This Week in People’s History, Apr 23–29, 2025
Got Covid? Have You Tried Injecting Bleach?
APRIL 23 IS THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of President Trump telling a live, televised, White House press briefing that bleach or rubbing alcohol might be “injected inside” to combat the Covid-19 virus.
In spring 2020, at the end of a week during which at least 16 thousand people in the USA died from Covid-19, Trump remarked, “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute,” before adding, “And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning? Because you see it get in the lungs and does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that.” The hour-long Presidential press briefing can be seen at https://youtu.be/PsQnfpfIa_o?si=qscJ-uPkSN_S_GNV. It starts to go off the rails 26 minutes in.
Not long after Trump spoke, so many callers flooded a Maryland health hotline with questions that the state’s Emergency Management Agency issued a warning: “under no circumstances” should any disinfectant be taken to treat the coronavirus.
In Washington State, officials urged people not to consume laundry detergent capsules and health professionals across the country sounded the alarm.
Injecting bleach or highly concentrated rubbing alcohol “causes massive organ damage and the blood cells in the body to basically burst,” said Dr. Diane Calello, the medical director of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System. “It can definitely be a fatal event.”
The next day the White House blamed the uproar on the way the press briefing had been covered: “Leave it to the media to irresponsibly take President Trump out of context and run with negative headlines,” stated the White House press secretary.
No Due Process for Armenians
APRIL 24 IS THE 110TH ANNIVERSARY of the sudden arrest in 1915 by the police of more than 200 Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey) – including Dikran Chökürian, Ardashes Harutiunian, Diran Kelekian, Ruben Sevak, Daniel Varoujan, Rupen Zartarian and Krikor Zohrab.
The only law that any of them were accused of violating was a brand-new law making any Armenian in the Ottoman Empire subject to arrest and deportation.
Almost all of those arrested were deported some 250 miles east almost immediately and executed shortly thereafter. It was the beginning of the Armenian genocide. By the end of 1917, between 800,000 and 1.5 million Armenian residents of the Ottoman Empire had been killed. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-armenian-genocide-1915-16-overview
A Milestone for the Other-Abled
APRIL 25 IS THE 105TH ANNIVERSARY of the end of a 3-week protest march by some 250 members of the National League of the Blind, who had walked to London from three distant cities; two of them – Leeds and Manchester – in England, and one – Newport – in Wales. On the way to London, the marchers stopped frequently to hold rallies in cities along the route.
When the marchers – who were protesting low wages, poor working conditions and poverty – arrived together in central London’s Trafalgar Square in 1920, they were greeted by some ten thousand enthusiastic supporters.
The objective of the march was to pressure the government to take responsibility for the welfare of blind persons. Thanks to the march and the resulting publicity, less than four months later parliament passed the Blind Persons Act of 1920, which fell far short of meeting the protesters’ demands, but it at least established the precedent that the government had the obligation to contribute to the income of blind persons and to regulate the charitable institutions that provided many blind persons with employment. https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20speople-obtaining-state-aid-for-the-blind-the-1920-blind-march
A Dust Bowl Refugee Sings
APRIL 26 IS THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY of the 1940 recording session during which Woody Guthrie laid down the tracks that became his first commercial recording, titled “Dust Bowl Ballads.”
The album, which was produced by Victor Records, includes Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues, Blowing Down This Road, Do Re Mi, Tom Joad-Parts 1+2, The Great Dust Storm, Dusty Old Dust (which was later known as So Long, It's Been Good to Know Yuh), Dust Bowl Refugee, I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore, and Vigilante Man. You can listen to it here: https://youtu.be/J34m9ppG3Bo?si=cMT52ZPiW6sUcpdd
Harriet Tubman to the Rescue
APRIL 27 IS THE 165TH ANNIVERSARY of the successful 1860 jailbreak, in Troy, New York, that rescued “fugitive slave” Charles Nalle, who was about to be sent back to Virginia, where he would have been put in the custody of the man from whom he had absconded.
Harriet Tubman, who happened to have been passing through Troy when Nalle was arrested, played a major role in breaking him out of the hands of the law. For a more detailed account, visit https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/harriet-tubman-rescued-charles-nalle/
Don’t Mourn, Organize
APRIL 28 IS WORKERS’ MEMORIAL DAY AND WORLD DAY FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORK. It is also the 55th anniversary of the day in 1970 when the federal government enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which is widely known as the OSH Act.
In theory the OSH Act ensures that every worker in the USA has the right to a work environment that is free of hazards that are known to cause injury, illness, or death. Unfortunately it is almost impossible for a worker who is not covered by a union contract to enforce his or her right to a safe and healthful job. Hence, despite the OSH Act’s promise, the day was christened Workers’ Memorial Day IN 1989 by the AFL-CIO union confederation.
It is a day to remember workers who have been killed, injured or diseased on the job and to highlight actions needed to prevent such tragedies. In addition to being the anniversary of the OSH Act, April 28 is the anniversary of the enactment of Canada’s federal workers’ Compensation law.
The AFL-CIO and the Canadian Labour Congress mark Workers’ Memorial Day to bring the magnitude of workplace injuries and disease to the public’s attention and to gain support for the labor movement’s efforts to improve workers’ safety and health. In 2024, nearly 5500 U.S. workers were killed on the job, an average of one death every 96 minutes. For much more information, visit https://aflcio.org/dotj-2024
Heart of Stone
APRIL 29 IS THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY of the sentencing of a heartless employer to a 17-year prison term and a $5.9 million fine as punishment for having ordered a worker, Scott Dominguez, to climb into a heavily contaminated vat and clean it out.
Once inside, Dominguez was quickly overcome by an atmosphere of cyanide and phosphoric acid. An hour passed before he was rescued; he survived, but was permanently disabled.
During the employer’s 2000 sentencing hearing in Pocatello, Idaho, a Federal District Court judge told him, “The sentence adequately reflects the danger posed to the community and to in particular. I hope it will deter and other similarly situated individuals in the future.” https://jordanbarab.com/confinedspace/2025/04/16/dispatches-from-the-front-lines-of-workplace-safety-health-2/
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