Black community activist announces candidacy in Boston mayoral election

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4 SOCIALIST ACTION MAY 1991 BOSTON-May 1 will be the beginning of a "crusade" to shake Boston "so that it can never go back to business as usual," the Rev. Graylan Ellis-Hagler told an April 18 meeting at the Church of the United Community in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood.

On that date, the Rev. Ellis-Hagler will officially announce his candidacy for mayor of Boston. "It's time," as one campaigner said, "to challenge that racist administration down there that calls itself 'Boston."' The Rev. Ellis-Hagler will go head to head with the incumbent Mayor Ray Flynn, who is running for his third term. Flynn was elected as a "mayor of the neighborhoods," but his neglect of the Black and Latino communities has exposed him as the same racist who led the antibusing struggle while he was a state legislator during the 1970s.

The Rev. Ellis-Hagler is a well-known leader of Boston's Black community and has been in the front lines of many important struggles of working people in this city.

He fought alongside Greyhound strikers in 1990 and 1983 (when he was arrested on the picketlines); he led Black community opposition to the Gulf War, he stands as a "spiritual" leader with the militant Hotel workers Local 26; and he was a prime mover behind the victory of Black construction workers seeking jobs at the site of a new postal facility in Roxbury.

Boston Socialist Action Forum:

The Transformation of South Africa Into a New Society Speakers:

Neville Alexander South African political activist; imprisoned at Robben Island;

Wider & chair, Workers' Organization for Socialist Ac Educator, Untv. of Cape Town.

Rev. Graylan Ellis Hagler Church of the United Community, Roxbury, Mass. Minister Don Muhammed Nation of Islam Chris Nteta Prof., U. Mass., Boston; South African supporter of Black Consciousness Movement Thursday, May 2, 7:30 pm Church of the United Community 118 Roxbury St., Roxbury, Mass. Call (617) 497-0230 The Rev. Ellis-Hagler's candidacy can provide a focal point for Black community control, for workers' rights, for drug treatment instead of prison sentences for addicts, and against police brutality.

Central activists in the Black community have already pledged their support. They include Shakur Ali, a Vietnam veteran who has waged a struggle against gang violence and who was a key spokesperson for Black opposition to the Gulf War; Chuck Turner, the leader of the Greater Roxbury Workers Association (GRWA); Savina Martin, a longtime activist for the homeless; leaders of "Treatment on Demand," and others.

In many ways, the Rev. Ellis-Hagler's campaign is another indication that the ideas of Malcolm X are still alive. To date, the campaign is seen as an independent expression of the political aspirations of the Black community and its allies. It could demonstrate that the real program for Black liberation will emerge in struggle, not from some agenda set by the Democratic Partycontrolled Rainbow Coalition.

The Rev. Ellis-Hagler sees his campaign as national in scope. He has reached out for support in other cities, while maintaining his independence from the "mainstream" Black leadership, who will characterize him as an "extremist" outside of the "legitimate" Black struggle.

At the April 18 meeting, Rev. EllisHagler told the crowd of 100 that the "community is running for mayor," and that Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action mortality, unemployment, and homelessness as keys to the campaign platform.

In pledging the full support of the GRWA, Chuck Turner told the meeting of the Rev. Ellis-Hagler's "gift of inspiring us to stand up and speak for ourselves. We don't need political leaders who speak for us."

On May 2, the Rev. Ellis-Hagler will participate in a Socialist Action forum on South Africa, which will be held in his church. On May 19, his campaign will participate in a celebration of the birthday of Malcolm X.

100 Artington SL, Boston, Mass. Call (017) 487-0239 11:30 am-1:00 pm:

Socialsm, Democracy and National Liberation:

The Example of Cuba Sheppard, Political Committee, Sociallst Action;

Committee, Soclallst Workers Party 2:30 pm 4:00 pm:

The Revival of Black Nationalism 7:30 pm:

Ann Salmeron, Soclallst Action requested per avent/S8 for 3 events $1/$3 students