[imc-st.louis] Obituaries: St. Louis American

[Fitzdon at aol.com]

http://stlamerican.com/articles/2007/07/19/news/obituaries/obit01.txt

Obituaries: St. Louis American

Green Party Chair Willie Marshall passes at 65

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 6:19 PM CDT

Willie Marshall passed while asleep early July 14, 2007 after a long bout of 
lung and heart problems. He was chair of both the Missouri Green Party and St. 
Louis Green Party Central Committee. Born in 1941, Willie Marshall was 65 
years old.

“More than anyone else, Willie Marshall was responsible for bringing a black 
perspective to the Green Party,” said party activist Barbara Chicherio.

A military veteran and retired postal worker, Marshall was an outspoken 
critic of the war in Iraq. He appeared on Green Time TV and spoke at Black and 
Green Wednesday programs insisting that black people should not be wounded and 
killed in a war for oil profits. Marshall also participated in national events as 
a member of the National Committee of the Green Party USA.

“He often told us of his personal experiences as a victim of racism, 
especially while in the military in 1959 and 1960,” said Chicherio. “But there was 
never bitterness in what he said. He always pointed out injustice and what 
needed to be done. That’s why he was so effective at changing the Green Party from 
almost all white to a group where blacks are a majority at most meetings.”

In 2004, Marshall was elected Outreach Coordinator for the Green Party of St. 
Louis. That year, he won 10 percent of the vote as Green Party candidate for 
Public Administrator. The next year he was the Green Party nominee for Mayor 
and won 21 percent of the vote against Democrat Francis G. Slay. That was the 
highest vote that any Green Party candidate, including Ralph Nader, has ever 
received in the city of St. Louis.

Since 2005, Marshall worked with Greens on childhood lead poisoning 
prevention. He went to meetings called by the Greens, Health & Environmental Justice 
and Lead Safe St. Louis. He was highly critical of approaches by the City of St. 
Louis, charging that it was not targeting areas where the most children were 
lead poisoned.

Marshall founded the New Generation Solidarity Consumers Union. Strongly 
influenced by struggles such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, he felt such a tool 
should be a permanent part of organizing. He said, “A consumers union can 
leverage economic sanctions to get justice.”

Working for justice was Willie Marshall’s life.

Funeral services will be Saturday, July 21 at 11 a.m. at the Muhammad 
Academy, 3625 N. Garrison, a block east of Natural Bridge and Grand. He will be 
buried the following day next to his mother's grave in Centralia, Illinois.




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