Tidbits - Apr. 15, 2021 - Reader Comments: Daunte Wright Murder; Jim Crow Then and Now; Georgia voter suppression; Prince Philip, Cuba blockade, New York Health Act, "Working-Class New York" Revisited conference; Zoom events;, more...
It's A Gun ?!? -- cartoon by Maritsa Patrinos
Re: Baseball Says No to Jim Crow 2.0 (Felice Sage)
Moving Day -- cartoon by Mike Luckovich
Re: Jim Crow Voting Laws — Then and Now (Arlene Halfon)
Re: Bessemer - A Big Step Forward (Carl Davidson)
Police Stop -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Re: Biden Creates Commission to Study Supreme Court Reform (James Fromm)
Re: Corporate Versus Public Control of Science And Technology: Forging a Framework for the 21st Century (Ed Delgado)
Re: Right to Work has Failed to Live up to Conservative Hype (Felice)
Re: Noam Chomsky Without Regrets: Interview With a Libertarian Socialist (Joe Grogan)
Re: Prince Philip Was the Godfather of Anglo-British Nationalism (Lee Zaslofsky)
Re: Men, Meat, and Marketing (John Pace)
Resources:
Boycott Georgia — Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Announcements:
Virtual Picket Against the U.S. Blockade on Cuba! - April 17 (Canadian Network on Cuba; The Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice)
Why Hospitals and the People They Serve Should Support Single Payer and the New York Health Act - April 20 (Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) - NY Metro Chapter)
The Green New Deal: What’s Next? - April 21 (Democracy Journal)
How Do Healthcare Professionals Organize for Immigration Justice? - April 22 (Chicago People’s Rights Collaborative and Chicago Health Coalition 4 Black Lives)
"Working-Class New York" Revisited conference - April 23 (CUNY School of Labor & Urban Studies (SLU))
Webinar: Radicalism at the Crossroads: African American Women Activists in the Cold War - A Conversation with Author Dayo F. Gore - April 28 (Claudia Jones School for Political Education)
Round Table on Peter Cole's Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly - May 1 (H-Labor)
It's A Gun ?!? -- cartoon by Maritsa Patrinos
Maritsa Patrinos
April 14, 2021
Maritsa Patrinos Illustration
Re: Baseball Says No to Jim Crow 2.0
Too bad none of these corporations or organizations pressured Georgia BEFORE the legislation was a done deal and they started getting backlash and hearing threats of boycotts from democracy loving anti-racist customers.
Felice Sage
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Moving Day -- cartoon by Mike Luckovich
Mike Luckovich
April 8, 2021
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Re: Jim Crow Voting Laws — Then and Now
Whether you are talking about voting as in this article, or other laws and policies, you should talk about "Disparate Impact." A law or policy neutral on its face but different in effect on some group. Disparate Impact can exist due to laws and requirements or (neutral) business interests. In Housing, the greatest way we create disparate impact is with zoning laws--the minimum size for a home, the maximum number of people /bedroom even if the bedroom is the size of a small home, the composition of households (e.g., number of generations or relationships, etc.) , There can be limits on other things (e.g., number of playgrounds in areas of a specific size rather than number of children who could be using the playground, etc.) Voting, of course, has always been subject to disparate impact in this country but also policing (as we know), grocery stores, taxi service, pharmacies, charging more when there's less business, business hours, etc.
Arlene Halfon
Re: Bessemer - A Big Step Forward
We are witnessing one of the lingering and ongoing impacts of neoliberalism. As Ms Thatcher infamously said, 'there is no such thing as society, only individuals and families.' She's wrong of course, but her aim was to privatize everything, including our working-class culture of solidarity,
It's still buried in our conflicted consciousness, but we need to wage all sorts of battles, including on the cultural front, to bring our culture of solidarity and mutual aid for all, to bring it back to the surface, in all our working-class organizations, including churches, temple, and mosques, as well as unions and schools.
Brush up of your Gramsci, and prepare for the 'long march' through all of civil society, and well as in the economic base. The union vote can be seen as a 'war of movement' taken on when the 'war of position' had not yet won enough of the terrain to see it through. Keep hope alive, the struggle continues.
Carl Davidson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Police Stop -- cartoon by Rob Rogers
Rob Rogers
April 15, 2021
robrogers.com
Re: Biden Creates Commission to Study Supreme Court Reform
with citizens united and gutting the voting rights act, how can history see John Roberts as anything but a fuck up?
James Fromm
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Science knows no country because science belongs to humanity
Ed Delgado
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Right to Work has Failed to Live up to Conservative Hype
(posting on Portside Labor)
It's like their "clear sky" environmental policy, the object being the opposite of the label. Clear skies was to allow corporations to continue to trash the environment and right work was meant to take away workers hard won power and return to a gilded age of unchecked corporate exploitation of powerless workers. Mission accomplished as evidenced by our obscene wealth gap, unique among western democracies.
Felice
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Noam Chomsky Without Regrets: Interview With a Libertarian Socialist
We all frequently wonder about how we can continue to struggle and to make a positive contribution for the working class, our families, Canada and communities. Try to take a few moments to read this. While the main focus is on America, the points made relate to what goes on over here too. All the best!
Joe Grogan/Bolton
Re: Prince Philip Was the Godfather of Anglo-British Nationalism
Don't exaggerate. He wasn't that powerful.
And what is "Anglo British"? Support for English domination of Great Britain? Didn't Philip play nice with the Scots, the Welsh, the Irish?
What do you expect of the Prince Consort who was born in 1921 and joined the Royal Navy to fight in WWII? Do you think he should have been more of a Lefty? In fact, he devoted much of his time to the Commonwealth, which, in case you hadn't noticed, is very diverse. He seems to have got along well with the many presidents and prime ministers of the Commonwealth countries, also a very diverse group.
He made tasteless "jokes" about racial characteristics, and "got into trouble" for some of his "gaffes". He used to say he was a student of "dontopedalogy", the science of putting one's foot in one's mouth.
This recent outrage about the royal family is exaggerated. Because some member of the royal family wondered whether Baby Archie would have dark skin the whole monarchy has to be dumped?
What about the monarchies of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Japan, Spain? There are some of the most democratic, progressive countries in the world.
"I will strangle the last king with the entrails of the last priest". We all agree on that of course. But Philip as "Godfather"? Please!
Lee Zaslofsky
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
(posting on Portside Culture)
Not questioning for a second that rational reasons, environmental and those related to health, for giving up meat.
But I sure didn't have "masculinity" on my bingo card.
John Pace
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Boycott Georgia — Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
Offset, 1980s
London, United Kingdom
17673
Georgia’s new, enhanced, meaner, and uglier voter suppression laws have righteously outraged all who believe that democracy depends upon the right to vote. This includes easy registration and easy access. The Georgia law is just one of dozens of attempts across the country to make it harder for Black voters and other voters of color. Many opponents of the law are calling for a boycott of Georgia and Georgia-based companies until the law is repealed.
Economic boycotts, one of the most widely used forms of nonviolent protest, are as American as apple pie (whatever that means). The colonists used it before the American Revolution to protest British rule. The Quakers and other abolitionists led the “Free Produce Movement” to boycott products made with slave labor. The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56), advanced the civil rights movement as it challenged and changed U.S. history. The Delano strike and boycott against grapes and lettuce (1965-1970), advanced the civil rights of Pilipino and Latinx farm workers—and also changed US and labor history. And there have been—and continue to be many others.
Two years ago, calls to boycott Georgia were in response to the passage of a draconian anti-abortion law. The progressive pro choice community was divided on the boycott—those opposing it claiming that it hurt the workers more than the corporations. This is a common argument against using the boycott, a legitimate and effective form of nonviolent direct action.
In response to Georgia’s voter suppression laws, demands to boycott Georgia are being raised, resulting in Major League Baseball’s decision to pull its 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta. Under mounting public pressure, major Georgia-based companies, including Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, and Home Depot—not known for progressive policies—have spoken out against the restrictive legislation. Again, boycott opponents claim it will hurt workers more than the corporate elite. To answer this claim, CSPG’s Poster of the week is using an Anti-Apartheid poster from the 1980s, stating that, “Sanctions Won't Hurt Black Workers More Than Apartheid.”
Resources:
- Mary McNamara: Dear Hollywood: The GOP in Georgia is threatening democracy. Silence is not an option
- Jim Crow Redux: Georgia GOP Governor Signs “Egregious” Voter Suppression Law Targeting Black Voters
- Hank Aaron's grandson to Kelly Loeffler: 'Keep my grandfather's name out of your mouth'
- Ilhan Omar at odds with Stacey Abrams over Georgia All-Star Game boycott
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103
Culver City, CA 90230
LIFT THE U.S. BLOCKADE ON CUBA!
U.S. REMOVE CUBA FROM THE SO-CALLED "STATE SPONSORS OF TERRORISM" LIST!
AWARD CUBA’S INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL BRIGADE THE NOBEL PRIZE!
#Cubavsbloqueo #UnBlockCuba #SanctionsKill
#Nobel4CubanDoctors #NobelCuba
12th Monthly Virtual Picket
SATURDAY APRIL 17, 2021
4pm Pacific Time / 7pm Eastern Time / 8pm Atlantic Time
Register online at:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZZ_td6IwQuefkt9sfyCeVw
Featuring Speakers & Greetings from Across Canada and Around the World including:
- DAVID DENNY – President of the Cuban Barbadian Friendship Association, General Secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration and the General Secretary for the Friends of Venezuela Solidarity Committee (Barbados). In 2016 he received the Award of Friendship from the Government of Cuba.
- YHONNY GARCIA – Leader of the Venezuelan National Movement of Friendship and Mutual Solidarity Venezuela-Cuba (Caracas, Venezuela)
- CHERYL LABASH - Co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), United States
- JULIO FONSECA - Executive member of the Canadian Network on Cuba, President of the Juan Gualberto Gomez Association of Cuban Residents in Toronto.
- PLUS VIDEOS FROM: Australia-Cuba Friendship Society, Ottawa Cuba Connections & la Table de concertation et de solidarité Québec – Cuba and more!
- Along with Greetings from CNC member groups!
Event Co-Chairs:
- TAMARA HANSEN - Executive member of the Canadian Network on Cuba, Coordinator of Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC) & Author of “5 Decades of the Cuban Revolution: The Challenges of an Unwavering Leadership.”
- ISAAC SANEY – National Spokesperson & Co-Chair of the Canadian Network on Cuba, Professor at Dalhousie University
Everyone is encouraged to make protest signs, display banners, or wear t-shirts against the blockade. These can be displayed in a group photo at the end of the virtual picket!
1) The program will begin with invited speakers and greetings.
2) In concluding the virtual picket, those who wish to participate in the photo will be invited by the co-chairs to turn on their cameras to join in! More specific instructions will be given by co-chairs during the virtual picket.
3) If you are unfamiliar with Zoom or require technical support, please contact: webmaster@canadiannetworkoncuba.ca
*** Everyone is also encouraged to share photos with their signs, t-shirts and banners on social media #Cubavsbloqueo #UnBlockCuba2021 #SanctionsKill
It is clear that pressure on the Biden administration to end the U.S. blockade on Cuba is growing.
In January the office of the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, expressed his disagreement with the US State Department including Cuba on its list of State sponsors of terrorism and expressed his hope that the Biden Administration would consider rescinding the listing. As well, in February, 17 major religious institutions and faith-based organizations recently co-signed a letter to President Biden urging an end to the U.S. blockade on Cuba and the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.
According to U.S. congressperson Bobby Rush, on March 2, a group of 75 Democratic members of congress sent a letter "to President Biden urging him to take swift executive action to reverse the Trump Administration’s draconian policies towards Cuba, return to the diplomatic path charted by the Obama–Biden Administration, and pursue an ultimate end to the nearly six-decade-long economic embargo."
Then on March 28, 50 cities in the U.S., Canada, Cuba and around the world came together in united actions in the form of car caravans against the U.S. Blockade on Cuba! These dynamic actions are set to continue on the last Sunday of every month.
It is clear that now is the time to redouble our efforts to end the U.S. blockade on Cuba in 2021. Join the Canadian Network on Cuba for our 12th monthly virtual picket action as we hear from international speakers and plan for further actions and events!
REGISTER ONLINE HERE:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZZ_td6IwQuefkt9sfyCeVw
JOIN THE EVENT ON FACEBOOK:
https://www.facebook.com/events/163860998939083
** Please circulate this information to your friends and contacts. **
Organized by the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC), a network of Cuba solidarity organizations across Canada promoting friendship and solidarity with Cuba and the Cuban people.
Tuesday, April 20, from 7:00-8:30 PM via Zoom
Note: You can join by phone or computer.
Closed captions will be available.
This forum will explore the failures of the way hospitals are currently financed, and how the New York Health Act would benefit hospitals and the people they serve.
Well before the COVID-19 pandemic, many hospitals - especially those serving low-income communities - suffered from financial difficulties, leading to many of them closing. The reason was not a lack of need - in fact, many closures occurred in communities with great unmet health needs. The closures occurred as a result of the way we pay for health care in the United States. Too many people have no coverage, or inadequate coverage, and too many hospitals receive inadequate reimbursement. The pandemic has tragically further exposed this broken financing system, as hospitals were busier than ever - literally overflowing with severely ill patients - yet were financially stressed due to the postponement of more profitable elective patient care.
Despite this, senior leadership at many hospitals openly opposes single payer and its local form, the New York Health Act. This forum will explore the failures of the current way we finance hospitals and how the New York Health Act would benefit hospitals and the people they serve. We call on hospital leaders to support the New York Health Act (A.6058/S.5474) and the national legislation that would create improved and expanded Medicare for All (HR-1976).
SPEAKERS:
Olivia Webb is recently a policy analyst at the American Economic Liberties Project and the Open Markets Institute -- with a specialty in hospital and other healthcare consolidations, and the effect of private equity. She writes the newsletter Acute Condition.
Edward Yoo is Director of Strategic Research for the New York State Nurses Association, where one of his responsibilities is to monitor and analyze changes to our healthcare industry, specifically as it relates to mergers, acquisitions and closures of hospitals, and joining with our communities in fighting to preserve and expand care.
Rev. Dr. Stephen W. Pogue is the pastor of Greater Centennial A.M.E. Zion Church in Mount Vernon, and is also the chair of the Save and Transform Mount Vernon Hospital coalition, where he organizes to prevent the closure of his community's sole hospital.
Larry Levine is the CEO of Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla. He brings 45 years of healthcare experience to his passionate public policy advocacy on behalf of children and families. Larry has been the only private hospital CEO in New York State who is outspoken in support of the NY Health Act.
Steve Auerbach is a PNHP-NY Metro Board Member, and is a retired pediatrician, medical epidemiologist/senior public health analyst, and U.S. Public Health Service Officer, formerly with the Health Resources and Services Administration (aka: the “healthcare access” agency).
MODERATOR:
Anthony Feliciano is the Director of the Commission on the Public's Health System (CPHS). He serves on various boards and task forces on health care, including the boards of APICHA community health center and the Campaign for NY Health Act. He has 20 years of experience in community organizing and policy centered around addressing racism in health care, access, community decision-making in health issues, equitable and transparent budgets, and investments in health and well-being of low-income, immigrants, and communities of color.
The Green New Deal: What’s Next? - April 21 (Democracy Journal)
Despite the clear moral and economic imperative for a Green New Deal, many skeptics still dismiss comprehensive climate action on the scale of FDR’s New Deal as a pipe dream.
Next week, you’re invited to join Democracy’s virtual panel with guests from The Sunrise Movement, Working Families Party, and elsewhere to discuss the Green New Deal and the current state of the climate justice movement under the Biden Administration.
Moderated by Kate Aronoff of The New Republic, Wednesday’s event will feature an expert line-up of panelists including: National Director of the Working Families Party Maurice Mitchell, The Sunrise Movement’s Lily Gardner, Climate Policy Director at the Roosevelt Institute (and an original author of the Green New Deal) Rhiana Gunn-Wright, and Executive Director of Open Society Foundations Tom Perriello.
Last year, Democracy published a Green New Deal symposium featuring pieces from all the above panelists along with Governor Jay Inselee, Bracken Hendricks, and others focused on how we can reconfigure progressive politics, bring skeptics to our side, and make the Green New Deal politically viable.
Shortly after that symposium, the pandemic hit the United States — an unprecedented crisis that has served as a preview of the incalculable losses we will face if we fail to appropriately address the climate crisis.
The Green New Deal: What’s Next?
Wednesday, April 21st, 2021
10:00 a.m. Eastern
The Chicago People's Rights Collaborative and The Chicago Health Coalition 4 Black Lives are holding a free educational event on April 22nd and all are welcome! Dr. Bonnie Arzuaga and Dr. Danielle Deines, the co-founder's of Doctors for Camp Closure, will be speaking on organizing healthcare professionals for immigrant justice. It will be a greatly informative session and we would like to invite those of you who are passionate about these topics to join us. We look forward to seeing you. RSVP below!
SPEAKERS
Dr. Bonnie Hope Arzuaga, MD; Co-founder, D4CC
Dr. Danielle A. Deines, DO; Co-founder, D4CC
RSVP HERE to join/view this session on 4/22/21, 6-8pm CST. Our sessions are free to join/view.
About the session: Join CPRC and CHC4BL for a conversation with D4CC founders on the ways in which healthcare professionals can (and do!) organize for immigration justice. We will discuss the varieties of organizing strategies the group uses, their organizing leadership, their partnerships with other community organizers and groups, and more.
Dr. Arzuaga: Dr. Arzuaga is a neonatologist and Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. She is one of the three co-founders of Doctors for Camp Closure and recently served as a Massachusetts delegate for the American Academy of Pediatrics Legislative Conference in Washington DC. Her academic interests include ethics in neonatology as well as physician activism in relation to issues that affect public health.
Dr. Deines: Danielle Deines is a co-founder of Doctors for Camp Closure and a neonatologist living and practicing in Peoria, Illinois. She is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in her role as a neonatologist with the Children's Hospital of Illinois and University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. She balances her clinical medicine and bedside teaching with time spent in advocacy and activism as well as being outdoors with her family of 5. She and her husband have included their 3 children in various D4CC events.
Learn more about CPRC on our website
Learn more about CHC4BL on their website
WORKING-CLASS NEW YORK REVISITED: THE PAST AND FUTURE OF STRUGGLES FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE
Friday, April 23, 2021 * via Live Stream
Program is scheduled in U.S. Eastern Time
During the two decades since its publication, Joshua B. Freeman’s Working-Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II has had a major influence on the efforts of labor and urban historians and New York activists to reckon with the achievements and failures of working-class people in shaping the city.
WORKING-CLASS NEW YORK REVISITED: THE PAST AND FUTURE OF STRUGGLES FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE will bring together scholars, activists, and political leaders to reconsider the book’s themes, explore subsequent scholarship on New York working-class movements, and present visions for progressive urban change.
9:30am - 10:15am: Opening
- Chair: Stephanie Luce, Graduate Center and School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
- Jack Metzgar, Emeritus Professor of Humanities, Roosevelt University
- Samir Sonti, School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
This opening session will consider the contributions of Working-Class New York and suggest the challenges and possibilities for progressive urban change.
10:15am - 12:00pm: New York Labor Struggles in the Post-WW II era
- Chair/commentator: Kimberly Phillips-Fein, Professor of History, New York University
- Andy Battle, Bard Early College High School
- Will Jones, Professor of History, University of Minnesota
- Marc Kagan, Graduate Center, City University of New York
- Premilla Nadasen, Professor of History, Barnard College, Columbia University
Since the publication of Working-Class New York, there has been a wealth of studies of labor struggles in New York City in the post-World War II era. This panel will present some of the best recent work, examining factory move-outs and the efforts of public employees, transit worker dissidents, and domestic workers to build strong organizations and improve their jobs.
12:45pm - 2:30pm: African American and Puerto Rican Movements in Postwar New York
- Chair/commentator: Martha Biondi, Professor of African American Studies, Northwestern University
- Aldo Lauria-Santiago, Professor, Department of Latino & Caribbean Studies, Rutgers University
- Johanna Fernández, Associate Professor of History, Baruch College, City University of New York
- LaShawn D. Harris, Associate Professor of History, Michigan State University
- Brian Purnell, Geoffrey Canada Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College
Leading scholars of African American and Puerto Rican history will discuss their work on postwar struggles in New York City, including Puerto Rican labor activism, the Young Lords, the fight against police brutality, and the Black freedom movement.
2:45pm - 4:30pm: Roundtable: Social Democracy in New York and the Nation
- Moderator: Joel Suarez, School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
- Steve Fraser, Independent Scholar
- Nelson Lichtenstein, Research Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Touré Reed, Professor of History, Illinois State University
- Ruth Milkman, Graduate Center and School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
Roundtable participants will consider the utility of social democracy as a way of understanding New York and the country in the postwar era, and will discuss its past and future strengths and limitations as an idea and a program.
4:45pm - 6:30pm: Toward a Progressive Urbanism
- Chair/commentator: Penny Lewis, School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
- Frances Fox Piven, Professor Emeritus, Graduate Center, City University of New York
- Nikil Saval, Pennsylvania State Senator
- Kafui Attoh, School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
- Marta Gutman, Professor, Graduate Center and Spitzer School of Architecture, CCNY, City University of New York
In recent years, cities have been a center for progressive action in the United States. Coming from a variety of disciplines and positions, panelists will present their visions for a progressive urbanism, and how to get there.
6:30pm - 7:15pm: Reflections
- Chair: Stephen Brier, Graduate Center and School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
- Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia University
- Joshua B. Freeman, Professor Emeritus, Queens College, Graduate Center, and School of Labor and Urban Studies, City University of New York
This concluding session will reflect on the significance of Working-Class New York and the career of Joshua B. Freeman, whose retirement this conference marks.
****************
Conference Sponsors:
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies
25 West 43rd Street, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10036
(646) 313-8300
This is an invitation to our next event titled Radicalism at the Crossroads: African American Women Activists in the Cold War featuring author Dayo F. Gore.
This event is part of a series of events titled Radical Black Women, which is a collaboration between the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, Black Women Radicals and the Paul Robeson House & Museum that will pay homage to radical Black women throughout history.
When: Wednesday, April 28 at 6:30pm Eastern Time, 5:30 Central
Dayo F. Gore is an associate professor of ethnic studies and critical gender studies at the University of California, San Diego. She is the co-editor (with Jeanne Theoharis and Komozi Woodard) of Want to Start a Revolution? Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle (NYU Press, 2009).
This event will be a webinar via Zoom and live-streamed on YouTube.
The Claudia Jones School for Political Education (CJSPE) is a grassroots organization committed to enriching the political perspectives of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan community. It strives to be a force in the fight against injustices of a racist ruling class engaged in relentless class war against the working poor whose labor is the source of capital that is used against the same workers in furthering their exploitation.
Round Table on Peter Cole's Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly - May 1 (H-Labor)
May 1, 2021 @ 4PM EST
H-Labor’s Mayday Round Table -- Ahmed White, Lara Vapnek, Tobias Higbie, and Jasper Conner discuss:
Peter Cole’s Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly
Moderated by Kofui Attoh
A brilliant union organizer and a humorous orator, Benjamin Fletcher (1890–1949) was a tremendously important and well-loved African American member of the IWW during its heyday. Fletcher helped found and lead Local 8 of the IWW’s Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union, unquestionably the most powerful interracial union of its era, taking a principled stand against all forms of xenophobia and exclusion.