Black Leaders Plan March On Olympia Express Alarm Over Direction Of Legislation

Black leaders say there still is room for civil rights marches, and are planning one on Olympia to express concern for the direction they feel welfare reform and get-tough-oncrime proposals are taking.

Thirty years after the civil-rights movement reached its height, protest still is useful, King County Councilman Larry Gossett said.

“African Americans have to use peaceful street demonstrations - street heat - along with other strategies like negotiation, preparing ourselves and electing officials, if African American males are to get on an even playing field in a humane, secure fashion,” Gossett said.

The President’s Day march on the Capitol Feb. 20 will be part of Black History Month and is expected to be the largest by African Americans in more than a decade, organizers said.

The march was planned by about 30 community leaders attending a Wednesday conference on “The Vanishing Black Male: Saving Our Sons” at Seattle’s St. Mark’s Cathedral. They gathered to participate in a nationally broadcast videoconference to help launch Black History Month.

“It has been a long time since we’ve had a rally and march with significant numbers,” said James Kelly, director of the state Commission on African American Affairs. “Black History Month is an important time to celebrate our contributions, but it is also important to recognize African Americans are dealing with painful realities.”

Some of the national leaders speaking in the videoconference criticized proposals in Congress that “stigmatize” blacks.

“In the Contract for America, the word for black male is `crime,’ and the word for black woman is `welfare,”’ said Julianne Malveaux, a columnist for Black Issues in Higher Education.

But blacks - individually and as a community - must be more accountable for instilling the value of learning in their children, said Phyllis Beaumonte, a teacher at Seattle’s Rainier Beach High.