Newark March for Peace and Equality

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8-24-07, 9:26 am




For Immediate Release: Wednesday, August 23, 2007 Contact: Lawrence Hamm, The Peace & Justice Coalition, (973) 801-0001 Susan Chenelle, United for Peace & Justice, (646) 526-5754 THE PEOPLE'S MARCH FOR PEACE, EQUALITY, JOBS & JUSTICE SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2007 - NEWARK, NEW JERSEY March Will Call for End to War in Iraq and Violence in Our Streets

The People's March For Peace, Equality, Jobs & Justice will be held Saturday, August 25, 2007, beginning at 12:00 noon in Lincoln Park in downtown Newark, New Jersey. The rally and march is being organized by The Peace & Justice Coalition, which has more than 100 member organizations, and has been endorsed by United for Peace and Justice-NYC, which is mobilizing its member organizations to participate. People from throughout the tri-state region are expected to attend. 'The purpose of the People's March for Peace, Equality, Jobs & Justice is to bring public attention to our desire for an immediate end to the war in Iraq and the violence in our streets, our demands for racial equality, the creation of a massive jobs program, and the redirection of money for the war towards domestic needs,' said Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization For Progress and a spokesman for the coalition. The march is being held on August 25th to coincide with the 44th anniversary of the 1963 March On Washington For Jobs & Freedom, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gave his famous 'I Have A Dream' speech, and the second anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. It is also being held this year to coincide with the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Newark Rebellion.

The event will begin at 12:00 noon with a rally at Lincoln Park. The invited keynote speaker is Congressman John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Conyers will discuss his national health insurance bill H.R. 676.

Speakers at the rally will include James Kelley, whose son Clarence Lavon Floyd was killed in Iraq; Rev. William Howard, Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church; James Harris, NJ State President, NAACP; Ray Stever, President, New Jersey Industrial Union Council; Madelyn Hoffman, Executive Director, New Jersey Peace Action; Jerome Harris, President, New Jersey Black Issues Convention; poet/playwright Amiri Baraka; and Lawrence Hamm, Chairman, People's Organization For Progress. Hurricane Katrina survivor and New Orleans resident Alice Craft-Kerney will also address the rally.

The rally will be followed by a march, which will begin at Lincoln Park, proceed up Broad Street to Military Park, and return to Lincoln Park. There will be a concluding rally at Lincoln Park. The march and rally is a follow-up event to the People's Peace Conference that was held in January at the Rutgers Law School and the People's Rally for Peace & Justice held at Essex County College in March. 'All of these events are part of an ongoing organizing effort to increase African American and Latino participation in the peace movement and to link the struggle to end the war to the struggle for racial, social, and economic justice here at home,' Hamm said. For more information, visit the Peace and Justice Coalition website at www.peaceandjusticecoalition.org, send an email to or call (801) 457-9448. Lawrence Hamm can be reached at (973) 801-0001.

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