I am disappointed at the lack of information in the news about America's Journey for Justice. Please help us get the word out that we can work together to solve many of the problems that face our nation. Don't let the emphasis on sensational news and divisive conflicts define our narrative and strip us of the power of many working together by keeping us separate and mistrusting of each other. This march is doing much to change individual hearts, and open many minds to the many injustices and how we can work together for change.
The 860 mile march began in Selma on August 1st and ends in Washington DC on September 16th.
WHERE's THE NEWS COVERAGE? One of the biggest lessons I've learned while marching in the NAACP organized America's Journey for Justice March is that the media doesn't care about peaceful, informative, groups seeking justice.
Where's CNN? This march was in their back and front yards for several days. An intern couldn't be spared to cover the story? I think we were not newsworthy because people of many colors and faiths and non-faiths are marching and sharing stories with each other and learning and teaching each other.
The News Media want a divisive story - not one of harmony and rational approaches to change. We all need to get out - talk to each other - and not believe everything the news agencies are telling you - people care and people can do great things! #justicesummer #tzedeksummer
The two teach-in's I attended were about economic injustices and eroding voting rights - these injustices hit all Americans and they prey upon the elderly, the military who are stationed away from home, the young, and the working poor who do not have the training in budgeting, etc.
To learn more, please visit the NAACP.org site for more information or google search news for "Journey for Justice" & #justicesummer - it's a 40 day march from Selma to DC - and about education injustice, criminal system injustice, and environmental injustice too.
NAACP President Cornell William Brooks has described the march, “America’s Journey for Justice,” as “building a movement” that he hopes will influence Congress and the presidency. “This is not a one-time episodic kind of thing. We’re building a movement so that once we leave Washington, you have people continuing to press. You will have people going back to their home states having met with their legislators in Washington. So they go back to their home states and they continue to press the case,” said Brooks in an interview with the Trice Edney News Wire. “This is not a ceremonial march, this is not a nostalgic march; it is not a commemorative march. It’s a march for reform and a march to catalyze and build a movement.”
The underlying theme of the march is “Our Lives, Our Jobs, and Our Schools Matter.”:
- National standards for use of force for all law enforcement agents, and the passage of the End Racial Profiling Act.
- Federal action to ensure every student has access to safe, high quality education, regardless of location and household income.
- Federal prioritization of job creation and training, and passage of the Raise the Wage Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act.
- That Congress restore, strengthen, and advance the 1965 Voting Rights Act by passing the Voting Rights Advancement Act.
A statement on NAACP.org describes: “Each morning, AJFJ march participants will have breakfast at the meeting locations and then board buses which will take them to the starting point of the march for that day. Boxed lunches will be provided for the marchers along the route. At the end of each day’s march, participants will board the buses and return to the meeting locations. Dinner will be provided at the meeting locations at 7:30 p.m., and will be followed by the teach-in for that evening … That’s 46 days of old-school marching. That’s 860 miles for freedom and dignity. That’s 1.7 MILLION steps towards justice.”
Brooks says the intent is not only to influence Congressional legislation, but the current and future White House as dozens of candidates line up with hopes to succeed President Obama and the debate season has begun.
“So we come to Washington, streaming by the thousands across the 14th Street Bridge on the 15th of September, we meet that evening for a massive rally and service where we inspire the folks, who have been not only inspired but educated,” Brooks envisions. “And then the next day on the 16th, we have an advocacy day where we take thousands of people through the halls of Congress asking for specific reform, marching under the theme that says our Lives, Our Votes, Our Jobs and Our Schools Matter.”
I continue to ask that you pray for me in the role of Public Theology Advocate as I take a stand for justice. Respond to this blog, or contact me directly, with your thoughts, ideas, and concerns about social justice in the Pascack Valley region.
Lisa
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