FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept 21, 2006
CONTACT: Carolyn Eisenberg
Phone: (718) 624-5921
Cell: (347) 743 8401
Brooklyn Protest of Schumer’s Support For Iraq War Set for September 24
“Senator Schumer voted for the war in Iraq and continues to support it,” observed Charlotte Phillips, M.D., pediatrician and Chair of Brooklyn Parents for Peace. “He hides his position with critical sound-bites about President Bush, but when its time to vote he lines up with the Administration.”
Brooklyn Parents for Peace, a network of Brooklyn residents that works to inform themselves about issues of war and peace, is organizing a peace walk and vigil, to protest Schumer’s stand. Scheduled for Sunday evening, September 24, the protest will also memorialize those who have died in the war. Holding candles and carrying placards naming New York soldiers and Iraqi civilians who were killed, the group will gather at 6:30 pm at Grand Army Plaza, at the entrance to Prospect Park.
At sundown (approximately 6:50, when Rosh Hashanah ends), they will walk to Flatbush Avenue, then down 7th Avenue to Carroll Street and left to Prospect Park West. At 7:30 pm, the procession will conclude near Senator Schumer’s residence, with a reading of the names of the dead. Local vocalist Judith Gorman-Jacobs will lead the group in singing.
Members of Brooklyn Parents for Peace were appalled to discover that Charles Schumer was among the minority of Democrats to vote against an amendment to the defense budget bill introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that would have banned the sale of cluster munitions for use in civilian areas. Cluster bombs contain large numbers of bomblets, many of which do not go off and lie wherever they fall. Children pick up the small cylinders thinking they are toys and end up blowing themselves up or losing limbs. Dr. Phillips, a Brooklyn pediatrician commented: “Given what we know of the horrible suffering these weapons cause children, as well as adults, “it I is shocking that a New York Senator would support their use.”
Carolyn Eisenberg, Professor of US Foreign Policy and Co-Founder of Brooklyn Parents for Peace notes that “Senator Schumer has also voted consistently for every appropriation to fund the war. Just recently, he voted against the Kerry-Feingold amendment to bring troops home by July 2007.”
“For all these reasons, we object to Schumer’s leadership,” concluded Eisenberg. “Polls have shown that most New Yorkers—like most Americans—want a real timetable for troop withdrawal. We hope to remind Senator Schumer that he’s not listening to his constituents. And we intend to make his voting record more widely known.”