Originally published June 21, 2017
Meet at 11 AM, Sunday, June 25 in front of the Uptown Target, 4466 N. Broadway (details below)
The election of Donald Trump has heralded a climate of open bigotry against immigrants, Muslims and other groups already facing discrimination in the United States.
Following on the heels of declining living standards during the Obama years, with their unchecked police brutality targeting Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans and other people of color, the United States has now slipped even deeper into a downwards spiral of vicious fear-mongering against those already most victimized by it.
Trump does not represent some unstoppable fascist advance. Several of his obnoxious initiatives, most notably his Muslim ban, have been blocked (at least temporarily) by people pouring out into the streets and demonstrating at airports.
Make no mistake: it wasn’t the courts or the Constitution that saved the day. It was the popular outpouring in the streets – Muslims, immigrants AND those in solidarity with them – raising their voices in unity.
Here on the 75th anniversary of the U.S. mass imprisonment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, we should remember that, unless we stand together, political elites – including the supposedly “liberal” Roosevelt administration – will use the courts and Constitution to justify every level of bigotry, segregation and discrimination when it serves their interests.
Today, a solidarity or inter-sectional response to bigotry is ever more urgent in an era when:
* “Religious liberty” laws and court rulings threaten to reinforce second class citizenship for LGBTQs and women
* Corporate control of Washington and local governments means ever more greedy attacks on working people and the environment,
* The United States escalates its wars on other peoples of the world thru drone bombings, weapons sales, the proxy war by Israel against the Palestinians, and support for dictators who have as much contempt for their own people as do political elites in the U.S.
Only by a popular response from the ground up, based on the time-honored principal of solidarity for all of the oppressed and exploited, can we defeat Trump, the Republicans, and their neoliberal “opponents” in the Democratic Party.
Please help bring this message to streets of Chicago on the last Sunday in June as more than 1,000,000 people watch the Gay Pride Parade and our SOLIDARITY contingent in it! We will be marching with a HUGE 168 sq foot banner with the design shown in the picture above!!
MANY THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS JOINING US IN THE CONTINGENT!! —
ANSWER Chicago
Chicago LGBT Asylum Support Program (CLASP)
Civliv
Democratic Socialists of America (Chicago)Chicago ADAPT
Chicago Students Union
Queer Fest America
Women’s March – Illinois
The details:
* Meet at 11 AM SHARP, Sunday, June 25 in front of the Target store in Uptown, 4466 N. Broadway (1 block south of the “Wilson” stop on the Red Line – do NOT try to drive or take a bus there, as traffic will be hopelessly snarled). Look for a Pride flag on a tall stick there to meet our group!
* From the meeting point in front of the Target, you will be directed to where our actual contingent lines up (the parade organizers don’t tell us the location until just a few days beforehand).
* If you get lost or need more directions, the “day of” cell number is 773.209.1187. Otherwise emailLGBTliberation@aol.com for more info in the days before the parade.
THANKS and hope to see you there! SOLIDARITY!!!
Sponsored by the Gay Liberation Network