***MEDIA ADVISORY***MEDIA ADVISORY***MEDIA ADVISORY***
NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK & REV. AL SHARPTON, ALONG WITH LABOR LEADERS & COMMUNITY ACTIVISTS TO LEAD RALLIES IN OVER 25 CITIES ON DECEMBER 9TH FOR JOBS AND JUSTICE ------
New Haven, CT RALLY TO TAKE PLACE AT Community Baptist Church 143 Shelton Avenue, New Haven, CT
WHAT:
Rally for Jobs & Justice
Community Baptist Church
143 Shelton Avenue
New Haven, CT
WHEN:
Friday, December 9, 2011 - 6p.m.
BACKGROUND:
Rev. Al Sharpton and National Action Network (NAN), along with partners in labor, civil rights, and clergy from across the country, will hold a rally in over 25-cities on December 9th, 2011 as a follow-up to the mass march for jobs and justice that NAN held October 15, 2011. The December 9th march will continue to focus on growing economic disparity, lack of employment, and equality issues surrounding our current economic state. We will call attention to disproportionate layoffs of Blacks, Latinos and other oppressed groups, attacks on the public sector and the ever-growing wealth gap. NAN will push for economic growth, job creation and concrete, substantive ideas that truly begin to get people back to work. And we will call out all those who stand in the way.The 25-city rallies will call attention to key issues that have not been remedied in this country. As working Americans struggle to gain employment and livable wages, we continue to watch rampant attacks on workers rights and increasing joblessness across the country. The rallies will be held in cities that are most impacted by the joblessness and attacks on workers rights.
In recent years, too many American families have lost economic ground. Over the decade ending in 2009, median family income fell by $3,800. And the gap between the wealthiest Americans and those with the least is growing every day, making it tougher to enter into the middle class. With African American unemployment at an unacceptable 15%, this is a clear sign that we need action-inaction is not an option. Black layoffs have only skyrocketed as the public sector - heavily comprised of a Black workforce - continues to slash jobs. And as a result, not only has Black wealth diminished, but so too has the existence of much of this nation's Black middle class itself. Black, White or Brown - that is a startling reality that should have all of us deeply concerned.
According to a study released earlier this year by the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Blacks were 30% more likely than other workers to be employed in the public sector. And while the private sector has added 1.6 million jobs as reported in a recent New York Times piece, public employment has seen massive layoffs across the board. Whether it's teachers, firefighters, police officers, or any other form of municipal work, the public sector has been under attack from Wisconsin to NJ and everywhere in between. From losing their bargaining rights to bearing the brunt of city and state budget cuts, public service employees are watching their entire life savings disappear. And because about 1 in 5 Blacks work in civil service, we are disproportionately suffering yet again during these tough times.
In the U.S. postal service alone, about 25% of employees are Black. It is precisely because of work in this industry and in other government entities that we were finally able to climb the economic and societal ladder, and eventually begin to achieve the proverbial American dream of home ownership. An entire Black middle class emerged via civil service jobs, and we are now tragically close to witnessing the greatest stumbling block to progress that will literally set us back decades. But we can - and we must - do something to halt this injustice that so clearly threatens our immediate future.
For more information and locations and times in each city please visit:
www.nationalactionnetwork.netwww.facebook.com/nationalactionnetworkFollow us on Twitter @NationalAction
Call our national headquarters at 877-626-4651
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