[statecom-discuss] Re: McKinney statement - wonderful and true

[Mike Heichman]

FYI

The last I heard McKinney was still a Democrat. There are some Greens 
who want to persuade her to shift parties and run for the presidential 
nomination for the Green Party.

Mike Heichman

----------------------

> We Will Not Be Divided
>
> By Cynthia McKinney
>
> 05/03/07 "ICH" -- -- Two centuries ago, the United States, Latin
> America and Haiti were joined in the struggle for dignity and freedom.
> In 1779, when a fledgling United States was fighting for its
> independence, a unit of Haitian volunteers answered the call and
> fought alongside George Washington in the Battle of Savannah.
>
> When Haiti threw off imperial domination, it helped Latin America to
> become free. In fact, Simon Bolivar received supplies from Haiti for
> his victorious war over Spanish imperialism while Venezuela's first
> tri-color flag was unfurled on Haitian soil.
>
> Enslaved Africans in the United States fled to freedom in Haiti—and
> also to Mexico.
>
> Black people and the diverse peoples of Latin America share a bond of
> blood and the struggle for freedom. Whether we are children of Bolivar
> or the children of la negra Hipolita , we are one.
>
> However, a few cynical, greedy, amoral people who do not share our
> values but who have a whole lot of power want to divide and exploit us
> for their own selfish gain. We should never forget that Jesse Helms
> won reelection to the Senate on a notorious TV spot that pitted white
> workers against black workers. This tactic has always been used to
> keep labor divided.
>
> We won't let it happen! Slavery was abolished in this country in 1865.
> We won't go back!
>
> Two hundred million people worldwide should not be forced to leave
> their families behind and head for developed countries because there
> are no decent jobs at home. Parents and children should not be
> separated because of global forces that workers don't understand, but
> must respond to. I.C.E. agents shouldn't be picking up people on the
> streets and holding them incommunicado as if this horrible global
> assault on human dignity was caused by them.
>
> Our country can do better than this.
>
> U.S. policy should uplift workers abroad and at home. We should demand
> fairness for labor and respect for the environment in all of our trade
> agreements. U.S. corporations must be held accountable wherever they
> might operate in the world. We must demand a living wage. There must
> not be any race to the bottom.
>
> By now, the new Congress should have repealed the Patriot Act, the
> Military Tribunals Act, the Secret Evidence Act and George Bush's tax
> cuts. They should have ensured the right of return for all Katrina
> survivors; cut off all funding for George Bush's wars; and they should
> have impeached Condi, Dick and George by now!
>
> Sadly, the Democrats were too quiet on the theft of two Presidential
> elections, too quiet on the lies of September 11th; too quiet on the
> neocons misleading us into the Iraq War; and now they are too quiet on
> the carnage in Somalia and the possibility of using nukes in Iran.
>
> After his shocking incompetence during Hurricane Katrina, why is
> Michael Chertoff still Secretary of Homeland Security?
>
> Leaders in Washington, D.C. can change our disastrous military,
> economic, and foreign policies that contribute to the shape our
> country and world are in. What they do depends on us.
>
> Between Democrats and Republicans in the corridors of power, the fix
> is in. Now is not the time to be quiet. We will not be quiet. We will
> not back down. We will not be divided! Our voices will be heard!
>
> Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney served six terms in Georgia's
> Fourth District. This speech was delivered May 2, 2007 at the Los
> Angeles immigration rally, and reprinted in Black Agenda Report .
>