Go to UnityFirst.com for the special report: Response to War
A special thanks to all who participated in UnityFirst.com's Pulse report regarding Iraq. We appreciate your candor and willingness to share your views and perspectives. The summary is posted on UnityFirst.com and highlights the key points and quotes from the many people of varied backgrounds, income levels, gender, professions, geographic representations, and affiliations (ethnic, religious, political, social) who took the time to share helpful insights. To view the summary report please click here.

National Black Caucus of State Legislators opposes the U.S. invasion of Iraq
Here is a brief excerpt from the statement by Mary Coleman, NBCSL President, State Representative-Mississippi: The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) will stand by resolution 03-85 A Resolution Opposing the United States Invasion of Iraq, unanimously passed by the NBCSL membership at the 26th Annual Legislative Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. We are concerned that diplomacy was not given more time. While we are thoroughly concerned about weapons of mass destruction, we are also concerned with the negative consequences it can have on America. The invasion of Iraq by the United States is unprecedented. Iraq did not attack nor occupy another country. The purpose of this war is the regime change of a sovereign country. The United States foreign policy should reflect consistency. Israel has occupied the Palestinian territory despite a United Nations resolution calling for Israel to leave the Gaza strip. The conflict in Iraq has the potential to start a number of conflicts and create more instability in the Middle East leading to possible worldwide conflict, including aggression of North Korea against South Korea in the Far East. World leaders from Russia, China, France and Germany have condemned these attacks. Millions of Americans across the country as well as people around the world are rallying and marching to protest the war and exercise their democratic right to speak out against the war. President George W. Bush is the leader of this country and is recognized as the leader of the free world. Our country's aggression toward Iraq to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein sends out the wrong foreign policy message to the world. This policy says that the United States government will overthrow governments we disagree with. President Theodore Roosevelt said 'It is our duty to remember that a nation has no more right to do injustice to another country, strong or weak, than an individual has to do injustice to another individual; that the same moral law applies in one case as in the other.'"

---Rev. Jackson offers prayer to the global community---
Here is a brief excerpt from the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., founder and President of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, regarding the commencement of war with Iraq: "Our hearts are heavy this morning. An unnecessary war has begun, the United Nations has been undercut, the future of our children has been clouded by this new cycle of violence. We offer a prayer for the safety of our young men and women in the military: may they return home safely, and soon. We offer a prayer for the children of Iraq: may they die of old age, not age-old hatreds. We offer a prayer for our leaders - even at this late hour - there is still time to change course, to work this out without war. The immorality of a pre-emptive strike is not altered by its success. The Pope has said that this is an unjust war. The Archbishop of Canterbury has opposed this war. The leaders of almost every major religion across the globe have said a pre-emptive strike is immoral. Nelson Mandela, the greatest moral voice of recent times, has spoken out against a unilateral, aggressive, pre-emptive strike. Our nation will have to live with the future consequences of this strike, not just next week, but for decades. Our moral authority has been weakened. The President of the United States has launched us on a new course, a foreign policy of preemptive war that marks a radical departure from the successful and efficient foreign policy that has guided our country so well for over two centuries. This new policy was never seriously debated in Congress; it was never vetted by the public; it was never offered to the voters in a campaign, which is essential in a democratic system."

---Addressing the Implications of the War on Business: Linkage's 2003 Summit on Leading Diversity--- Linkage's Summit on Leading Diversity, taking place in Atlanta, Georgia from March 24-27th, has announced the addition of a learning track entitled, "War Challenges Our Ability to Maintain Business as Usual," based on the assessment that individuals, especially diversity professionals, want to talk about the affect that the anxiety produced by our current events will have on the workplace. Employers, faced with difficult challenges in the midst of this war-produced anxiety, will dialogue around war-related issues including the impact of war on productivity, motivation, creativity, and overall engagement. As originally planned, senior executives and diversity experts from organizations as eclectic as Coca Cola, Fannie Mae, the FBI, Prudential Financial, Shell Oil, and Cingular Wireless will participate in the Summit to share and gain new strategies for advancing diversity work by combining commitment at the top with advocacy from the bottom up. The Summit features Keynote addresses form Coretta Scott King, Rev. Bernice King, Maria Hinojosa and Susan Taylor. For more information send email to jfondon@unityfirst.com or call 800-286-3659.

---Miller's 2003 Gallery of Greats Calendar honors academic dream weavers Eleven of the nation's top African-American educators are the focus of Miller Brewing Company's 2003 Gallery of Greats Calendar. Hailing from public historically Black colleges and universities (public HBCUs) across the United States and the Caribbean, these distinguished school presidents and chancellors join the growing list of prominent Black leaders to be profiled in the popular annual calendar series. The only exception, Dr. Elnora Daniel of Chicago State University, heads a university that is 80 percent Black, but was not founded specifically to educate African Americans. The 2003 calendar theme, "Turning Dreams Into Reality," serves to define the crucial role that education has played within the African-American community, while providing a forum to honor those individuals who are true trailblazers within academia. "Higher education often does not receive the same level of accolades that is given to professions such as law or medicine," said Virgis Colbert, executive vice president, Miller Brewing Company. "Yet without such educators that are profiled in the 2003 Gallery of Greats calendar, there would be no doctors or lawyers." The Gallery of Greats portraits and accompanying 2003 calendar, which were created under the artistry of Dell G. Godbold, were recently unveiled at a special gala reception in Washington, DC. Miller Brewing Company partnered with The Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund (TMSF) on the 2003 calendar unveiling and reception. Congressmen Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Chaka Fattah, along with Senators Herb Kohl and Arlen Specter, also were honored during the reception for their continuous support of higher education, especially the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and its public historically black colleges and universities. For those interested in supporting TMSF, Gallery of Greats commemorative T-shirts can be purchased online at www.galleryofgreats.com. Customers who purchase a T-shirt automatically will receive the 2003 Gallery of Greats calendar free of charge. For more information, contact Ronald E. Childs via email at rchilds@flowerscomm.com.

---The Souls of Black Folk---
When famed intellectual, civil rights, and Pan Africanist leader W.E.B. DuBois published The Souls of Black Folk in 1903, few could have reckoned that "the problem of the color-line" would prove to be so intractable, here at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Yet within a week of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on the merits of affirmative action in higher education, Danny Glover and Phylicia Rashad will headline a staged reading of text adapted by Thulani Davis to celebrate the book's centennial. The reading is a benefit for national global justice organization TransAfrica Forum. It will be held Monday, April 7, 7:30 P.M. at CUNY Graduate Center's Proshansky Auditorium, 65 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York. For information about the event and tickets, call 212/817-8215.

---American Black Film Festival now seeking film submissions---
The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) is still accepting submissions for the 2003 festival taking place in South Beach, Florida, June 18 -22nd. Submissions will be accepted until April 5, 2003 for the competitive and non-competitive sections. Awards granted for competitive films include: The Blockbuster Audience Award, The Lincoln Filmmaker Trophy, The Best Performance by an Actor and The Best Performance by an Actress. For more information, send an email to: abff@thefilmlife.com.

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