ADVISORY: Mothers March On DC Against Police Brutality; 2016 Presidential Hopeful Jill Stein Among Them
CONTACT:
For Jill Stein: Contact: Joel Peissig | Communications Director [c] 1. 213. 514. 8989 [e] Press@Jill2016.com
For Million Moms March: Jenna Knapp [c] 414-502-9535 [e] millionmomsmedia@gmail.com
WHO: Maria Hamilton, the mother of Dontre Hamilton, a 31-year-old unarmed black man shot fourteen times for sleeping in a public park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin- will march with allies from across the country, including dozens of mothers of victims of police and vigilante violence and from across the country at the Million Moms March in Washington DC.
Dr. Jill Stein, 2012 Green Party presidential nominee, currently in exploratory phase for 2016 Presidential bid, will march with the mothers, and be a featured speaker at a the rally immediately following.
WHAT: For every individual killed, there is a mother who has suffered a loss greater than any one person should have to bear. These mothers are now calling on all concerned community members to join this fight and take a stand against police brutality and racial injustice.
Mothers for Justice United demands that the victims’ cases be reviewed for civil rights violations; that the involved police departments undergo patterns and practices investigations; and that those found to be consistently in violation be subject to monitoring and necessary restructuring.
WHERE/ WHEN: Washington, D.C. Saturday, March 9
10:00AM-11:00AM: Gathering and Prayer Circle at John Marshall Park
Rev. Traci Blackmon, FergusonBlessings by Pastor Steve Jerbi, All Peoples Church, Milwaukee, WID.C. Labor Chorus
11:00AM-12:00PM: Million Moms March, stopping at the Department of Justice to present demands, and culminating at John Marshall Park
12:00PM-2:30PM: Justice Rally, John Marshall Park
Performers/speakers:
Speaker: Maria Hamilton, founder Mothers for Justice United
Speaker: Jill Stein, Green Party Presidential Candidate
Musical Performers: DC Labor Chorus
Singer: Beverly Askia
Spoken Word Performers: poets of Split This Rock
Musical Performer: Jasiri-X
Speaker: Rev. Traci Blackmon
Speaker: Amber Lee Carter
Speaker: Nate Hamilton
Speaker: Maryland Delegate Jill Carter
Speaker: Former US Marshall Mathew Fogg
WHY: Valerie Bell, the mother of Sean Elijah Bell, who was killed by Police on November 25, 2006, in writing Why I will be marching, states:
“This year we are taking back the original intention of Mother’s Day: a day founded for mothers to stand up together to make collective demands. After the Civil War and the economic turmoil that followed, American abolitionist Julia Ward Howe, horrified by the wars and devastation of her time, penned a proclamation to mothers everywhere:
“Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause,” she wrote. “Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience… From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: Disarm, disarm!”
Howe called on women to “promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”
It’s now a century after the founding of Mothers Day, and our sons are still being taken from us. Society has not disarmed, but militarized to the teeth. Mothers’ sons everywhere are still killing and being killed. We have had enough.”
(Read the full statement here)
INTERVIEWS/ PHOTOGRAPHS /VIDEO:
Dr. Stein, Maria Hamilton and others are available for interviews.