'Poison DUst' film screening sparks outrage, anti-war actions

Claudia Sands, 24.04.2007 18:41

The "Poison DUst" cover up is similar to the one the Pentagon and other sections of the U.S. government used with Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during, after and still today with Vietnam and other veterans. Various sources indicate 40 percent of the homeless in the U.S. today are veterans, many Vietnam era and most Black.

A sizable number of community members and activists attended the
Milwaukee premier film screening of "Poison DUst" April 21 at the Center
Street Library, an important gathering space for the Black community.

The screening was dedicated to long-time International Action Center
member Rachael Nasca who died unexpectedly in March. The IAC-Milwaukee sponsored the screening.

Before "Poison DUst" film Director Sue Harris of the Peoples Video
Network (PVN) screened the documentary and engaged in a question and
answer session a slate of community activists spoke.

IAC-Milwaukee member Bryan G. Pfeifer opened the program by describing
the origins, history and mission of the IAC, and noting that over $500 million thus far has been taken from the city of Milwaukee and hundreds of millions more from Wisconsin to fund the racist, criminal war in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. He called for an end to the domestic war and its effects such as racist police terror, to shut the war down now and to cut the war funding immediately.

Pfeifer, on behalf of the IAC-Milwaukee, hailed recent youth actions
in Wisconsin including a recent protest against an Army recruiting
station for which 21 youth were arrested, youth protesting restrictive
racist policies at Mayfair Mall, and the occupation of the
multi-millionaire Sen. Herb Kohl's Madison office by dozens of members
of the Campus Anti-War Network April 18. He ended by calling on all
those present to support in any way they could the May 1 "A Day
without Latinos" statewide civil rights march and boycott sponsored by
the Milwaukee-based Voces de la Frontera (414-643-1620).

Leaflets for the May 1 action were dispersed throughout the room for
this event as were "Stop the war on Iran" posters, and upcoming event leaflets sponsored by various progressive community organizations.

Local and national award winning people's poet Mr. De'Shawn Ewing (Pyramid) electrified the crowd with two of his poems connecting the domestic war and the U.S. war on Iraq and other countries. Ewing interspersed these themes in his poems with themes of the Black Freedom Struggle including the murder of Emmett Till and the contributions of Ms. Nina Simone and Ms. Rosa Parks.

Mr. Ammar Nsoroma a member of Africans on the Move and the Pan African
Revolutionary Socialist Party (PARSP) and a well-known people's artist
in Milwaukee with many murals throughout the city, said that the war
on Iraq is an outgrowth of capitalism and imperialism and that to end
all wars for profit these economic systems must be abolished and
replaced with socialism. He closed by saying the Pentagon's use of depleted uranium is one of the worst effects of capitalism/imperialism.

The screening followed the community speakers.

"Poison DUst" tells the story of three young men-Black, Latino and
white-from New York suffering from depleted uranium (DU) poisoning who
could not get answers for their mysterious ailments after their
National Guard unit's 2003 tour of duty in Iraq. Their frustrations in
dealing with the Veterans Administration's silence becomes outrage as
they realize that thousands of other GI's and others from Vieques,
Puerto Rico to Iraq to Kosovo and many other places internationally have the same symptoms. DU is now a staple of the U.S. military arsenal worldwide.

Today more than one-third of all 1991 Gulf War vets are on VA
Disability Benefits. Meanwhile U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons has
increased six-fold from 1991 to the Gulf War II of today. Despite
clear evidence, the Pentagon denies DU is radiating soldiers and
civilians. This cover up is similar to the one the Pentagon and other sections of the U.S. government used with Agent Orange and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during, after and still today with Vietnam and other veterans. Various sources indicate 40 percent of the homeless in the U.S. today are veterans, many Vietnam era and most Black.

During the question and answer session Sue Harris described how "Poison
DUst" has been screened numerous times publicly throughout the United
States and internationally including Cuba, Korea and Japan.

One woman at the screening described her outrage at not hearing about depleted uranium anywhere in the corporate media until she received a leaflet for the Milwaukee event. She said she would now be getting the word out and asked for more information as did many others.

Longtime community activist and people's poet Eric Jefferson closed
the event with his poem "Blessed Summer."

During and after the event many took copies of "Poison DUst" for
personal viewing but also to screen at home for loved ones and/or veterans as well as at other community spaces.

The Peoples Video Network donated a copy of "Poison DUst" to the Center
Street Library and a copy to the Central Library that could
potentially be circulated throughout the 30 branches in the Milwaukee
County Library System.

To obtain a copy of "Poison DUst," call PVN at 212-633-6646 or see:
www.peoplesvideo.org. Or contact the International Action Center-Milwaukee at: 414-264-3856 /  milwiac@action-mail.org.

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