Tidbits - July 13, 2017 - Reader Comments: Trump's Revisionist History; Ransacking the Public Sector; Chile then, Venezuela Today; Beatriz at Dinner; Model Labor Resolution Against Cuban Blockade; New Book on Baseball's Radicals; and more...

Reader Comments: Trump's Revisionist History - Poland; Ransacking the Public Sector; Democracy in Chains; Paul Robeson; Chile then, Venezuela Today; Beatriz at Dinner; San Francisco Labor Against Cuban Blockade - Example for labor; Painters Union Calls for Release of Two Union Members from ICE Detention; New Book on Baseball's Radicals; Reality Winner Defense Launched; Global Platform for the Right to the City; National Screening: Arc of Justice-July 20th; and more...

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Tidbits - Reader Comments and Announcements - July 13, 2017,Portside
Announcements:
 
Donald J. Trump – Holocaust Denier
 
דונלד טראומפ – ההיסטוריה החדשה של פולין
    מאת מכחיש השואה – נשיא ארה"ב.
 
 
Trump’s rendition of Poland’s history is a totally manipulated and laundered version. The Holocaust occurred in Poland with a large measure of Polish participation.
 
Trump decided to erase any mention of the Poles who fought fascism and actually hid the goals of the Holocaust. He desecrated the memory of the martyrs and denied the murder of millions. It is Holocaust denial through and through
 
Reuven Kaminer
Givatayim, Israel
 
 
 
 
 
This article should've been titled "things you don't know about elections if you live in a cave". Voter suppression efforts, euphemistically called "fraud prevention" have been getting a lot of attention, and fall just shy of being proven to be a discriminatory practice. The president's claims of fraud are based on his erroneous assessment of his popularity, not real facts. The electoral college gave him a victory the popular vote didn't reflect. Congress should be working to restore voters' rights, not hinder them.
 
Charles A. Kimball
 
 
 
 
 
Unions are democratically run voluntary associations organized and run by employees' democratically elected officers and staff. They complement democracies and are illegal in totalitarian states.Unions insist on bargaining collectively with employers over their members' terms and conditions of work.Employers - large and small - resist unions because they want total control over their employees. Historically employers exploit their employees shamelessly if there are no unions. 
 
In this context the decline of unions in the United States reflects the increasing conservatism of American politicians, the effect of conservative media on public opinion, the continuing political influence of self interested corporations, the corruption of the democratic process by election rules that allow wealthy men to spend huge sums of money in elections and the absence of alternative reform options inside the democratic party. The weakness of the American labour movement is a symptom of a fundamental shift away from an egalitarian democracy. 
 
Capitalism may be a viable economic system but without a social system embodied in government legislation to create a fairer social system, you get what you now have, a government run by billionaire businessmen, a conservative media opposed to the public sector and public social legislation, a conservative supreme court that endorses business run government and politicians and lobbyists who receive payoffs from companies and who are not independent. 
 
The result is the destruction of social programs, the lack of public discussion, attacks on any media that questions the current direction of current politics, the continuous praise for private approaches to social issues (which are invariably are limited and regressive) and the constant denigration of public policy by democratically elected, independent politicians. The result is deterioration of social structures, severe social, racial, and sexual inequality, and the erosion of democracy. Under Trump we are also seeing the isolation of America on the international stage. A strong, vital union movement could help reverse these trends which is why conservatives hate unions. Unions are democratic. The organized right wing is undemocratic.
 
Laurel MacDowell
 
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Ultimately, political attacks on government workers are part of a comprehensive assault by those hostile to the public sector. In the process of destroying unions, they intend to underfund public programs in pursuit of their goal of privatizing as much of the commonwealth as possible. No matter that several decades of government contracting out public services to corporations reveals few benefits. Never mind the evidence that shows privatization results in higher costs, poorer delivery of services, and less accountability.
 
Bob Lawson
 
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While the public's eyes are diverted to Putin...
 
Dale T. Matthews
 
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...whacked 'n stacked;
 
William Lundine
 
 
 
 
 
Deficit busting tax cuts is an oxymoron. Making them permanently in force simply means it will be that much harder for the Democrats to get the economy back on track the next time they are in power. Hopefully with the economy still recovering from the last Republican administration it's not too early to have the Republican party in power.
 
Lonnie Berkebile
 
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The article makes it clear that tax cuts cause the deficit to grow. The headline was just careless, sloppy writing. They meant "deficit-expanding (to the point of bursting)"
 
Hugo Montoya
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Barry Deutsch
June 26, 2017
 
[About Barry Deutsch...I write and draw Ampersand, a political comic with a generally progressive sensibility. A new Ampersand comic appears in every issue of Dollars and Sense Magazine. I’ve attended Oberlin College in Ohio in the late 1980s, the School of Visual Arts in New York City in the 1990s (where I was lucky enough to take classes from comics legend Will Eisner), and I finally graduated from Portland State University several years ago. While I was at PSU, my political cartoons won the Charles M. Schulz Award. Aside from my political cartooning, my current comics project is my comic book Hereville, a fantasy adventure comic about an 11-year-old Jewish girl. You can also read some of my older comics here.]
 
 
 
 
 
Jew washing.  The original "explanation from the Dyke March organizers said it was because the Rainbow Flag with the Jewish Star made others uncomfortable--I notice that Portside has not posted that here, just the revisionist version.   When that was seen as Antisemitism and led to a shit storm the story changed and the Jew washers stepped in to provide cover.  JVP has a history of providing cover for Antisemites (of the Muslim and leftist varieties) and has no credibility here whatsoever -- even though it started as a good peace oriented organization that is long past. Sad to see that IfNotNOw which showed so much promise is following down that same slippery slope.
 
Stan Nadel
 
 
 
 
 
After stating that “the NEA wants a moratorium on new charters that aren’t subject to democratic governance and aren’t supportive of the common good in local communities”, this article goes on to assume that no charter schools meet those criteria. In other contexts, that would be called stereotyping.
 
Ted Cloak
Member, Governing Council, Media Arts Collaborative Charter School, Albuquerque, New Mexico
 
 
 
 
(posting on Portside Culture)
 
 
I just finished reading Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America and i would certainly agree with the reviewer that it is a good book. Not since A peoples History of the US have i felt the urge to buy and distribute (free, of course) a book. MacLean does an excellent job of gathering materials and telling the story of the (less than )1% idea of freedom and how they are trying to implement it. The "easy" way is with a military coup in Chile, were there policies have been made part of the constitution, the had way is when you have do it in a nominal democracy like the US, where they know they'll have to subvert the electorate to get their policies in place.
 
Steve Krug
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ESFL [East Side Freedom Library] was recently given a rich collection of Paul Robeson recordings, LPs and 78s, from Gene Young, former music director at Camp Kinderland. We are hoping to have a public program with Gene soon.
 
 
 
 
 
 
I agree with the main thrust of Ruth Needleman’s article ‘Memories of Chile’ during Allende’s government. However, I would like to add my memories. I was in Chile for a longer time – December 1971 until November 1973, six weeks after the military coup. Ruth makes a few simple factual mistakes, of little importance, but oversimplifies, I fear, one complex problem.
 
Ruth says “Allende decided to disarm rather than arm the masses, to placate Pinochet.” There was an ‘Arms Control Law’, passed by the majority-controlled Congress and signed by Allende under intense pressure from a Christian Democrat Party (PDC) he hoped to neutralize. As part of the preparations for the coup, reactionary armed forces units raided factories in the weeks previous, to search for arms. These were either non-existent or very sparse, an important aim was to intimidate workers.
 
It is fair to say that Allende staked everything on reaching political compromises to avoid the coup, but the PDC leadership, heavily influenced by imperialist ideology and the CIA, refused to even talk. Despite this insistence on the peaceful road, Allende countenanced talks between the military leaders of the Communist and Socialist Parties and Carlos Prats, Commander in Chief of the Army, for a strategy to intimidate the conspirators in the armed forces (who did not include Pinochet until the last moment). Mobilizing young political activists who had done their military service, to support democratic forces in the army, was contemplated. See the memoirs of Carlos Toro “La Guardia se muere, pero no se rinde … mierda”. I have translated the passages relating this on my blog (danmorgan47. Wordpress.com). When it was clear that a big majority of the army generals favored a coup, and that armed resistance would result in a bloodbath, Prats resigned and the ideas came to nothing.
 
In a clear parallel with Venezuela today, the economic problems were key in creating the political climate that favored a coup, as Ruth says. Not all the poor, or middle strata, had access to the ‘canasta básica’ (Ruth says the ‘cesta básica’) of basic commodities. A system of rationing had been set up, based on local shopkeepers cooperating with committees called JAP – Supply and Price Councils. These however, did not cover the whole country, although I benefited from one which worked well. The JAP were coordinated as a national level by an Air Force General called Alberto Bachelet, father of Michelle, Chile’s current President. For his loyalty to Allende’s project he was imprisoned and repeatedly tortured after the coup in revenge, and died as a result.
 
A similar system has been set up in Venezuela now, called CLAP. A do not know how successful or universal it is.
 
Ruth is absolutely correct, I agree, to point out that capitalist ruling classes will stop at nothing to crush attempts to move towards socialism. Everyone thinking about socialist revolution must be totally aware of this. In Chile this was clear before the coup, with fascist groups writing ‘Jakarta’ on walls, alluding to the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Communists or ‘suspects’ after the coup in Indonesia in 1965.
 
Daniel Morgan
 
 
 
 
 
Yea! Bernie! (Wish he were 20 years younger).
 
David Spodick
 
 
 
 
 
I love Ella Jenkins work and used her recordings in my teaching since I was a young teacher. Thank you Ella!
 
Kathy LeBlanc
 
 
 
 
 
At least two items in your 07JUL17 "Friday Nite Videos" distressed me enough to write.
 
...uses hostile racial caricatures far worse than Stepin Fetchit- resembling Nazi posters advertising the "degenerate art" of Weimar.
 
The other was a you-tube on Puerto Rico...
 
...wrongfully titled as an "Honest government advert - visit Puerto Rico" with the further explanation: "The US Government just released this tourism ad for Puerto Rico and it's surprisingly honest and informative."  But this is an obvious parody and should have been so labeled.  And credit should have been given to the actual creators, not the "US Government".
 
- 100% produced by Patrons of TheJuiceMedia
- Written & created by Giordano Nanni
- Performed by Zoë Wilson, voice by Lucy Cahill
- Legendary support and input from Adso, Lucy and Franklin
 
- Special thanks to all the Boricua who sent me info about Puerto Rico and advice + feedback
 
 
 ...more can be found in the comments section at the original you-tube site from which this satire was lifted.
 
I am sure you must have had honorable intentions - but progressive media should be more careful about how to express them.
 
Dave Ecklein
 
 
 
 
(posting on Portside Culture)
 
 
This looks like a "MUST-SEE" flick.
 
Luis R Gonzalez Argueso
 
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I can't find one theater here in south Texas running this movie been looking since it came out
 
Michael Wirth
 
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Saw it. Well done, acting superb but difficult to watch. A bit disturbing. 
 
Carmen Ristorucci
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
General President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Calls for Union Members Hugo Mejia and Rodrigo Nuñez Be Released from Unjust ICE Detention
 
In response to the refusal by ICE officials to release two wrongfully detained union members and as their asylum applications are being appealed to the 9th circuit court, Kenneth E. Rigmaiden, General President, issued the following statement:
 
“It’s been two months since our brothers Hugo Mejia and Rodrigo Nuñez were detained after  showing up to work. That’s two months they have been kept away from their families, from their jobs and their communities; and that is unacceptable. .
 
These two union members were only detained because they showed up for work. We will not allow the act of showing up to work be criminalized.
 
Hugo and Rodrigo moved from their home countries for similar reasons. Most of our union members move between states, cities, and towns; going from job to job building a better future for themselves and their families. That’s what we do; we go where the opportunities are.
 
We will continue to stand by our union brothers Hugo and Rodrigo, the same way we have stood by other union members before them; be it when they have been exploited by an employer on the job or while experiencing extreme hardship of any kind. We will not let a broken immigration system take our brothers away from us without a fight.
 
We will do everything in our power to get them released, reunited with their families and back at a worksite wearing their hardhats ready to work without fear.”
 
Background:
 
On Wednesday, May 3, 2017, Hugo Mejia and Rodrigo Nuñez, two construction union members showed up to work at a hospital, which happen to be inside Travis Air force Base in Northern California . Once at the base entrance they were required to present a U.S. issued identifications, and so they presented their California-issued-Driver’s-Licenses. They were then asked to present social security numbers and they presented their ITIN (individual taxpayer number) unaware this would be the trigger for military base staff to detain them and call ICE. cause the military to call ICE. Hugo and Rodrigo were then apprehended at the Travis Air Force base for two hours before being transferred to an ICE detention facility.
 
see:
 
Contact: Neidi Dominguez, ndominguez@iupat.org, (667) 701 2140
Monday, July 10, 2017 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Resolution to End the U.S. blockade against Cuba
 
Whereas, the San Francisco Labor Council has gone on record calling for an end to the U.S. blockade, travel ban and trade embargo against Cuba since July 26, 1993, and along with other labor unions, supported the many successful challenges to the blockade by grassroots organizations including the Pastors for Peace Friendshipment caravans to Cuba; and
 
Whereas, the arguments stated in the Council's 1993 resolution still hold true, namely that the blockade is not only harmful to Cuba's workers and citizens, but "restricts our freedom to travel, and ending it will create jobs for U.S. workers"; and
 
Whereas, following the Obama administration's partial moves to normalize U.S.-Cuban relations, now the Trump administration has expressed its intention to reverse this trend and tighten the blockade of Cuba once again.
 
Therefore be it resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council reaffirm its support for ending the trade embargo, travel restrictions and all aspects of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, and oppose efforts by the Trump administration to tighten the blockade; and
 
Be it finally resolved, that the Council send this resolution to its affiliates, area Labor Councils, the California Labor Federation, Change to Win, and to the AFL-CIO, urging concurrence - including by formally submitting this resolution to the 2017 AFL-CIO convention and the 2018 convention of the California Labor Federation.
 
July 10, 2017
 
 
[This resolution adds considerable weight to the struggle against Trump's recent reactionary step backwards in the process towards normalization between the two countries. The San Francisco Labor Council represents 100,000 workers in 150 AFL-CIO and Change to Win labor unions in San Francisco.
 
Solidarity Info Services 
4654 Congress Ave., Oakland, CA 94601]
 
 
 
 
 
By Peter Dreier and Robert Elias
 

 
July 11, 2017
 
 
Throughout baseball’s history, maverick players — as well as some executives, sportswriters, and managers— have challenged the status quo, as Rob Elias and I explore in this article published today (All Star day) in Jacobin.
 
Baseball’s rebels, reformers, and radicals took inspiration from the country’s dissenters and progressive movements, speaking and acting against abuses both within their profession and in the broader society: racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, war, repression, corporate domination, and worker exploitation.
 
Our nation's battles over race, labor, immigration, militarism, gender, and sexuality have all been reflected on the field, in the executive suites, in the press box, and in the community. While we all know some of baseball’s rebels, like Jackie Robinson, Marvin Miller, Bill Veeck, and Curt Flood, many others are either forgotten or known primarily for their sports achievements, not their activism. 
 
For example, there's John Ward, a stellar player who in 1885 organized the Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players, the first labor union in American sports and then founded the Players League, an employer run league. And there's Sam Nahem, a Communist Party member and major league pitcher who forced the US military to integrate its baseball teams during WW2.  
 
We're writing a book on this subject and would appreciate your suggestions for others to include in our book.
 
Peter Dreier
 
 
 
 
 
Interesting topics, opinions, and articles. Check it out.
 
Miguelito De Santos
 
 
 
 

 
Flickr - Right to the City Alliance // Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office
 
 
What exactly is the Right to the City? How does it relate to both global networks and community-based organizations? Join housing and human rights organizations from across New York and the world to learn about the Global Platform for the Right to the City and discuss how we can strengthen our collective work.
 
Your Block, Our World: Building a Global Platform for the Right to the City
A conversation with representatives from the Global Platform for the Right to the City, Picture The Homeless, Right to the City Alliance, and the Huairou Commission.
 
Friday, July 14
5:00pm – 7:00pm
The New School University Center
Starr Foundation Hall, 63 Fifth Ave, New York City
 
Co-hosted by the Global Platform for the Right to the City, The New School’s Global Urban Futures program, and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung—New York Office.
 
RSVP here. 
 
Download flyer here. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We are thrilled that our sister organization, the Cultures Of Resistance Network Foundation, is supporting Slow Food Nations, a new event organized by our allies at Slow Food.  Slow Food Nations is a three-day festival that will take place in Denver, Colorado, from July 14 to 16. Billed as "a festival to taste and explore a world of good, clean, and fair food for all," it will feature food and drink tastings, a farm tour, a children's garden, workshops, film screenings, and much more.
 
One of Cultures of Resistance Films's short documentaries, “César López: Turning Guns into Guitars,” will be showing at Slow Food Nations on July 15! The festival is free and open to the public. You can find all the details here. 
 
65 Broadway, Suite 807
New York, NY 10006
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Set against the restless backdrop of the 20th Century and the lush serenity of the Ella Fitzgerald songbook, Broadway veteran Andrea Frierson’s Me & Ella is a valentine to the “First Lady of Song.” Ms. Frierson’s personal storytelling and song stylings provide a loving glimpse into why Ella’s music, heart and determination to overcome the challenges in her life and career continue to inspire. Me & Ella was featured last season as part of the York’s Developmental Reading Series and commemorates the centennial of the legendary songstress.
 
Tickets are just $36 when you use code ELLA36 (reg. $45).
For performances weekday, Saturday & Sunday evenings.
 
Tickets are just $40 with code ELLA40 (reg. $50).
For Saturday and Sunday matinees.
 
Mention code ELLA36 or ELLA40 to purchase tickets by phone (call 212.935.5820) or in person at the York Theatre Company Box Office (East 54th Street @ Lexington Avenue).
Save up to 30% off regular tickets prices for groups of 10+ To book your group and for more information contact Marcia Pendelton at 917.334.6492 or at marcia@walktallgirlproductions.com.
 

 
 
Two-time Helen Hayes Award nominee ANDREA FRIERSON has performed leading roles on Broadway in: The Lion King; Once on This Island (Erzulie, Goddess of Love, original cast); Marie Christine at Lincoln Center Theater; George Wolfe's Bring in ‘Da Noise/Funk; Julie Taymor’s Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass at Lincoln Center Theater and at the Edinburgh Festival; For Colored Girls...(original Broadway production), and A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden (original cast). Regional Theatre credits include: Me & Ella (Downstairs Cabaret Theatre); Showboat (Goodspeed Opera House); Cymbeline (Utah Shakespearean Festival); The Duchess of Malfi (Shakespeare Theatre Company); A New Brain (Studio Theatre, Washington, DC); Dr. Charlotte in Graciela Daniele’s production of Falsettos (Hartford Stage Co.); Aretha Franklin/ Tina Turner in Beehive! (Arena Stage & The Village Gate); and Tintypes (South Coast Rep.). Off-Broadway, Andrea performed the role of Dr. Charity in Above Hell’s Kitchen with Jonathan Spottiswoode (NYMF), as well as the role of “Grace” in the solo theatre piece by the same name, written by Kirsten Childs and Charlayne Woodard (Inner Voices, TBG Theatre)
 
 
 
 
 
On Thursday July 20th, 2017 at 3ET / 12PT Join members of the “Our Homes Our Land” Committee of Homes For All and founding members New Communities Inc. (NCI) in Albany Georgia for a national online screening of the groundbreaking documentary Arc of Justice: The Rise, Fall & Rebirth of a Beloved Community. 
 
 
 
Listen here. 
 
 
We'll be joined by Shirley Sherrod one of the main organizers of New Communities and Mark Lipman the film's creator!
 
 
Arc of Justice follows the story of NCI, a project founded by leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in Albany, Georgia to secure economic independence for African Americans through the establishment of the first African-American owned community land trust. For 15 years NCI cooperatively farmed nearly 6,000 acres, the largest tract of land in the United States owned by African Americans at the time, but racist opposition prevented them from implementing plans to build 500 affordable homes as part of their community land trust. In 2010, after a 25 year class-action lawsuit and recently purchased a 1600-acre former plantation to continue the project’s initial mission. Learn more about the film at www.arcofjusticefilm.com
 
All registrants will be able to access a 30-day discount of the film! Details coming soon
 
This episode is part of the Renter Nation Training Series.
 
For more information please see www.HomesForAll.org/rn2017
 
 
Right To The City Alliance
388 Atlantic Ave, 2nd Fl.  Brooklyn, NY  11217
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stand With Reality, a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of concerned individuals, is launching a campaign today to defend N.S.A. contractor Ms. Reality Leigh Winner against an overzealous prosecution by the U.S. Department of Justice.
 
Winner has been charged under the Espionage Act, a 100-year-old statute originally designed for spies and saboteurs, for allegedly giving a document vital to the public’s understanding of potential Russian interference in U.S. election systems to a news organization.
 
Stand With Reality believes the charge against Winner is grossly disproportionate to her alleged offense, and is designed to create a chilling effect on investigative journalism by dissuading sources from sharing information that is critical to the public interest. The group is dedicated to raising public awareness of Winner’s case, as well as the U.S. government’s persistent abuse of the Espionage Act to silence its critics and stifle journalism.
 
“The document Winner is alleged to have given The Intercept is vital for understanding how U.S. election systems are seriously vulnerable to hacking. It is absurd that the government is charging her under the draconian Espionage Act rather than helping states fix our country’s election security,” said Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist project director and co-founder of Stand With Reality.
 
The organization aims to fully fund Winner’s legal defense team headed by attorney Titus Nichols, of the Augusta, Georgia law firm of Bell & Brigham. Stand with Reality launched a crowdfunding campaign today to cover both legal fees and public awareness efforts. "It is refreshing to know that so many people that Ms. Winner has never known have come together to offer their support and prayers for her,” notes Nichols. “Your pledge of additional support, for fees related to her case, is commendable,” he adds.
 
“The new Stand with Reality group means the world to me. Not only are they going to be raising money for my daughter’s legal defense, they'll also be raising awareness. Reality won't be forgotten, and she'll have a whole organization behind her,” said Winner’s mother, Billie Winner-Davis, of Kingsville, Texas. The Winner Family will be closing their GoFundMe effort and directing supporters to the new Reality Winner Defense Fund hosted by Courage to Resist in collaboration with Stand with Reality. Meanwhile, the UK-based Courage Foundation is undertaking fundraising and support efforts on behalf of Winner throughout Europe.
 
First Look Media’s Press Freedom Defense Fund provided a grant of $50,000 which will act as a matching fund for the first $50,000 raised for this campaign between now and August 30th. First Look is the publisher of The Intercept, which published its story based on a document allegedly provided by Winner after receiving it anonymously. The Fund is committed to supporting legal fights where key principles of press freedom are at stake, including the defense of journalistic sources like Winner facing this Espionage Act charge.
 
 
Winner, 25, is an Air Force veteran and recipient of the Air Force Commendation Medal for those who have "distinguished themselves by meritorious achievement and service."  She is universally described by friends and family as a “patriot”.
 
She is currently being denied bail on the basis that she is a flight risk, despite assurances from her family, and their offer of their 20-acre Southern Texas ranch as collateral.
 
“We believe the prosecution is trying to demoralize Reality and her family by denying her bail,” said Rainey Reitman, open Internet advocate and co-founder of Stand with Reality. “They’re punishing her with months in jail, and denying her the opportunity to fully participate in her defense preparations, all before a jury hears the merits of the government’s case.”
 
Stand with Reality was founded by three individuals dedicated to open government, free expression, civil liberties, and the rule of law:
 
  •      Jeff Paterson, a Marine veteran and web developer, has spent the last 11 years as the project director of Courage to Resist, which provides legal and advocacy assistance to military war resisters.
  •      Trevor Timm, a lawyer and free speech advocate, is the co-founder and executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which helps defend the rights of journalists and whistleblowers worldwide.
  •     Rainey Reitman, a writer and privacy advocate, leads the advocacy team for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties organization, and works as a nonprofit consultant.
 
For complete campaign information:
 
Press contact:
Matt Burton
(415) 335-6054
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This event is co-sponsored by the Contra Costa Labor Council
 
The goal of the C.L. Dellums African American Leadership School is to train union and community members active in the Black community so they can strengthen relationships between the Black community and the labor movement.
 
This year’s program will focus on Black workers and the Black community in Contra Costa County. Economic growth in San Francisco and Oakland and the associated rise in inequality have driven many Black workers out of those cities and into Contra Costa County. The curriculum will develop participants’ skills so they can better understand the conditions of Black workers in the county, including the impact of mass incarceration, and support unions and other organizations who seek to address the problems facing Black workers. Topics to be covered include: Organizing 101, the Political Economy in the East Bay, Listening Skills, Surveying Members, Mapping Social Networks, Immigration, Conducting a Power Analysis, and Mass Incarceration.
 
This year’s school will take place on six Saturdays and will include both classroom and field work. 
 
Dates:
 
   Saturday, September 16, 2017, 9AM–3PM
   Saturday, September 30, 2017, 9AM–3PM
   Saturday, October 14, 2017, 9AM–3PM
   Saturday, October 28, 2017, 9AM–3PM
   Saturday, November 11, 2017, 9AM–3PM
   Saturday, November 18, 2017, 9AM–3PM
 
Location:
United Steelworkers Local 5
1333 Pine Street #A
Martinez, CA 94553
 
Cost:
$400, per participant, includes light breakfast, lunch, instruction, parking and all workshop materials.
 
Participants will be selected after an application and interview process.
 
For more information and to apply, please visit us online. 
 
UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education
Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
2521 Channing Way # 5555
Berkeley, CA 94720
 
Phone: (510) 642-0323
Fax: (510) 642-6432