – we must act and these Days of Grace is a powerful demonstration of action,” said ILA President Daggett.

President Barack Obama, a close friend of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of AME Church and another victim of the June massacre inside his church, said in his eulogy for of the Pastor: “It would be a betrayal of everything Reverend Pinckney stood for, I believe, if we allowed ourselves to slip into a comfortable silence again.”

ILA Local 1422 sees the “Days of Grace” as a means to further the moral principles of Rev. Pinckney including an end to discriminatory policing; expanded voting rights; a living wage and union rights for all working people; affordable healthcare and Medicaid expansion; quality education as a basic human right; and an end to gun violence.

ILA Local 1422 have established a web site for Days of Grace: www.daysofgracecharleston.org. The Saturday, Sept. 5th March and Rally will take place in Downtown Charleston at locations to be determined and the location of the two-day conference, Sept. 5 and 6th, will also be determined at a later time.