Dear Friend,
We are writing to ask for your support and contribution to Julia Willebrand's Green Party campaign for Mayor of New York City. New York City and the world are reeling from the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11. The grief is enormous. The fear is palpable. The Green Party is the only party calling for peace! -and an end to racism and injustice!
It is crucial that the Greens have a strong voice speaking out on such critical issues as peace rather than war and how to rebuild our City. As our Mayoral candidate, Julia will be able to speak for us and for the millions of people throughout New York City and our nation who asked our government not to go to war. Prior to the beginning of hostilities, numerous polls showed that our citizens were asking the government to respond to the attack by locating the perpetrators, apprehending them, and bringing them to a court of law. Millions of Americans did not want war and don't want it now. Only the Green Party will speak for them. Julia is eminently able to argue the case for peace for us for she was president for ten years of the Toastmasters group that met at the American Bar Association.
Dr. Julia Willebrand is a native New Yorker, born in Brooklyn. A graduate of City College, she has a Doctorate from Teachers College from Columbia University. As a Green, Julia has long spoken out on the key issues of the green agenda for New York City: creating affordable housing, reforming the criminal justice system and ending the war on drugs; increased funding for education; living wage law; preserving community gardens; and, end corporate welfare. A former teacher and union activist, she is strongly committed to strengthening the city's school system.
Julia supports the creation of a single payer universal health care system, to lower costs while ensuring quality health care for everyone. She is an advocate for election reforms such as same day voter registration, Instant Runoff off (or preferential) voting, campaign finance reform at the state and national level, and proportional representation.
Julia has proposed a comprehensive plan for how we should rebuild New York City. (See her web page at www.juliaformayor.org). As with other disasters such as hurricanes or floods, the federal government - not local taxpayers who have long subsidized the rest of the state of the country - should pay for the recovery. Small businesses and low- and moderate-income workers have lost their income. They must be assisted. The recovery plan should address the entire city rebuilding in the outer boroughs as well as lower Manhattan.
Living Wage Jobs for All is a key component of the Green plan for rebuilding the City. As Mayor, Julia will reform the Human Resources Administration to respect and empower low-income women. She supports the creation of a public works program to provide needed jobs while helping to rebuild the City's infrastructure such as school buildings and parks. A former teacher in the Welfare Education Program, she supports increasing access for all New Yorkers to education and training, from GED and English as Second Language programs to a free college education at CUNY.
We should ensure that the rebuilding process strengthens - not weakens - environmental protection. Air pollution contributes to the deaths and illness for tens of thousands of New York City residents each year. Julia's father, a roofer, died at 50 of asbestos related lung cancer. We need major investment in rebuilding and improving the mass transit system. We must develop more open space, including gardens and parks, in New York City. Julia has been active for many years in groups like the Sierra Club working for increased recycling and improved solid waste programs.
Julia and the Greens support tax reform. The NYC Commuter Tax that the Assembly Democrats agreed to repeal in a losing effort to help a Democratic candidate for State Senate get elected should be reinstated, generating hundreds of millions of dollars to replace the tax revenues that will be lost from September 11th. We need to reverse the situation where those who make the least pay the highest percentage of their income in state and local taxes.
The media tells us that America changed forever on September 11. So far the opposite is true. The Bush administration, along with a united front of the Democrats and Republicans, has responded to these attacks with the predictable response: an undeclared war; a curtailment of civil liberties; increased military spending and corporate welfare; restrictions on immigrants; and, a refusal to address ongoing problems with our foreign policy in the Middle East, Africa, South America and elsewhere that favor wealthy economic interests of the well-being of local residents. Once again we are going to war for oil. Once again the new "Satan" is a former "freedom fighter" paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
The two major parties support tens of billions of dollars to bail out airline companies but pay little attention to the plight of the tens of thousands airline workers who have lost the job.
The major parties and the corporate owned media use their drive for war to silence criticisms of their policies that have resulted in the United States having the greatest income inequality among industrial countries. Julia and the Greens believe patriotism means defending, not trampling, on the values upon which the country was founded, values like freedom of speech and civil liberties.
The Greens believe that the response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th should be to build a world that is based on peace and justice. The Greens believe those responsible for terrorism should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes against humanity, rather than resorting to the declaration of war that the terrorists hope to provoke. We need to strengthen international institutions to end the use of violence as a means to resolve disputes between countries. We need to build a world whose prime goal is to ensure a decent standard of living for all, not to maximize profits for a handful of multinational corporations. We need to build a world that is committed to protecting cultural and ecological diversity.
Julia has proposed that as part of memorial to those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center, including the heroic efforts of public safety staff, that a Peace Institute be created and endowed to guide the City, Nation, and world in the healing process. We must learn how to eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia. The United States spends hundreds of billions of dollars each year to fund a war machine that has decreased our security. We need to invest in learning how to build a war based on peace and justice for all. Peace is never easy, but it will never happen without a conscious effort to achieve it.
Julia has a long history in the peace movement, starting with opposing the Vietnam War. As a delegate for the United Federation of Teachers, Julia was part of a caucus which succeeded in withdrawing UFT support for the war in Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, she and her husband were draft counselors helping young men in the South Bronx navigate the Selective Service system to avoid service in the Vietnam War. Julia has also served as an official delegate to international green conferences in Australia and Mexico.
In the last Presidential election, the Green Party Presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, finished third in the country on his program of democracy and justice. The events of September 11th have made it clear that the Greens are the major opposition party in the United States.
We hope you will make a contribution to support Julia's campaign to help pay for mailings, brochures, media, and phone calls. We also need help with outreach, leafleting, media, phone banking, research, etc. Please help us build a world committed to peace and justice.
P.S. Make your checks payable to the Committee to Elect Julia Willebrand, 255 West 84th Street, New York, New York 10024.
P.P.S. Please remember that NYC is the center of the attacks and the center of the peace movement. Our first demonstration last week brought over 10,000 people to Union Square. We are the only party calling for peace and a sustainable way of life.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Shanklin, chairBronx County Green Party
David Levner, chair Queens County Green Party
Ray Dowd, chair Manhattan County Green Party
