Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2014, pp. 62
Waging Peace
Protesters Decry Congressional Black Caucus Support for Israel
Chanting slogans and holding signs reading “Palestinian Lives Matter,” “Israel Apartheid Is Evil,” and “CBC Votes to Militarize While Black People are Criminalized,” a group of some 40 locally and nationally known African-American activists, artists and journalists gathered outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC on Sept. 24 to protest the 44th Annual Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Legislative Conference.
The rally was called to publicly shame and hold the CBC accountable for its poor leadership on many critical issues, including its support for the July 11 House resolution to affirm Israel's “right to self defense” in light of its most recent bombing of Gaza.
“We want to shame the CBC, who voted to support Israel's bombing of Gaza, which killed 2,000 Palestinians, including more than 500 children,” Netfa Freeman of the International Committee to Free the Cuban Five told the crowd outside the conference venue. “The CBC does not represent us. They should be standing out here with us.”
“What the CBC has been doing for several years is embarrassing to me as a woman of African descent,” said Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture, a Washington, DC-based activist. “It’s time to hold our leaders accountable.”
Other speakers included Mauri Saalakhan of the Peace Thru Justice Foundation and Felicia Eaves of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. The rally drew mixed reactions from passersby and conference attendees. Some stopped to listen while CBC members scurried inside the convention center.
—Elaine Pasquini
