alcolm X Grassroots Movement
One ofthe most interestingaspects ofthe antiwar movement which developed against the Gulfwar was the high level ofinvolvement of people ofcolor. Particularly in urban centers such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, Black activists and organizations were highly visible and active in organizing against the war. At the end of April, Brealuhrough inte1路viewed Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Robin Alexander, two Black women who had been active in anti-war organizing in Los Angeles. Thandisizwe and Robin are members ofthe Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a national organization with chapters and affiliates in Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, Newark, Chicago, Fort Worth, Washington, D. C., Atlanta, New Orleans, Birmingham, Greenville, South Carolina and jackson, Mississippi. How did the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement get involved in organizing against the Gulf war in the Black community of Los Angeles? Robin: When we realized that the government was going to be sending individuals over to the Gulf, and none of our mainstream leaders in Los Angeles was saying anything to the Black community about the injustice of this whole incident, we could not let them go on without speaking to our community and not allowing our community to speak out. T h andisizwe: We don' t bill ourselves as an anti-war movement. The Malcolm X GrassrootS Movement is a coalition of organizations and individuals who agree that African people in America are an oppressed nation. We took on anti-war work as part of our overall work. The first of our principles is self-determination for African people in America, meaning that Black people have the right to decide what we want to do with our lives: whether we want to integrate into America in its present form or in a socialist or reconstructed America; whether we leave Credit: Rick Reinhard/lmpact Visuals