Gail Walker

Gail Walker is a New York City activist.

RESPECT

Gail Walker is a "founding member" of RESPECT, "a U.S. professional association uniting nonprofit entities, travel agents, tour operators and other travel service providers dedicated to practicing and promoting ethical and socially responsible travel to Cuba."

National Network on Cuba

As of February 26, 2020, the National Network on Cuba website listed current co-chairs as Alicia Jrapko, Banbose Shango, Cheryl LaBash, Gail Walker, Nalda Vigezzi and Current treasurer: John Waller

Communist Party tabling

Estevan Nembhard, August 11, 2015. ·

We are tabling at Harlem Week this weekend. Help us build the New York State Communist Party into a political force in Harlem and throughout the city and state. — with Divino DeNegro, Chris Herrera, Carol Widom, Jose L. Sanchez, Radhames Morales, David Unger, Bayby Bling Bling, Susan DiRaimo, Gianna Leo Falcon, Lydia Bassett Tyner, Karim Lopez, Chris Butters, Ava Farkas, Gail Walker, Joselina Fay Rodriguez, Roberto J. Mercado, Sara Ladino Cano, William Camarada and Drew King.

Tribute to Fidel

At least 500 people jammed the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Cultural Center in Harlem, N.Y., on Feb. 4, 2017, to pay tribute to Fidel Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, at an event entitled, “The Legacy Continues.” Gail Walker, executive director of IFCO (Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization)/Pastors for Peace, shared emcee duties with Malcolm Sacks of the Venceremos Brigade.

At the podium was a large photograph of Malcolm X and Fidel laughing during their historic meeting at Harlem’s old Hotel Theresa in 1960. In the meeting hall, along with the historic site’s murals of Malcolm’s life was a beautiful banner with a portrait of Fidel painted by Carlito Rovira, a former member of the Young Lords.

Zayid Muhammad, revolutionary poet and organizer from Newark, N.J., gave a libation that evoked Caribbean revolutionaries Marcus Garvey, Pedro Albizu Campos and Jose Martí.

There was video footage of Fidel speaking at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church in 1995 and at Riverside Church in 2000. Talking about his 1960 visit to New York, Fidel recalled he had said, “I’m going to Harlem. That’s where our best friends are.”

The Honorable Anayansi Rodríguez, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations, said to audience members, “You are sisters and brothers.” She pointed out that Fidel made several trips to New York City before and after the Cuban Revolution’s triumph in 1959. The ambassador also spoke of Fidel’s love for the Rev. Lucius Walker, a sentiment which was visually displayed in a video where Fidel embraced his friend.

Rev. Walker, Gail Walker’s father, founded Pastors for Peace. He died in 2010. He had been wounded by U.S.-backed contra terrorists seeking to overthrow Nicaragua’s Sandinista government in 1988. Two people in Walker’s group were killed.

Video statements were played from South Africa, Angola and Namibia. Jerry Matthews Matjila, South Africa’s ambassador to the U.N., called Fidel “a great friend and ally.” Over 2,000 Cuban soldiers died fighting for African freedom against apartheid armies supplied by the Pentagon and Israel.

Walker recognized Nguyen Phuong Nga, U.N. ambassador from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, who was in the audience. So was former political prisoner Sekou Odinga, a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army who spent 30 years in jail. Walker also acknowledged longtime Puerto Rican revolutionary Esperanza Martell, the Rev. Herbert Daughtry of the House of the Lord Church and James A. Forbes, senior minister emeritus of the Riverside Church.

Dr. Joaquín Morante, a physician practicing in East Harlem, announced that Cuba had provided a free medical education to 145 doctors from the U.S. at the Latin America School of Medicine. He was one of them. “I stand amazed at what was accomplished,” said Morante, noting that Cuba trained 20,000 physicians from over 100 countries at the school. None paid a dime.

The tribute had many cultural presentations. Sala Cyril read a poem saluting Fidel by Zenzile Khoisan from South Africa. “Revolutionary Cuba is my second homeland,” declared Puerto Rican revolutionary Frank Velgara, who read a poem honoring Fidel. Velgara helped organize the tribute.

World-renown jazz pianist Dayramir Gonzalez and violinist Taitiana Ferrer performed. Cuban-born González said that at 16 he was able to travel the world. He warned people not to get sick in the U.S. since “health care and education are not a priority,” unlike in socialist Cuba.

“Long live the Haitian and Cuban revolutions!” declared Ninaj Raoul, director of Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees. She said Haiti should have established Committees for the Defense of the Revolution like Cuba had done.

Jaime Mendieta, the president of Casa de las Americas, also spoke of Fidel’s trip to New York following his release from prison in 1955. Fidel addressed 800 people to gain support for the July 26th Movement fighting the dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Members of Casa de las Americas courageously aided the struggle against Batista and later defended the Cuban Revolution. Luis Miranda, longtime president of CASA who died in 2007, was wounded in New York City by Cuban counterrevolutionaries. The attackers were protected by city police.

Anti-war activist Leslie Cagan, who received Cuba’s Medal of Friendship, reminded the audience that the event was being held on the anniversary of Amadou Diallo’s assassination in 1999. New York City cops fired 41 shots at the immigrant from Guinea.

Larry Hamm, leader of New Jersey’s dynamic People’s Organization for Progress, helped wind up the program with a fiery speech: “U.S. imperialism has not been able to defeat the Cuban Revolution. We must end the blockade against Cuba. … To make revolution in the United States is the greatest tribute to Fidel.”

Hamm strongly asserted, “We know the Cuban people will protect Assata Shakur,” referring to the Black revolutionary given asylum and trained as a doctor by Cuba.

In the beautiful printed program produced by the New York-New Jersey Cuba Sí Organizing Committee, Workers World Party declared: “Fidel will continue to inspire not only the Cuban people but the hundreds of millions around the world who yearn for liberation. A genuine Marxist Leninist, Fidel was able to stand up to the strongest imperialist power to create and build an independent socialist project right under the nose of the U.S.”

Loud & Clear

11:03 12.10.2018,"Sorry, You're On Your Own" US Govt's Message to Americans in Hurricane.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Shelby Shoup, a student activist at Florida State University who was in the center of the hurricane yesterday, and Gail Walker, the executive director of Pastors for Peace and a Cuba solidarity activist.

"We're not going back, 2013"

The Majority Voted Against Racism , Unity is the Mandate , WE’RE NOT GOING BACK!, Celebration of African American Culture & Struggle

Performances by: The People’s Chorus, Amiri Baraka & Amina Baraka, Kahlil AlMustafa.

Featured Speakers: Pearl Granat, SEIU 1199 Vice President, Maria Ramos, Labor Activist, Chris Owens, Bkln. Reform Democrat

Keynote Address: Jarvis Tyner, Communist Party USA

Sunday, February 24, 2013 2:00 – 4:30 pm. Henry Winston Unity Hall. 235 West 23rd Street New York, NY.

We’re Not Going Back! Host Committee:

Annie Allen, Mary Arnold, Ras Baraka, Gary Bono, Jesse Campoamor, Chris Butters, Bill Davis, Libero Della Piana, Guy DeVeaux, Kamau Franklin, Pat Fry, Raglan George, Angela Givens, Lucia Gomez, Marvin Holland, Estelle Jacobs, Jason Javier, Florence Johnson, Judith LeBlanc, Lashawn Lesley, Alfredo Lopez, Luis Matos, Louise Meriwether, Charlene Mitchell, Radhames Morales, Larry Moskowitz, Matt Murtagh, Estevan Nembhard, Cara Noel, Kimberly Ortiz, Radhames Perez, Bill Perkins, Ydanis Rodriiguez, Danny Rubin, Joe Sims, Irene Tung, Janice Walcott, Gail Walker, Sam Webb.

A People Before Profits Educational Fund Sponsored Event.