------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 3, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- PHILADELPHIA: CLERGY, ACTIVISTS DENOUNCE COP TERROR By Betsey Piette Philadelphia An indoor interfaith rally against police brutality July 23 drew over 1,000 people in the wake of the racist police beating of Thomas Jones and the killing of Robert Brown by Amtrak cops. A multinational crowd of over 800 filled the Morris Brown A.M.E. Church to capacity while hundreds more gathered outside, a few blocks from the intersection where a news helicopter taped police beating Jones on July 12. Rally organizer the Rev. Vernal Simms Sr., president of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia, promised the movement wouldn't stop there. He called for a march to target Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham, who has filed 41 charges against Jones, yet refused to charge any of the police who beat him. Several speakers left the indoor rally to address those who stood outside for over three hours, frequently chanting "No justice, no peace" and urging organizers to bring the event outside to the streets. Rally speakers included Black, Latino and Asian clergy, political and community representatives from Philadelphia, and the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, both national leaders in the fight against police brutality. Activist Pam Africa of International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal was welcomed to the stage. Several family members of both Jones and Brown were in attendance. Minister Rodney Mohammad of the Nation of Islam denounced claims that the Jones beating wasn't racist because Black cops were involved. The Rev. Luis Cortez described the police assault and beating of a Puerto Rican minister, the Rev. Frank Buelna, last October. "We were told to be patient," Cortez said. "But the officers who beat Buelna have been on the streets for nine months now." Attorney Charles Bowser recalled the names of many Black men who were killed by the police in Philadelphia. He warned the audience not to fall victim to the press campaign to smear the victims of police brutality, recalling a case from the 1970s when the media found Black school children "at fault" for allegedly inciting the police who beat them. Martin Luther King III urged the crowd to join an August 26 rally against racial profiling in Washington. The Rev. Al Sharpton challenged city officials, the media and other church officials who violence-baited the rally. "They have the arrogance to tell us to calm down. Some one should have told the police to calm down," Sharpton said, noting that Brown was shot and killed less than a week after Jones was beaten. Sharpton also chided those who publicly criticized his participation as "an outsider," noting that they are welcoming Bush and 45,000 Republicans to town at the same time. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>