August 30th, NYC - It's the second day Still We Rise/Racial Justice 9-11 is out here protesting the Republican National Convention. By the end of the day yesterday, most of us were exhausted, but today (despite the heat) the vibes were good and the energy high. Standing at the foot of Union Square, as our contingent gets into formation, we witnessed the masses of people that make up the Still We Rise Poor People's March. Unlike yesterday, when our contingent felt like the only people of color in a vast ocean of white protesters, today's march is strikingly different. Most out on the streets are not globe-trotting activists or people who are out there for only one day. Most are New Yorkers of color and other poor communities who are fed up with "business as usual" and who are struggling on a daily basis for basic stuff we need here in New York - like housing, healthcare, decent jobs, and education. Watching Picture the Homeless come into the square with all their members in blue t-shirts, it was clear that today's march was of the people and for the people. There were also community members from different groups - including FUREE, NYC Aids Housing Network, Sistas on the Rise, and Mothers on the Move. As Still We Rise/Racial Justice 9-11 stepped off to join our allies, we began to march and chant, "Anti Asian, Latino, Black: George Bush Watch Your Back!" The energy was palpable.

Still We Rise/Racial Justice 9-11 -- made up of over a dozen different people of color organizations in NYC, including Audre Lorde Project, CAAAV, DRUM, Center for Immigrant Families, Nodutdol, Domestic Workers United, ALP, Sista ii Sista, and ROC-NY -- was near the front of the march. Again, different from yesterday, our coalition was not alone today. Today the streets were filled with people that looked like us: People of all colors, moms and dads with their kids, and young people of color -- lots and lots of them. There was a tremendous feeling of empowerment that rolled over the crowd like a wave. There was also a sense of urgency about the issues we were marching for. It was a unique and powerful combo platter that was about expressing love for our communities and about militancy in defending them.

As we rolled onto 15th Street, we were stalled Eighth Avenue. The police decided that we had to wait until 1pm (the "official" time of the march). The fact that today was about connecting the concrete issues affecting our communities to the war abroad as well as the fact that it was a march led by people of color was also reflected in the attitude of the police. The hostility was expressed in so many ways: fear, impatience, bullying, negative attitude. Compared to yesterday, the police presence was defiantly a lot more intense and the plain clothes cops riding motorcycles was particularly disturbing. A testimony perhaps, though, of what is actually at stake for our communities, marchers were incredibly disciplined and did not give into any provocation or aggravation by police. We understood what our goal was and how desperately we need to get our message understood: Our communities are the most impacted by Bush, and we need access to our human and civil rights!

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NYC, August 29th- Hundreds of people of color joined the United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) march today, calling for an end to war at home and abroad and for justice for our communities. We are part of Still We Rise/Racial Justice 9-11, a multi-issue and broad-based coalition of over a dozen people of color organizations from across New York City. Still We Rise/Racial Justice 9-11 was also joined by Siafu, a delegation of activists and organizers of color from the Bay Area who have traveled to participate in RNC activities. As we were gathering at 21st Street and 7th Avenue with red-black-and green liberation flags, several people of color activists commented on how, after walking up from 14th Street through a sea of white protesters who didn't reflect their communities, they were glad and relieved to have made their way to our contingent. Representing communities from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Uptown Manhattan, our group included young people and students, low-wage workers, queer communities, immigrants, and parents with children. Near the front the of the UFPJ march, with red bandanas that highlighted the Still We Rise/Racial Justice 911 logo, we were among the most militant and organized forces out there. Throughout the five to six hours we were out there, we kept the energy high with creative songs, chants in different languages, and drumming that called for justice and freedom for third world communities. The energy and strength of the group made it clear that everyone out there was marching with an understanding that defeating Bush was about defending the lives of our people. As part of a history-making mobilization, we defiantly made our presence visible, and also let people know that it was about more than one day for us. As grassroots-based organizations whose communities are impacted the most by the Bush Agenda, we see today as one important piece of a much larger, protracted struggle that we engage in on a daily basis. Over the past four years, community members have been racially profiled, detained, and deported. Our schools and hospitals have been de-funded and set up to fail. Our young people have lost their lives in the military for a government that has never served them. We have no access to decent jobs at a living wage, and our bodies, identities, and the ways we love have been legislated. Building strength through the unity of our diverse communities, we're demanding accountability from the U.S. government for what it's doing us. Marchers ranged from young people with signs that read "Education not Deportation" to a 'baby bloc' of parents with young children who were voicing that that kids also have a stake in what's going on and that this movement is about our entire communities - including our families. As we turned down 5th Avenue making our way to Union Square, our energy got higher, culminating with our arrival at 17th Street where we stopped and chanted for an end to the Israeli occupation before entering the park. Today proved that while the local and national media, the government, and the NYPD has been trying to make us too scared to march, for those of us whose lives depend on ending the Bush Administration, we'll come out strong in what ever conditions necessary. As one of the lines of one of the freedom songs we sang says, "from the belly of the beast...our people will be free!"