Nellie Bailey

Template:TOCnestleft Nellie Bailey is a New York City activist.

WWP Rosa Parks rally

On Oct. 27, 2005 New York City Council member Charles Barron and the Troops Out Now Coalition sponsored a news conference on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan. Scores of community activists joined a dozen members of the City Council to announce the introduction of a resolution to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ 1955 arrest with a day of absence against war, poverty and racism on Dec. 1.

The news conference took place three days after Rosa Parks’ death at the age of 92.

Barron began the press conference by saying, “When Rosa Parks sat down, that is when Black people stood up.” Barron spoke of the significance of the resolution, which urges all businesses and schools to close down on Dec. 1 to allow workers and students to attend events in honor of Rosa Parks.

Barron also spoke about the “immoral and illegal” Iraq war, which has caused the deaths of more than 100,000 Iraqis and 2,000 U.S. soldiers, along with $300 billion wasted on this criminal war. “If you can impeach Clinton for Monica [Lewin sky], then you can impeach Bush,” Barron said.

Workers World Party leader Larry Holmes from the Troops Out Now Coalition spoke about a day-long teach-in scheduled during a march and rally on Wall Street on Dec. 1. “We need to renew the civil rights movement.... We have to say no to the racism, injustice and poverty that creates a situation like New Orleans.... We won’t allow social justice, economic justice and the struggle against war to go to the back of the bus,” he said.

WWP affiliate Brenda Stokely, a co-convener of New York City Labor Against the War, said that “honoring Rosa Parks is honoring a legacy of struggle.” Stokely described the struggle of Katrina survivors to return home to New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas after the hurricane and explained how activists in a number of cities, including New York, are organizing solidarity committees to support this right.

WWP member LeiLani Dowell and Mia Cruz, organizers for the WWP youth wing Fight Imperialism-Stand Together, encouraged student walkouts on Dec. 1 and supported the on-going campaign against military recruiters in the high schools and colleges.

Other speakers at the press conference included three Black women on the City Council: Letitia James, Helen Foster and Yvette Clarke; State Sen. Jose Rivera; Nellie Bailey of the Harlem Tenants Council; Jasmine of Campus Anti-War Network; Ron Daniels of Center for Constitutional Rights; Jericho Movement leaders Herman Ferguson and Iyaluua Ferguson; Black Waxx recording artist Nana Soul; Gloria Jackson, a daycare worker and mother of a GI who was in Iraq; Zul of the Green Party’s National Peace Action Committee, and others.

"Katrina: A Challenge for the Movement"

On Oct. 22 2005 in New York, the Workers World newspaper staff hosted an important forum called "Katrina: A Challenge for the Movement: Forging a united front between the Black liberation, workers' and anti-imperialist struggles." The forum attracted an overflowing multinational crowd of progressives and activists from New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston and other areas.

The panel featured prominent African-American representatives based in New York, Raleigh and New Orleans. These leaders talked about the issues of the day from anti-racist, pro-labor, pro-community and anti-war perspectives.

Panelists were;

• Monica Moorehead, Workers World newspaper staff
• Saladin Muhammad, Chairperson, Black Workers for Justice in Raleigh, N.C.; Southern Region Coordinator of the Million Worker March Movement
• Malcolm Suber, Katrina survivor from New Orleans; People's Hurricane Relief Fund
• Brenda Stokely, Million Worker March Movement Eastern Region Co-coordinator; Co-convener, New York City Labor Against War; Troops Out Now Coalition
• Larry Holmes, Workers World Party; Troops Out Now Coalition
• Chris Silvera, Million Worker March Movement Eastern Region Co-coordinator; President, *Teamsters National Black Caucus
• Malik Rahim, resident of Algiers neighborhood in New Orleans; Common Ground Collective
• Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Troops Out Now Coalition
• LeiLani Dowell, Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST) youth group; Workers World newspaper staff

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

In 2008 Nellie Bailey, Director of Harlem Tenant Council, New York signed a statement circulated by the Partisan Defense Committee calling for the release of convicted “cop-killer” Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Bail Out the People Movement march

A powerful march for jobs filled the streets Pittsburgh, Sept. 20, 2009 in the first major protest before the G-20 summit. Organizers estimate more than 1000 people joined the demonstration, which marched from the Hill district, the historic center of the city’s African American community, to Freedom Corner.

Organized the Bail Out the People Movement, speakers at the rally included Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Mick Kelly, Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout; Oscar Hernandez, participant in the 11-month Stella D’Oro bakery strike in New York City; Sandra Hines, Michigan Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions; Larry Holmes, Bail Out the People Movement; Fred Redmond, vice-president of the United Steelworkers; Lynne Stewart, civil rights attorney and others.

Committee to Celebrate the Life of Luis Miranda Rivas

In 2009 Nellie Bailey was a member of the Committee to Celebrate the Life of Luis Miranda Rivas.

"Radical Black Perspective"

Left Forum 2010 contained the following panel: "Radical Black Perspective Panel: Obama, the Crisis of Black Leadership and US Imperialism Running Amuck!"

• Nellie Bailey (Chair), Co-founder of Harlem Tenants Council and Harlem Anti-War Coalition
• Glen Ford, Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report
• Margaret Kimberley, Senior Editor of Black Agenda Report
• Jon Jeter, Journalist & former Bureau Chief for the Washington Post in southern Africa and South America. Author of Flat Broke in the Free Market: How Globalization Fleeced Working People.

References

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