From: MMOW2000@aol.com Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 15:28:29 EDT Subject: Public Statement by MMOW Co-Chairs Murray-Ramirez, Cramer A Public Statement from the Millennium March on Washington for Equality April 30, 2000 . Washington, DC . www.mmow.org By MMOW Co-Chairs Nicole Murray-Ramirez and Duane Cramer A member of the self-styled Ad Hoc Committee, Billy Hileman, recently missed an appropriate opportunity to apologize to Robin Tyler, Executive Producer of the March on Washington, for his continuing distribution of inaccurate information. His most recent article, "Conflict of Interest," continues to repeat charges Hileman now knows to be untrue. He attended a recent MMOW Board Meeting in which many of the Ad Hoc Committee's issues were discussed and clarified. Hileman is simply disseminating false information. His information is false in several areas. Three key points deserve attention and public correction. First, he is simply mistaken when he accuses the March's Executive Producer of blocking hotel rooms for personal gain. Hileman sat in the Board Meetings in Chicago just a few weeks ago where it was clearly and unequivocally stated that no individual on the board or staff has ever, at any time, held hotel room contracts for personal benefit. Ever. Of course the March booked hotel rooms before the new corporate entity was set up -- and deserves credit for doing so. L'Arc en Ciel, the independent travel agency used at the time, assigned commissions directly to the March. Once the official MMOW organization was established, every single hotel contract has been reserved by the non-profit March organization and every penny of commissions has been designated solely for the March. Sadly, Hileman has turned a terrific fundraiser, which guarantees lower hotel rates on thousands of rooms (in itself a major savings for our community) into something dishonorable and untrue, only to further his vendetta against the March. And it does appear to be a vendetta. During the recent open Town Hall Meeting in Chicago and made his own bias very clear when he publicly expressed, "I hope this March fails!" Second, Hileman erroneously charges that the MMOW Platform balloting is being conducted primarily on the Internet, excluding many people based on race, class, sex and economic issues. Again, he knows better. He sat in the same room in which we sat during the recent Chicago Board Meetings. He knows the Platform ballot not only is being distributed via the Internet, but is appearing in magazines and newspapers across the country. It is being distributed by volunteers and local activists at community centers, bars, clubs, coffeehouses and bookstores and through local, state and regional organizations. Hundreds of thousands of paper ballots have been circulated across the country. Ballots may be e-mailed, faxed, sent by postal mail -- or even turned in to local organizers at absolutely no cost. Finally, we find Hileman's pronouncements about racism to be unfounded. As a Latino and African-American, respectively, we're tired of white men such as Hileman lecturing us about race. Fifty-percent of this MMOW Board of Directors are people of color, including five Latino/as, two African-Americans, and one Asian-American (for the first time on a National March Board). There's one other fact Hileman conveniently forgets. He has consistently ignored the fact that the Latino community represented by LLEGO (Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization) was one of the original groups to call for the Millennium March. Hileman also argues that the MMOW Platform Ballot ignores race and economic issues. Even a cursory review of the Platform confirms that almost every issue there deeply affects people of color, women, youth, and elders. Economic justice runs through the issues of the Platform Ballot, including keeping our jobs, social security and pension benefits for same-sex couples, and health funding. These issues cross race, class, sex and age lines. Immigration is certainly a Latino issue and AIDS continues to affect the African-American and Latino communities in disproportionate numbers. The right to hold jobs affects every American, and the right to serve our country would open the US military, the largest employer of minorities in this country, to every member of our community. In fact, for a white man to accuse African-Americans and Latinos and Asians of being insensitive to issues which affect our communities is inherently racist. Hileman's continuing efforts to send misleading articles to the press and the public, articles he knows to be inaccurate, perpetuates division within our community. Can we disagree? Of course! Should we mislead one another? No! Hileman should take his anger and direct it at our enemies. We're surprised by Hileman's comments about the democratic process of previous marches. Can't the process by changed and improved? The simple facts are clear. A few hundred people took part in the platform process in 1992-93. Yet in the last three weeks, more than 12,000 people have taken part in the current platform process. And based on current response, we project that more than 100,000 lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgendered persons and our families, friends and allies will take part in the platform process over the next three months. It's time to stop attacking and to start celebrating the ways MMOW organizers have opened the organizing process to literally every member of our community. Here's the good news in the midst of all of this: The Millennium March on Washington will take place in Washington, DC on April 30, 2000. And this March will, in the truest sense represent the concerns and issues of all members of our broad and diverse communities. Nicole Murray-Ramirez Duane Cramer MMOW Co-Chair MMOW Co-Chair PRESS PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. Authorization granted to reprint, reproduce or redistribute.