People Before Profit blog

People's World hosts “ceremony for activists” in Missouri

Mon, 04 May 2015 14:27:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS - On Saturday, May 2, the Missouri/Kansas Friends of the People's World hosted the 23rd Annual Hershel Walker 'Peace and Justice' Awards breakfast to recognize outstanding leaders and activists, and their work towards creating a more just and equitable society.

A diverse crowd of 120 union, community, peace and faith leaders joined together at 9:30 a.m., at the Communication Workers of America, Local 6300, union hall for a morning filled with conversations and solidarity. Walking through the entrance one couldn't help but notice how animated and invigorated the crowd was.

"This is an awards ceremony for activists," said Nicholas James, a Service Employees International Union collective bargaining rep. "This is amazing. Usually, only famous people get awards. That we take the time to recognize the everyday, ordinary people struggling to change our world is what makes this Awards Breakfast so special."

At 10:00 am, Holly Roe, a community activist and CWA Local 6355 shop steward, welcomed everyone. She gave special thanks to Rebecca Bolte for making the breakfast program booklets; Missouri State Reps. Tommie Pierson, Karla May and Sharon Pace; and the granddaughters of Hershel Walker, Ms. Evette Shannon and Ms. Trina Albright, who brought photos, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia related to Hershel Walker's life as a Communist Party, union and community activist.

"I love the spirit in this room," asserted Rev. Scott Marks, founder of the Connecticut Center for a New Economy and New Haven Rising, as he took the stage to deliver the keynote address amid applause.

"I am truly honored and excited to be here today. This is such a great, diverse crowd. We're all here, leaders from community, union and faith organizations. Give yourselves a round of applause." He continued, "This is what America truly looks like."

Speaking on a wide range of topics, from community organizing to the recent tragedy in Baltimore, recounting the civil rights movement of the past, and drawing lessons from history to strengthen the current fight for social justice, Rev. Marks shared years of wisdom and experience with the eager and captivated audience.

"Now this is the type of speech that everyone needs to hear," commented Brittany Scott, a fast food worker and member of the local "Fight for $15 and a Union" campaign.

"We have come too far to stop now," Marks continued, "and when you see young people get out into the streets remember that they do so because they have to. It has been 47 years since we've seen this type of activism. Baltimore and Ferguson - we cannot let these injustices continue."

Rev. Marks closing remarks came as the room rose chanting energized by this radical preacher's spirit and the fights yet to be won.

At 11:15 a.m. Roe took to the stage and began the awards presentation ceremony.

Receiving the 2015 Hershel Walker 'Peace and Justice' Awards were:

- Michael McPherson, co-chair of the Ferguson Don't Shoot Coalition, and Executive Director of Veterans for Peace

- Jen Bersdale, executive director, Missouri Health Care for All

- Mark Esters, president, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists St. Louis Chapter, and CWA 6355-Missouri State Workers Union lead organizer.

- Rep. Tommie Pierson (D-69), pastor at Greater Saint Marks Church (in Ferguson), and retired United Auto Workers Union member.

- James Raines (posthumously), CWA 6355-Missouri State Workers Union organizer, and Peoples' World staff reporter.

In a beautiful moment of remembrance, Mark Esters, recounted the amazing life and work of James Raines. A tireless advocate for the working class and a gifted people's reporter, James touched the lives of thousands through his impressive career fighting for a better world. Esters presented his family with the 'Peace and Justice' award as well as a Missouri House Resolution submitted by State Rep. Clem Smith honouring Raines' life, work, and dedication to public service. James is survived by his wife, Wendy, daughter, Emmaline; and parents, Jim and Sue.

As this year's breakfast came to a close, Rasheen Aldridge, director of Young Activists United-St. Louis and the youngest member of the Ferguson Commission, delivered the closing remarks.

He thanked everyone for attending and said, "In order to win we must become stronger. We have to support each other. We have to build a powerful labor-community based movement for change."

As friends said their farewells, it was easy to see written on each of their faces the powerful movement chant: "United we stand, divided we fall."

Members of the Service Employees International Union, local 1 and Health Care, the St. Louis chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the St. Louis Organizing Committee for "$15 and a Union," Missouri Health Care for All, Jobs with Justice, the International Union of Operating Engineers, local 148, the Communication Workers' Union of America locals 6300 and 6355, the St. Louis Workers' Education Society, the Laborers' Local 110, Missourians for Alternative to the Death Penalty, Young Activists United-St. Louis, among many others attended the Awards Breakfast.

In all, over $8,000 was raised for the People's World.

Photo: PW

Today in history: Four students killed at Kent State in Vietnam demo

Mon, 04 May 2015 13:07:00 +0000

On this date in 1970, four Kent State University students were shot dead and nine wounded in Kent, Ohio, by the National Guard during a protest against the Vietnam War and the newly revealed U.S. invasion of Cambodia by the Nixon government.

The four martyrs were Allison Krause, 19 years old; Sandra Lee Scheuer, 20; Jeffrey Glenn Miller, 20; and William K. Schroeder, 19.

Many college campuses saw a spurt of protest in early May 1970 when news came out that the long-hated U.S. war against Vietnam was now spreading to neighboring countries.The public tide had turned by then. For the president to stay the course, and even expand the war, in the face of mass protests that had been going on since 1965, became an unbearable sign that free speech and peaceful protest did not seem to be effective in this country any more. Demonstrations suddenly took on more urgency.

On May 1, the Kent State protest included objects thrown at the police, bonfires, and broken windows. Leroy Satrom, the town mayor, declared a state of emergency, and asked Gov. James A. Rhodes to send in the Ohio National Guard. The National Guard arrived the next day, finding the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) building at the university in flames. No one knows who set it afire, but antiwar protestors were celebrating. The Guard released tear gas to disperse the crowd.

On May 3, approximately 1000 National Guard soldiers were on campus, breaking up continuing demonstrations with rifles and bayonets. Completely misinterpreting the moment, Gov. Rhodes heightened the tension with accusations against the protestors, stating, "They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America. I think that we're up against the strongest, well-trained, militant, revolutionary group that has ever assembled in America."

The next day, a Monday, classes resumed, and so did the protests. Again the National Guard fired tear gas canisters, and some demonstrators threw them back. As the mutual antagonism between students and National Guard increased, the Guard eventually opened fire indiscriminately into the crowd. The troops fired 67 shots. Two of the students who died were actually just walking between classes.

These murders proved that the American people were serious about ending this immoral and senseless war, and that the government would stop at nothing to keep on pursuing it. Frustration over the apparent failure of protest led in short time to more radicalized and extremist forms of resistance. But the killings also inspired an ever wider swath of the American public to side with the antiwar cause. Almost every major college and university in the country canceled classes and shut down for the remainder of the academic year.

The war dragged on for five more years, although some of the passion in the protest was removed when the draft wound down and young men were no longer subject to forced enlistment in a war they despised. After 1973, with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, Nixon tried to "Vietnamize" the war by withdrawing most U.S. troops and giving more autonomy to the corrupt and unrepresentative South Vietnamese government and military. Finally the war ended with a complete Vietnamese people's victory on April 30, 1975.

The Kent State shootings are a long-remembered symbol of government gone amok with its own power and with fear of its own people. Neil Young's moving song "Ohio" dealt with this tragedy.

Photo: An injured or slain person is moved on a stretcher at Kent State, on this day in 1970. | Kent State University digital archive

Baltimore prosecutor brings murder, manslaughter charges against six police

Fri, 01 May 2015 14:54:00 +0000

BALTIMORE - Just hours before the scheduled start of a huge march and rally by the Baltimore United Coalition here, the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby, announced multiple criminal charges against six police officers in the killing of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old man was arrested and thrown into a police van Apr. 12, emerged with a severed spinal cord and larynx and died several days later.

The officers are charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, and assault.

The charges were announced as thousands prepared to join peaceful rallies and marches in Baltimore, continuing a week of demands for justice in the latest police killings that have sparked protests in cities across the nation.

The charges were announced a day after the Baltimore police had completed their own investigation into Gray's death and had submitted their findings to the State's Attorney.

Mosby told the press that her office decided to file the serious charges after having conducted numerous interviews of witnesses, reviews of medical records and examination of the route taken by the driver of the police van. She said that the decision also came after review of the police department's own report and an autopsy that concluded Gray's death was the result of homicide.

Mosby said her department's investigation answers one of the big questions concerning Gray's death, the issue of exactly when the fatal injuries occurred. She said those injuries occurred after he was shackled and thrown into the van, without any restraints to protect him.

Mosby also charged that police failed to obtain medical care for Gray even though it was "abundantly evident" that he was in serious distress.

She said that the charges against the officers who arrested Gray are not an indictment of the entire police department, telling reporters that several of her aunts and uncles and her late grandfather were all police officers. "The actions of these officers will not and should not in any way damage the important working relationships between police and prosecutors," she said, "as we continue to fight together to reduce crime in Baltimore."

When Mosby announced the indictments the crowd assembled near the War Memorial downtown cheered and broke out into applause.

"This is a great day, and we all need to realize that," Rep. Elijah Cummings said. "I think a message has been sent by our state's attorney that she treasures every life, that she values every person."

President Obama, hearing of the indictments, said, "What I think the people of Baltimore want more than anything else is the truth. That's what people around the country expect."

John Wojcik and Margaret Baldridge contributed to this report.

Photo: State Attorney announces indictments in Baltimore. | Alex Brandon/AP

Pentagon commemoration of Vietnam War far from complete

Fri, 01 May 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Last August, America began observing the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The Pentagon has $63 million to commemorate the long war, which lasted until 1975. Pentagon priorities are to thank and honor Vietnam War veterans, to highlight the service of the armed forces in the war, and contributions on the home front.

There is a website for the Pentagon commemoration at http://www.vietnamwar50th.com/. Activists in the peace movement during the war saw the website and found it to be mostly propagandistic and needing correction. I agree.

The Pentagon commemoration omits contributions of the peace movement "on the home front" that helped bring an end to the war. It was a movement of leaders and activists: veterans, mothers, wives, children, civil rights, faith, labor, student and academic progressives. Chicanas were part of it.

To correct the distortions, a peace commemoration is being organized. The first step is a conference on Friday and Saturday, May 1-2, in Washington, D.C., titled "Vietnam - The Power of Protest - Telling the Truth - Learning the Lessons.".

The conference has a star-studded program of progressive leaders of the past half century: Dolores Huerta, Danny Glover, Daniel Ellsberg, Phil Donahue, former Congresspersons Pat Schroeder, Ron Dellums and current Reps. Barbara Lee and John Conyers, singer Holly Near, and more.

In addition to Dolores Huerta, three other Mexican-American/Chicanos are in the program: Luis J. Rodriguez, Poet Laureate of Los Angeles, who marched in the National Chicano Moratorium against the war as a teenager on August 29, 1970; Dr. Jorge Mariscal, Vietnam veteran, professor and writer about the Chicano movement and the Vietnam War; and myself, who chaired the National Chicano Moratorium. We helped form a new group, the Chicana Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee, to support the conference and to educate our communities on the truth and lessons of the war.

The largest peace activities were in the East and Midwest. The greatest impact of the war was in African American and Latino communities. Protesters Martin Luther King, Jr. and Muhammad Ali were the major African American leaders of those protests.

Early Latino protests by leaders like Congressman Ed Roybal, journalists Ruben Salazar, Francisca Flores and Enriqueta Vasquez, and activists Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Corky Gonzales, Reies Tijerina and Bert Corona was not covered. National publicity came when police attacked the Chicano Moratorium and confrontation ensued, which the establishment and media blamed on the community.

The 30,000 demonstrators showed that huge percentages of Chicanos were against the war, considering that Mexican Americans in the 1970 census were only about 2.5 percent of the population.

Armed Forces statistics report "Hispanic" fatalities in the war as 349, but the truth is that there were closer to 10 times that many fatalities. National GI Forum Leader Ruben Treviso says that one of every two Latinos in the war was in a combat unit, one of every five was killed in action, one out of every three was wounded.

Poverty and discrimination were causes of the high death rate, but official policy was the main cause. Project 100,000, instituted in October 1966, reduced Armed Service standards for language proficiency and "mental and physical" deficiencies. The people of color and poor troops brought in under the program were over 10 percent of the total, serving disproportionately in combat, while predominately white college students were exempted from the draft. We will be reporting back on the conference soon.

The Chicana Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee (CVPCC) can be contacted at phone 323-229-1994, email david4paz@yahoo.com, and CVPCC, 1107 Fair Oaks Blvd, South Pasadena, CA 91030.

Photo: U.S. soldier adiding wounded comrades near Hue, Vietnam in 1968. | Art Greenspon/AP

Bernie Sanders makes it official: he’s running for president

Thu, 30 Apr 2015 15:26:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Bernie Sanders, the self-described "democratic socialist" senator from Vermont, announced on the steps of the U.S. Capitol yesterday that he was running for the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency. Sanders, who has repeatedly won election to the Senate as an Independent has nevertheless caucused with that body's Democrats.

During his announcement, he launched a blistering attack on the electoral system in this country, insisting that it has been captured by the super rich and the top one percent of Americans. Standing before the dome of the nation's most cherished symbol he declared that the 2016 elections would be a "defining moment" for the nation's middle class.

"The major issue is how do we create an economy that works for all of our people rather than a small number of billionaires," Sanders declared.

During his announcement he castigated both the Koch brothers and the U.S. Supreme Court for their respective roles in squelching democracy, saying that they have "unleashed unlimited outside money into elections."

"We now have a political situation where billionaires are literally able to buy elections and candidates. Let's not kid ourselves. This is our reality right now," he said.

Wall Street has never been endeared to the senator because of his repeated calls for and support for financial regulations on the big firms and banks.

Fossil fuel companies have him on the top of their enemy lists because of his warnings about the threats posed by climate change.

That triple message - taking money out of politics, curbing the excesses of Wall Street, and the need to save the planet, when combined with his passionate calls for closing the wealth gap, is immensely popular with progressives across the country and could pose a real challenge for what is presumed now to be Hillary Clinton's clear advantage in the coming Democratic primaries. Sanders has been drawing large crowds in early caucus and primary states, including Iowa and South Carolina.

Regardless of their preferences, leading Democrats welcomed Sanders into the race, saying essentially that his candidacy will encourage debate and help draw the line between Republicans who back the rich and Democrats who support policies that benefit the majority.

Even Hillary Clinton tweeted: "I agree with Bernie, the focus must be on helping America's middle class. The GOP would hold them back. I welcome him to the race."

She did not mention Sanders having described allegations of improper donations to the Clinton Foundation as "a very serious problem" or his criticism of her for being too hawkish on foreign policy, including her vote for the Iraq War.

Sanders has also come out strongly against the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal and the Fast Track proposal backed by Republicans, some Democrats and the Obama administration. He has been asked to deliver remarks to the coming AFL-CIO convention in New Hampshire.

Sanders has called for increases, not cuts in Social Security benefits and single payer or national health insurance, cutting out the role of private insurers. All of these positions make him popular among progressives.

Some have urged him to run as an independent, considering his long history of challenges to both major parties on a number of issues. Sanders says he will not be a Ralph Nader type "spoiler," however, pulling votes from a Democratic nominee in November that could tip things in favor of a right-wing Republican.

His decision to run is seen as a victory for Progressive Democrats of America which has been urging him to run for many months and has been arguing that he can make the case for independent and progressive politics in the Democratic primaries.

"A campaign has got to be much more than just getting elected," Sanders told the Nation's John Nichols recently. "It has got to be helping to educate people, organize people. If we can do that, we can change the dynamic of politics for years and years to come. If 80 to 90 percent of the people in this country vote, if they know what the issues are and make demands based on that knowledge, Washington and Congress will look very very different from the Congress currently dominated by big money and dealing only with the issues that big money wants them to deal with."

Sanders has brought this message to a variety of political campaigns around this country in the recent period.

He was here in Chicago earlier this last month to back the insurgent mayoral campaign of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and the victorious city council campaign of Suzan Sadlowski-Garza.

Crowds of all backgrounds and races cheered his speech when he said, in a Steelworkers hall on the city's South Side, that "what we need are millions of working people to begin to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough.' The billionaire class can't have it all; we need government to start representing ordinary America."

Photo: John Locher/AP

Media coverage of Baltimore youth misses the mark completely

Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:05:00 +0000

BALTIMORE - After a week of numerous peaceful, daily protests throughout Baltimore City over the police murder of 25-year old African American Freddie Gray, something suddenly and dramatically changed on Monday.

News reports were showing students jumping on police vehicles and throwing rocks at police, looting and smashing windows.

And people across the city were asking each other and googling an answer to the question: "What is this "Purge" phenomenon?"-- a phenomenon which spread on social media Monday afternoon and helped to spark violence at the close of the school day.

PW readers might Google the word "Purge" and look at the trailer to the movie The Purge: Anarchy to hear the incredibly inflammatory idea promoted in the movie that "all crime including murder will be legal for 12 hours."

The students in question left Douglass High School in West Baltimore at 3 p.m. and headed to Mondawmin Mall where they normally catch the bus to go home. Police, falsely expecting gang trouble, held up the buses. Frustrated and agitated, the students started throwing rocks at the police who by now were in riot gear, and the ensuing mayhem was looped over and over again on wrap-around news Monday and Tuesday.

Frederick Douglass High School, established in 1883 for African Americans in Baltimore, is the oldest continuously operating public high school in the United States. In not-too-distant history the school was known in Baltimore for its premier academic and music programs, producing award-winning marching bands, nationally known musicians such as Cab Calloway and Metropolitan Opera star, Junetta Jones, as well as Supreme Court Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall.

After a recent period of decline, the school is now in its third year of a "school turnaround," making strides in various academic areas.

But in the overall context of Maryland's public education system, inequality in school funding, exacerbated by cuts to Baltimore City in this year's state budget under Republican Governor Larry Hogan, puts tremendous pressure on the city's schools. Sports, art and academic programs are often considered unaffordable "luxuries."

For years musical instruments have remained in closets, unused, for lack of "excessed" music teachers. There was an uproar by parents and students earlier this month when it was announced that the popular and successful Advanced Placement Summer Academy, Baltimore's only summer enrichment program for academically advanced students, will be eliminated this summer.

Despite intense lobbying by the Baltimore Teachers Union and community groups in the just-ended legislative session in Annapolis, the education budget for the Baltimore City Public Schools was dramatically cut by the state. City schools CEO, Gregory Thornton, was forced to propose in mid-April a budget cut of $17.8 million to city schools, effectuated "through cost-cutting and departmental reorganizations and the cutting of 120 funded positions," according to the Baltimore Sun.

Ironically this pared-down BCPS budget was scheduled to be voted on Tuesday, April 28, the day that the Baltimore City Schools and government offices were closed down because of the civil unrest in the city.

At the precise time that the school board was scheduled to vote on its slash and cut budget Tuesday night, Baltimore youth were organizing to show the world an accurate picture of Baltimore's youthful talent and potential. Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a self-described "grass roots think tank" which had mobilized the public to engage in lobbying efforts in Annapolis in the wake of Ferguson to advance 17 police accountability bills, cancelled its "Protests to Policy" forum and put out instead a call for people to come to downtown Baltimore to discuss "sustainable solutions to end police brutality in Baltimore."

The meeting started at 6:30 to guarantee that people could get home before the 10 p.m. curfew set by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake, which is scheduled to be in effect for a week.

Three hundred young (mostly young) and old, black, Latino, and white citizens met at the Real News Network (therealnews.com) building, one block from the barricaded City Hall, to discuss short, mid and long-term strategies proposed by Davon Love, a leader of LBS. The event was moderated by a young woman from Baltimore's Algebra Project. Discussion was informative and unifying.

At the end of the meeting I spoke with Justin Whye, president of the International Student Association of the University of Baltimore who was at the meeting with some members of his association. Since their university was closed, they had spent the day at Pennsylvania and North Avenues, an intersection of West Baltimore where damage to buildings had taken place on Monday, helping many other citizens clean up the rubble.

There was a heartening sense of community and solidarity, even a marching band, Justin reported. He watched an older Korean woman symbolically "shoving back" a police up-armored vehicle.

Justin said he was sickened by the repetitive images of destruction of property being shown in the mass media which takes away from the real message of the protests, the need for systemic change in the police department.

He felt that Baltimore City is at a "tipping point." Will it now address the underlying issues of racism, poverty, jobs, poor housing which the weeks of protest highlighted, or will it emerge from this week unchanged?

At first I misunderstood what Justin was saying about why the University of Baltimore was closed for the day. It was closed, Justin said, to give students the opportunity to interact with the community. "Our campus is the city," he said. "People were marching through our campus." The tee shirt Justin was wearing, designed by a friend, said "Our History is Your History" - referring to the need to understand the interconnectedness of black and white struggles in Baltimore. "You have to have allies," he said.

Just as social media apparently played a negative role in mobilizing high school students to assemble at Mondawmin for a "purge," so too was Justin Whye's point of view spread through social media. "Because we're international, we have the input of people all over the world. They hold us to a higher standard. Their energy fuels us to do our job better," he said.

On Tuesday Gov. Hogan declared a "state of emergency" and actuated the Maryland National Guard, ostensibly to bring order to Baltimore City. Numerous faith-based and community groups, schools and young citizens like Justin had other creative solutions.

Two hundred students from Morgan State University in NE Baltimore, as reported in an email blast by its president, Dr. David Wilson, "ventured into several neighborhoods throughout the city to engage in a massive clean-up effort." In the afternoon neighbors from my community, Winston-Govans, held signs, "We love our community" at three busy intersections, encouraging cars to honk. Today the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played a "run-out" open air concert at noon to bring hope and courage to the City.

This coming Friday held expectation for the people of Baltimore. It is the day we were led to believe we would be told if criminal charges would be brought against the six police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray. A Baltimore Sun poll on Tuesday asked: Do you expect criminal charges to be brought against any of the police officers involved in the fatal arrest of Freddie Gray? 61 percent of respondents said yes.

Now we are being told that we were mistaken, that we were never promised a statement on Friday. We were also asked to believe that Freddie Gray's neck wasn't broken when police dragged him to the police van on April 12. People know what they see and hear. The protests will only continue and grow until justice is served and the people are listened to.

Photo: AP

Chicagoans stand with Baltimore against police violence

Wed, 29 Apr 2015 17:14:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Peaceful demonstrators gathered at a police station here last night, giving voice to millions across the country who don't want the media's sensational coverage of events in Baltimore to detract from what they see as the real problem of police violence against people of color, particularly youth, in the nation's cities.

The demonstration at the Chicago police station followed a night of violence in Baltimore that capped a week of what had been mostly peaceful protests in that city against the police killing of Freddie Gray , an unarmed black youth.

Chicago is no stranger to the extrajudicial killings of its young people of color and the mood was tense, yet hopeful, in the shadow of the Michigan Ave police station.

Among the speakers were the family members of the too many slain. The brother of 22-year old Rekia Boyd, murdered by police and whose killer still wears a badge, took to the microphone to express his love for the people gathered and to remind them that the tears he cried were not "tears of sadness," but "tears of anger" at a system that took his "baby sister" and denied his family justice.

Officer Dante Servin shot Rekia in the back of the head in an alley in March, 2012 after allegedly mistaking her boyfriend's cell phone for a gun. Boyd's hoodie, bearing a picture of his sister, read "they took her life, but not her voice" and the chanting of the crowd of about 500 served in affirmation.

Dorothy Holmes, the mother of Ronald Johnson, spoke in her son's memory saying, "He got killed because he was running while black. He was shot down from the back." She went on to indict the police for hypocrisy adding, "Six feet away from him, you shot at him seven times, two of the bullets killed him. But let that had been one of their kids, that man that pulled the trigger on that officer's child, they would have beat the hell out of him, that's all I have to say." She left the mic to thunderous applause.

The event was put on by a diverse coalition of organizations including We Charge Genocide, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Feminist Uprising to Resist Inequality and Exploitation (FURIE). Emcee Malcolm London laid out their demands saying, "We are asking for the firing, for this police department that claims it stands on law, order, justice, and the protection and serving of this community, we're calling on you to fire a murderer... we are also calling for a civilian police accountability council in this city so that we can hold police accountable."

Even though the air of the event was generally somber, moments of inspiration and righteous indignation permeated the crowd with a sense of duty. Poetry that celebrated the lives of young people of color and indicted the system brought the crowd to hollers of support.

Young Baylee Champion read her poem "February 26," a reference to the date two days prior to the murder of Trayvon Martin.

Jaylen Kobayashi, 14, of Albany Park read an unnamed poem: "It's a cold world, take a piece of yours and diminish mine, yellow tape of 'do not cross' runs across the U.S. like a finish line. Stay hungry Mr. Officer, every black man is dinner time."

When the group marched north on Michigan Ave, they were accompanied by dozens of police cars and officers cautiously keeping an eye out for signs of activity that might constitute violence or law-breaking. When the protestors took to the streets a few were swept up in the commotion.

The earlier comment by one speaker that "we're one more murder away from Baltimore" stuck in a lot of peoples' heads.

Photo: Earchiel Johnson/PW

Today in history: North Carolina’s Moral Monday launched in 2013

Wed, 29 Apr 2015 12:48:00 +0000

On this date in 2013, the first Moral Monday was held in Raleigh, the N.C. state capital, to protect voting rights, access to affordable healthcare and unemployment benefits. Seventeen people were arrested exercising their democratic rights.

In 2012, North Carolina elected a Republican governor, Pat McCrory, and Republicans were voted into majority in both state houses, giving the GOP control of both the legislative and executive branch for the first time since 1870. Since assuming office, McCrory has signed into law a number of reactionary bills. The dramatic right-wing tilt of state government - in a state which Barack Obama won in 2008 - has raised the ire of ongoing "Moral Mondays" civil disobedience protestors.

Moral Monday demonstrations have continued weekly, attracting thousands of N.C. citizens at a time, with mass arrests - well over a thousand by now. The movement has spread to Ga., S.C. and other states. Although inspired by the prophetic moral dictates of a number of religious movements represented, participants comprise a very broad coalition of supporters of labor rights,, LGBT rights, criminal justice reform, expanded public school funding environmental issues, Medicaid expansion, and immigrant rights (N.C. has a fast-growing Latino community that is just beginning to show its voting power), and restoring early voting days. Moral Monday has shown the efficacy and necessity for coalition politics in the struggle against the ultra-right.

In his initial 2013 call for action, Rev. William Barber wrote: "(W)e have no other choice but to assemble in the people's house where these bills are being presented, argued, and voted upon, in hopes that God will move in the hearts of our legislators, as he moved in the heart of Pharaoh to let His people go. Some ask the question, why don't they be quiet? Well, I must remind you, that it has been our collective silence that has quietly opened the city gates to these undemocratic violators of our rights."

Moral Monday has been described as "the largest love and justice movement since Selma."

The Moral Monday movement is led by the Rev. Dr. William Barber, who was elected president of the NAACP's youth council at age 15, president of his high school's student body at 17, and student government president at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) at 19. Barber received his bachelor's degree in political science from NCCU, cum laude; a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University; and a doctorate from Drew University with a concentration in public policy and pastoral care. Barber is head of the N.C. chapter of the NAACP, largest in the South and among the largest in the country.

Rev. Barber is a dynamic public speaker whose remarks, like these at Netroots Nation 2014 have riveted his listeners with a positive message of hope and determination.

From combined sources.

Photo: Demonstrators at the first Moral Monday event. | Chris Seward/AP

Freddie Gray's death lit another fuse, this time it's Baltimore

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 16:47:00 +0000

BALTIMORE - Freddie Gray. His name tragically joins the seemingly endless list of young African American men brutally murdered at the hands of police.

Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, and on and on ad nauseum.

An explosion of anger rocked Baltimore on Apr. 27, but the fuse had been laid during years of "zero tolerance policing," brutality, racial profiling and unexplained murders - daily occurrences in the African American community. The fuse was lit by the murder of Gray, who was brutalized by police on Apr. 12 and died in the hospital Apr. 19.

The eyes of the nation are now riveted on this city where a state of emergency has been declared and National Guard dispatched after an afternoon and evening of violence following Gray's funeral. The violence followed a week of peaceful protests, with one other exception, demanding justice for Freddie Gray and police accountability.

Gray's funeral was held before a crowd of 3,000 people at Shiloh Baptist Church in the heart of the Mondawmin neighborhood, an area of sweltering poverty and high unemployment. The sanctuary overflowed with family, community residents and activists, clergy and elected officials.

Overwhelming grief and pain mixed with ringing calls for justice. Speakers painted a real-life picture of the 25 year-old Gray and called for building a movement to end police brutality and killings, institutionalized racism and for economic development.

"I see all the cameras here. But did you see Freddie Gray when he was alive?" asked Representative Elijah Cummings, referring to all of the media present. "Did you see him? Did you see him?"

"One of life's greatest tragedies is to think you are free but still being confined to a box. Living in a box of stereotypes," said Pastor Jamal Bryant of Empowerment Temple AME Church who delivered the eulogy. "Other people's opinions, sweeping generalizations, racial profiling."

Bryant went on to describe the social and economic prospects Gray faced, of life "in a box," of closed doors and opportunities.

"What we are seeing are throngs of young black people who are marching, making up in their mind, 'I am not surrendering, I'm marching,' " he said. Bryant interwove a Biblical story with the protests surrounding Gray's death and the African American community's long struggle for freedom.

"Freddie's death was not in vain. After this day we will keep on marching, demanding justice," he said.

The week of peaceful protests followed Gray's death, including a march of thousands on Saturday. The mass actions and vigils were punctuated by destruction of property after Saturday's march and following the funeral. Community and religious leaders continue to work to restore calm and warned the violence shouldn't be used to justify diverting attention from police crimes and Gray's murder.

The property destruction followed what many leaders viewed suspiciously as police provocations against the protesters and efforts to turn public opinion against them, creating sympathy for the police. The police department had issued warnings they were being "targeted by gang members" and a general hysteria pervaded the corporate media.

However, clergy and community leaders dispute this account. What has not been widely reported is that 150 ministers met with leaders of gangs and street cliques in a peace truce following Saturday's violence. And in fact gang members were in the streets restoring calm on Monday evening. This raised questions about where the call to attack police and property came from.

In addition, a new broader coalition of clergy and community groups has been created called Baltimore United for Change (#BMoreUnited) whose aim is to mobilize a peaceful interfaith, multi-racial movement to bring about radical changes in the criminal justice system. The first demand is to alter the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights (LEBOR) which gives police a 10-day window before they are questioned. Many charge this gives police time to develop their story and corroborate their testimony with each other.

The law must be changed by an act of the state legislature and signed by the governor, in this case Maryland's new Republican Governor Larry Hogan. Legislation to change LEBOR died in committee earlier this year after a huge lobbying campaign by the Fraternal Order of Police, whose presence in uniform was intimidating.

The Baltimore Police Department is known as one of the most brutal and racist in the nation. In a recent study, the ACLU documented 109 police killings across Maryland between 2010 and 2014. Seventy percent were African American and 40 percent were unarmed. Police were charged with a crime in only two percent of cases.

This is not the full story by any means. The ACLU suggests, "Outside of the families and communities who have borne the brunt of these losses, the full extent of deaths in police encounters has never been formally acknowledged by public officials in Maryland."

On Apr. 12, Gray was accosted by police, made eye contact and fled out of fear. He then stopped and was arrested without resistance. Video footage then shows police handcuffing and dragging him into a police van. Gray was struggling to breathe and pleaded for help.

Only police officers know what happened next. He was taken for a "ride" as many prisoners are subjected to, without even being charged with a crime. All is known is that Gray was taken to a hospital where he died a week later from a "spinal injury." Just what kind of a spinal injury? Three vertebrae broken, his neck 80 percent severed and larynx crushed. One can only imagine the horrors that occurred in that van.

An expose by the Baltimore Sun revealed that there have been many victims of this brand of torture. "Such injuries have been inflicted by what is known as a 'rough ride' - an 'unsanctioned technique' in which police vans are driven to cause 'injury or pain' to unbuckled, handcuffed detainees," reported the Sun.

A "torture cell on wheels," overseen by a demented police crew taking pleasure in its work.

"Dondi Johnson Sr., who was left a paraplegic after a 2005 police van ride, won a $7.4 million verdict against police officers. A year earlier, Jeffrey Alston was awarded $39 million by a jury after he became paralyzed from the neck down as the result of a van ride. Others have also received payouts after filing lawsuits," reported the Sun. Johnson later died of the injuries.

Johnson and Alston received considerable less than the awards. In total, $6.3 million in damages have been awarded in settlements to over 100 victims of brutality. The city has paid an additional $5.8 million in legal fees. In total, 350 lawsuits have been filed since 2011.

In the midst of the protests it was announced the medical examiner had ruled the death of Anthony Anderson, who died in police custody on Sept. 21, 2014, a homicide. Police had maintained Anderson died while choking on drugs.

The examiner reported the death was due to massive internal bleeding from blunt force injuries, including a ruptured spleen and multiple fractured ribs. Witnesses say a policeman hoisted Anderson above his head and body and slammed him on the pavement.

Christine Abbott, a 27-year-old assistant librarian at the Johns Hopkins University, is suing the city over similar injuries sustained in 2012.

Abbott's hands were tied behind her back, she was thrown into a police van and left unbuckled. She was "maniacally" driven to the police station, while being tossed around the interior of the van.

"They were braking really short so that I would slam against the wall, and they were taking really wide, fast turns," Abbott told the Baltimore Sun. "I couldn't brace myself. I was terrified."

Meanwhile Rev. Al Sharpton is preparing to lead a march in May from Baltimore to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., to bring to the attention of Attorney General Loretta Lynch the epidemic of police murders including the killing of Freddie Gray.

"Loretta Lynch has a tremendous challenge in front of her," said Pastor Bryant.

Photo: Matt Rourke/AP

Public education key issue in Philly mayoral race

Tue, 28 Apr 2015 13:11:00 +0000

May 19 is primary day in Philadelphia. This year's election is not shaping up as your "normal" off year primary in the City of Brotherly Love as a crowded field of mayoral candidates vies for the Democratic Party's nomination. Winning the Democratic primary here usually insures election in November.

This year the front running candidates for the job of Philadelphia mayor are distinguishable by their very different bases of support. James Kenney, former City Councilman-at-large, has emerged as the choice of most of labor and has won the endorsement of the AFL-CIO. The majority of local unions want a mayor who responds to the needs of working men and women, and the AFL-CIO has taken the unusual step of endorsing a candidate in the primary. The feeling in the labor movement is that the concerns of working people who put candidates in office are too often ignored after the election. Kenney has welcomed labor's endorsement and is running to make good on his record of support for public education, building a pre-k system, building affordable housing, and doing business with banks that invest locally. The fact that Kenney, who is white, is receiving significant support from local African American leaders and organizations shows the central importance of public education funding as an issue in thus year's election.

The other front runner is former state senator Anthony Hardy Williams. While Williams, who is African American, comes from a family prominent in local Democratic Party politics, as a state senator he has supported the legislative efforts seen by many as designed to privatize and undermine Pennsylvania's public education system. Williams has not shared this recent history in his publicity and advertising. The Williams campaign is heavily supported by the Susquehanna Group, an investment organization which has been a big contributor to the notorious Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. It has been widely rumored that Susquehanna is interested in turning public services into for-profit investment enterprises. Local media sources have reported that Susquehanna has given at least one million dollars to the Williams campaign.

In addition to the city's labor movement, James Kenney has been endorsed by an array of elected African American leaders. Among them are Cherelle Parker, Marian Tasco, Cindy Bass and Representative Steve Kinsey. There are early indications that this will be a close race so every vote counts.

The race for the five majority at-large seats in City Council is also stirring interest and has drawn 21 candidates. (Two of the seven at large seats go to the "minority" party by law and tradition.) This is yet another hotly contested race as two well known women activists are running strong campaigns. Helen Gym has long been active in the Asian American community and has led opposition to casinos and stadiums in Chinatown. As a former teacher and as a parent, she has also become a formidable figure in defense of public education. She was among the first to expose the School Reform Commission (SRC) plans to further privatize Philadelphia's public school system.

Sherrie Cohen has been an able spokesperson and organizer in defense of public services, such as the city's library system, too often on the chopping block of city budgets. She readily acknowledges that she is the daughter and political heir of the late Councilman David Cohen, long a champion of Philadelphia's working men and women. She is a leader in the fight for a $15 minimum wage, to end stop-and-frisk, and for universal pre-k. She is also active in the fight for equality for the LGBTQ community and would become the city's first openly gay City Council member.

Photo: Ben Sears/PW

Koch brothers can’t conceal their love for Scott Walker

Fri, 24 Apr 2015 11:26:00 +0000

David Koch told GOP donors at a private New York City fundraiser Apr. 20 that he and brother Charles preferred a wholly-owned Koch Industries subsidiary known as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as the next president. He doubled down in subsequent interviews saying that Walker was not only the likely survivor in a large Republican primary field, but he would then go on to defeat Hillary Clinton "by a major margin."

Even as the ridicule heated up - including Andy Borowitz's brilliant New Yorker magazine satire that the Kochs had paid too much for the acquisition of the Walker franchise - David Koch backtracked, saying he was misquoted and that the Koch boys were still kicking the tires of the entire GOP clown car and that they would even give Jeb Bush an audition.

But the New York Times and the Observer, along with several eyewitnesses at the gathering, stuck by their original reporting.

The 24-hour turnaround exposed the underbelly of the dark money that after the Citizens United decision has turned the United States into what many Democrats have long feared - an oligarchy, not a democracy, where a few older rich financiers are convinced the manipulative advertising power of their secret money coordinated with the candidate messaging will crush independent thinking.

But this time many Republicans believe that libertarian David Koch got ahead of his own pack by singling out Walker. The 17 secret conduits that form the Koch network that have pledged an astounding $900 million to the GOP candidate just haven't made up their minds the way David Koch has - he simply can't drag them along should Walker fade. Many want a chance to assess Marco Rubio and even Ohio Gov. John Kasich or fall back on the Wall Street affection for Jeb, who is raising money from many of their peers.

These business folks can read balance sheets and know what the national media has been slow to report: Walker is facing a rebellion in his own ranks only kept in check by his state GOP apparatchiks.

Hardly liberal constituents are mad as hell at Walker's new cuts to K-12 and higher education, refusal to expand Medicaid, $2.4 billion deficit, the freezing for 13 years of stewardship land purchases, the elimination of nature and utility citizen boards and local tax control, the abandonment of cheaper public insurance programs for costlier private takeover, plus dozens of items riddling the two-year state budget and designed to enhance Walker's presidential ambitions at state expense.

As Prof. Marc Levine has outlined, four years of Walker have spelled decline for Wisconsin, which now badly lags the nation in financial and job growth.

What's keeping his legislative majority in check are warnings that his minions will use Walker's national media allure and Koch-like money to primary them out of power in 2016 elections should they rebel. That threat has limited how they can ward off the growing alarm from district residents. So at home Walker is in big trouble and it is mainly national media jaunts and secret money sources that are propping him up.

Walker is a slick retail politician that veteran journalist Bruce Murphy feels is constantly underestimated in his slipperiness while he plays up his Tea Party intransigence. So the Kochs hope Walker will endure as less extreme than Ted Cruz, more malleable than Rand Paul, more appealing than Rubio, Kasich, or Bush and not descend into this year's version of Herman Cain in 2012.

The Koch distaste for Jeb deals with more than his inherited last name. They heavily backed him in crazy misguided 2012 confidence. The Kochs believe that loss wasn't their wasted money but because Romney moderated his stance compared to Walker's take-no-prisoners image. They similarly distrust Bush's attempt to prepare for the middle by suggesting a more humane approach to immigrants and common core standards in education, both approaches the Koch camp despises.

Don't try to sell Bush as a moderate to Floridians who recall how he even talked his younger brother president and Congress into keeping the brain dead Terri Schiavo alive despite scientific realities. They also recall the two-term governor who opposed abortion in all forms though it is the law of the land, supported blanket gun rights, eliminated affirmative action for state and university jobs and told mothers on welfare to get a job or a husband - hardly the centrist credentials he is softly selling while still hoping for hardcore right money.

The Kochs also realize that Bush is well-heeled enough to compete without them, though if he can grab their $900 million in the end he might outweigh the equally well-heeled Clinton in a contest likely to cost billions.

Walker more desperately needs the Kochs and has clung to their brand since 2008 when, as Milwaukee county executive, he signed their mouthpiece organization's pledge to deny climate change. He has hung with their major profiteer views for years opposing unions, Obamacare, trains, wind and solar in favor of fossil fuels and also pushing rank privatization and tax credits for big businesses.

Even before he knew the brothers personally, his hunger for their support caused him great embarrassment in 2011 when radio wag Ian Murphy got the new governor to grovel all over his pretense of being David Koch in an immediately accepted phone call that is still a huge laugh - actually divided into two outings -- on Youtube.

"Scott has smartened up since then," a GOP operative told me this year. "He needs the Koch money more than ever but now he will never let the public see how desperately. He'll even pretend indifference."

It's a delicate game. In 2012, Walker survived a recall election somewhat because of public distaste for the concept of recalls but mainly because of unlimited campaign finance rules for a threatened governor in midterm. That $30.5 million to $3.9 million funding advantage from 14 billionaires, 13 out of state, gave him a 53.1 percent to 46.3 percent victory. But that would clearly have been impossible without the Kochs and friends, including Diane Hendricks, who inherited the ABC Supply company and gave him $500,000 for that race. She was the Koch ally to whom Walker revealed on video his "divide and conquer" strategy against unions, yet even that didn't propel a recall.

Many think David Koch did not make a slip of the tongue in Manhattan but was assuring Walker would stay in, whatever his qualifications. In effect he pledged future funding despite the governor's proven administrative ineptness and fiscal incompetence.

Photo: AP

People’s World receives top honors from Illinois Woman’s Press Association

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 13:35:00 +0000

CHICAGO - The Illinois Woman's Press Association announced earlier this month that People's World writers are among the recipients of top awards in this year's 74th Mate E. Palmer Communications Award Contest. In addition, PW co-editor Teresa Albano will be the 2015 IWPA Silver Feather Award recipient.

The IWPA is believed to be the nation's oldest organization of women writers, established in 1885 in Chicago and is the founding mother of the National Federation of Press Women, which was established in 1937. The awards contest is named after IWPA's ninth president Mrs. Mate E. Palmer, a lifetime member of the association, having joined the year of its founding.

The Silver Feather Award was established in 1972 and is presented to the Mate E. Palmer Award Contest entrant with the highest point total. PW received six first place awards, one second place, two third place and two honorable mentions across journalistic categories. The recipients are:

Teresa Albano, News-Online, First Place:

Earchiel Johnson/photographer

New generation finds its voice and power in Ferguson, Mo.

Editorial-Online, First Place:

President's immigration action expands democracy, time to carry it forward

News-Online, Second Place:

Unity was their cry-Fast food workers go global

Editorial-Online, Honorable Mention:

How long before that arc bends towards justice

John Dick, Writing, Opinion/column, First Place:

The biker and the reverend: How I learned history at work and

Celebrating my fellow women postal workers

Eric Gordon and Dale Greenfield, Writing/reviews, First Place:

"Citizenfour": "The Shock Doctrine" plays out in the Patriot Act and

Freedom of the press? "Kill the Messenger" in review

Susan Webb, Writing on green/environment, First Place:

Dioxins unearthed at U.S. base in Okinawa stir furor and

U.S. covered up massive PCB contamination at Okinawa base

John Wojcik, Writing on government or politics, First Place:

Inside story on how one little city slew an oil dragon and

Labor movement demands immediate relief for 11 million immigrants

Blake Deppe, News-Online, Third Place:

Some 400,000 climate marchers paint New York green

Andrea Perkins, Writing on social issues, Honorable Mention:

Feb. 14 marches for missing Native women unite action with compassion

Joe Sims, Feature-Online, Third Place:

With #ICantBreathe, new movement for justice inspires

Tracing their roots to the women's club movement at the turn of the twentieth century, the association was linked with other professional and women's groups including the National Editorial Association and International League of Press Clubs. It was an auxiliary to the Illinois Woman's Alliance which included 24 local communities, religious and professional organizations whose goal it was to establish a labor union for working women and children.

"It is an incredible honor and a humbling experience to be recognized by the IWPA," said Albano. "As an organization that came out of the multi-faceted movement for women's rights, especially for working-class women, the IWPA occupies an important space in today's media landscape. All of us at People's World want to thank the Mate E. Palmer Award Contest committee and extend our congratulations to each 2015 award recipient."

IWPA President Becky Sarwate, also a recipient of multiple IWPA and NFPW awards, said she joined the organization five years ago so she could enter the awards contest.

"I had written a series of urban agriculture features for StreetWise and Suzanne Hanney, the editor-in-chief and a longtime IWPA member, suggested I enter my work in the contest.I did and won first place in the category at both state and national. Not bad for a new writer? I was hooked on IWPA and the opportunities it offers from that point on," she said.

"Illinois Woman's Press Association is our name and it has been since 1885. But we have evolved into a modern, 21st century communications organization representing both genders and a wide spectrum of professionals: book authors, poets, musicians, radio personalities, photographers, journalists, bloggers, PR professionals. The diversity of our contest categories reflects the diversity of our membership," Sarwate said.

Although the IWPA started as a woman's organization, its membership is open to men with the first male member joining in 1985. In fact, the current IWPA membership director is Dr. Tim Libretti, chair of Northeastern Illinois University English Department, who is introducing the association to a whole new generation of writers and communication professionals. Libretti, who won four first place awards in speech, essay, feature and social issue categories, said students appreciate being part of a group where they can find "community."

"They seem to find the association a meaningful place to develop a supportive professional network, join a nourishing community of writers, and gain exposure and recognition for their published writing," he said.

This year the IWPA celebrates its 130th anniversary and will host its Spring Awards Luncheon on May 16 at the Union League Club of Chicago. The special guest speaker will be Dr. Bradley Greenberg, author of the novel "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" and a special acoustic musical performance by IWPA's Professional Contest Chair Diane Bushemi. To purchase tickets or program book advertisement go to: http://www.iwpa.org/event/save-the-date-74th-mate-e-palmer-communications-awards-130th-anniversary-celebration/

Photo: IWPA.org

Rapid rise in super PACs dominated by single donors

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 12:55:00 +0000

The wealthiest Americans can fly on their own jets, live in gated compounds and watch movies in their own theaters.

More of them also are walling off their political contributions from other big and small players.

A growing number of political committees known as super PACs have become instruments of single donors, according to a ProPublica analysis of federal records. During the 2014 election cycle, $113 million - 16 percent of money raised by all super PACs - went to committees dominated by one donor. That was quadruple their 2012 share.

The rise of single-donor groups is a new example of how changes in campaign finance law are giving outsized influence to a handful of funders.

The trend may continue into 2016. Last week, National Review reported that Texas Senator Ted Cruz's bid for the Republican presidential nomination would be boosted not by one anointed super PAC but four, each controlled by a single donor or donor family.

The Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling helped usher in the era of super PACs. Unlike traditional political action committees, the independent groups can accept donations of any dollar size as long as they don't coordinate with the campaign of any candidate. Previously, much of the focus in big-money fundraising was on "bundlers" -- volunteers who tap friends and associates for maximum individual contributions of $5,400 to a candidate, then deliver big lump sums directly to the campaigns. Former president George W. Bush awarded his most prolific bundlers special titles such as "Ranger" and "Pioneer."

While bundling intensified the impact of wealthy donors on campaigns, the dollar limits and the need to join with others diluted the influence of any one person. With a super PAC, a donor can single-handedly push a narrower agenda. Last year, National Journal profiled one such donor - a California vineyard owner who helped start the trend by launching his own super PAC and becoming a power player in a Senate race across the country.

Beyond the single-donor groups, big donations are dominant across all kinds of super PACs, according to the analysis. Six-figure contributions from individuals or organizations accounted for almost 50 percent of all super PAC money raised during the last two cycles.

"We are anointing an aristocracy that's getting a stronger and stronger grip on democracy," said Miles Rapoport, president of Common Cause, an advocacy group that seeks to reduce the influence of money on politics.

ProPublica's analysis identified 59 super PACs that received at least 80 percent of their funding from one individual during the 2014 cycle. They raised a total of $113 million, compared with the $33 million raised by the 34 such groups that existed in 2012.

Donors who launch their own PACs are seeking more control over how their money is spent. And many have complained about the commissions that fundraising consultants take off the top of their donations to outside groups. But the move carries risks if the patron is new to the arena.

This story was co-published with the Daily Beast.

This article was reprinted here at People's World from ProPublica.org.

Photo: Michael Bloomberg was a big contributor to single-donor super PACs, according to ProPublica analysis. | AP

Lee Cain: he kept his eyes on the prize

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 11:38:00 +0000

I have been a delegate to every national convention of the Communist Party USA since I joined in 1958. My first was the 18th Convention at Webster Hall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1967. It opened with a mass rally. I was one of about a dozen youth asked to sit on the stage, proof that the Party, hounded by the FBI, its leaders imprisoned for years, was on the comeback trail. My parents came down from New Hampshire to attend the rally in the jam-packed hall.

Yet even more memorable for me personally was the 19th Convention in Brooklyn in the spring of 1969. There is a story behind that convention that explains why it meant so much to me.

Joyce and I were living in Arlington, Virginia with our three children. The Daily World editors asked me on short notice to travel down to Charleston, South Carolina, to cover a rally by Hospital Workers Local 1199, who had been on strike for months fighting to win union recognition and decent wages and living conditions. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated a few months earlier but the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was a full partner in that strike battle. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy, King's successor, was in Charleston helping mobilize support for the strikers.

I took the train down to Charleston arriving at about midnight, checking into a cheap hotel. Next morning I walked to the church where the rally would be held that evening. The Governor had declared a state of emergency, ordered a curfew and mobilized 500 National Guardsmen who were patrolling Charleston, brandishing rifles with fixed bayonets. It was as if the City were under siege.

I learned that the rally site, an African Methodist Episcopal Church was hallowed ground: Denmark Vesey, who founded the church, had met with his comrades to carry out a slave revolt in 1822. He and his brethren were tried and executed.

The church that evening was packed with the strikers, mostly African American women. The rally combined the passion and joy of a Black church service and the militant, fighting spirit of a union rally. The crowd lifted the roof with their singing.

Abernathy and Dr. King's widow, Corretta Scott King, and King's son were there to help fire up the crowd.

I remember strike leader, Mary Moultrie. She was a gentle, soft-spoken person, salt of the earth, not at all a fiery orator. Yet her words stirred the crowd to strong applause.

I had my story. I traveled home. I wrote up the story and a day later took the train up to attend the CPUSA 19th National Convention at the St. George Hotel in Brooklyn. Daily World co-editors, Carl Winter and John Pittmann, greeted me warmly. Carl leaned close and said in my ear, "You must speak to the convention about the rally in Charleston."

At that time, some in the Party were arguing that we were too conservative and should embrace the Maoist slogan that "All power springs from the barrel of a gun." They were under the influence of ultra-leftists who were driven into a blind fury by the repression orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover and the rightwing ruling class. These racists were so blood-thirsty they would assassinate Dr. King and Malcolm X to smash the movement.

One speaker delivered a sharp speech calling on the Party to align itself with the Black Panther Party and their strategy of confrontation with the FBI, not to shrink, even, from armed confrontation with the enemy.

Lee Cain, African American auto worker from Detroit took the floor and answered. He had toiled for years at the Dodge Main plant and was a leader of the Black Caucus of the United Auto Workers. A stooped, thin, dark-complexioned man, he wore spectacles and spoke in a high-pitched voice. He was a powerful orator.

Cain spoke of the suicidal error of embracing ultra-left adventurism. Many working class people, African Americans included, keep a loaded firearm hidden in their closet to defend themselves, Cain said. They don't deliver loud speeches about it. What is needed to defend the Black community from FBI terrorism and police repression is a broad-based, non-violent, mass movement that embraces organized labor, the organizations of the African American people including the NAACP and the SCLC. We must never allow ourselves to be diverted down the narrow path of ultra-leftism, a sure recipe that plays into the hands of the enemy, he said.

The crowd stood applauding, cheering. It was the high point of that convention, the defense of a mass line by a rank and file auto worker and a decisive rejection of adventurist strategy and tactics.

I don't remember just when, but at some point I was called on to give my five minute speech. I spoke about Charleston, the struggle of the Black women hospital workers to organize a union in the City where the first shot of the Civil War was fired. Open shop Charleston, still segregated, still saturated with white supremacy. I was stunned by the strong ovation my speech received.

When it came time to elect the in-coming National Committee, I was not on the list of those recommended by the Presiding Committee. But someone from the floor nominated me. And when the votes were counted, I had been elected to the National Committee of the Communist Party.

On the long train ride home, I thought back over that convention, the many eloquent speeches given by comrades in so many areas of intense struggle. That convention more than any other taught me the crucial importance of developing a correct Party line to guide our work, of having the courage to stand up and defend that line. Monopoly capitalism knows full well the danger to their profit interests of a strong united Party deeply immersed in the mass movements. Their aim is to weaken and isolate the Party and destroy those mass movements. No one understood this more clearly than Lee Cain. He kept his "eyes on the prize."

Photo: Tim and Joyce Wheeler/PW

San Francisco tenants fight back against unjust evictions

Wed, 22 Apr 2015 15:05:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO - As landlords pushing for higher rents escalate their efforts to evict tenants - often on the flimsiest of excuses - a broad coalition of housing rights and community organizations is launching a campaign to educate renters about their legal rights to stay in their homes.

At an April 20 press conference in the historic, heavily Latino Mission District, Sara Shortt, executive director of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, said the eviction crisis faced by San Francisco renters is now "hitting an extreme point," with notices of eviction filed by landlords with the city's Rent Board growing by 54.7 percent in the last five years.

Rents for one-bedroom apartments in the city grew by 13.5 percent last year, and in February the median rent reached $3,460 - higher than New York City's $3,000 median.

The 27-member San Francisco Anti-Displacement Coalition http://antidisplacementcoalitionsf.com/ has just issued a report, San Francisco's Eviction Crisis 2015, analyzing the factors underlying the crisis and the types of evictions that are occurring. The report challenges the legality of many of the evictions, which it says may lack a valid reason or be based on the slightest of pretexts, and says the actual number of threatened or attempted evictions "is many times greater than those reported to the Rent Board."

Besides strengthening policies and laws that protect renters, Shortt said, "We need to ensure that renters across the city understand the rights they do have, and know how to use them."

Gesturing toward nearby apartment buildings, Maria Zamudio, campaign organizer with Causa Justa/Just Cause, said the scene in the neighborhood "is a microcosm of what's been going on in the Mission for years ... After years of Cesar Chavez St. being pretty much ignored, on the edge of the Mission, tenants are feeling the pressure of rising rents." She said the coalition wants to make sure that all tenants, and especially seniors and those whose first language is not English, know their rights and "know that if they fight together, they can win."

Zamudio introduced long-time resident Doña Margarita, who told reporters she has lived in the same apartment on Cesar Chavez St. since 1963, but is now threatened with eviction under the Ellis Act, a state law that lets landlords evict all tenants from a building if they intend to stop renting apartments there - most often to convert the premises into condos.

"It's the only home I've had in the United States," Doña Margarita said. "I've lived through six different owners of the building. I've always been a good tenant - always paid my rent on time, never created any problems, always had good relations with my neighbors. I've raised three grandchildren in this apartment, and I will keep fighting this unjust eviction. They will not move me from my home."

Fellow renter Sylvia Smith is experiencing another growing phenomenon: the "nuisance eviction," in which landlords make totally false claims about reasons they seek to evict tenants, or greatly exaggerate a minor violation.

Smith, who has lived in the same apartment for 41 years, said she has experienced constant harassment since her building was bought by the current landlord, who has recently acquired nine other buildings in the city. She said she has been alleged falsely to be a drug dealer, and to be a wealthy homeowner.

"She accused me of 60 violations in seven months, when for 41 years under the three previous owners I didn't get one," Smith said. "I ought to be in jail right now, with all the accusations she's made."

Shortt said that many tenants, unlike Smith, are frightened out of their homes by such allegations, or claims for very minor incidents like carrying bicycles through a common hallway or arguing with a security guard over having a legally parked car towed away.

The Anti-Displacement Coalition says the threat of eviction will likely be worse this year than at any time since the peak of the dot-com bubble in the 1990s.

"Based upon the increasing rates of non-Ellis Act "no and low fault" evictions and the resurgence of Ellis Act evictions, we project that the city is likely to see eviction threat levels exceed 2,600 formally reported notices by February 2016 - the number could be even higher.

"The challenge over the next period will be to not only provide services to victims but also to adopt policies that will reduce the number of unjustified threats and speculator-driven evictions."

The coalition is holding a Know Your Rights Fair on Saturday, April 25 from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. at the Tenderloin Neighborhood School, 627 Turk St., so tenants can be prepared to fight back when they are threatened with an attempted eviction. Many organizations in the coalition also provide counseling for tenants.

Photo: Doña Margarita tells her story. | Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Populism 2015 Conference launches campaign for "new" economy

Tue, 21 Apr 2015 15:05:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Some 1,000 people of all ages, races and ethnic groups and genders participated in the Populism 2015 Conference held here April 18 to 20.

As speaker after speaker at the Populism 2015 conference listed examples of working people and minorities being victimized in today's economy, participants repeated "That ain't right." They came from across America to launch a wide ranging, broad-based plan to make things right.

"The task of winning back America is too big for any one group," said Bobby Tolbert, vice president of National People's Action (NPA), "so we've joined with many other groups representing hundreds of thousands of folks. We're going to win power for the people."

Aside from NPA, it was sponsored by several unions, the Campaign for America's Future, the Alliance for a Just Society, US Action, and other coalitions that together represent hundreds of community-based groups.

Participants adopted a platform campaign called "People and Planet First" aimed at "winning power to create a new economy" based on "democratic control of capital" and "restructuring corporations to serve the common good, not just to make a profit."

Called "Put People and Planet First," among other planks, the platform included "create jobs for all," "raise wages, empower workers , reverse inequality," "invest in a green economy," "eliminate racism," "guarantee women's economic equity," "provide free, quality education from pre-K to graduate school," "enforce fair taxes on the wealthy," "forge a global strategy that works for working people," "make Wall Street serve the real economy," and "fight for full rights for all."

Participants staged a rally to support the Black Lives Matter movement and held a demonstration against adoption of the Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade accord being pushed by President Obama that, among other things, would create a corporate-run tribunal that could, in effect, reverse rules and laws to preserve jobs and the environment. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D. Minn.) said, "We supported the President, but we don't owe him blind allegiance. We must call him out when he's wrong."

Presenters gave facts and figures showing that wages are the lowest they've been in decades; the wage gap has widened between white males, minorities and women; jobs are scarce; the right to vote is being blocked; murder of black men has been legalized through rules governing law enforcement and "stand your ground" laws; the right to join unions is being crushed; black men are being incarcerated at alarming rates and hard-working immigrants are denied benefits and being deported.

Robert Borosage, Co-Director of the Campaign for America's Future, said: "Working families can't afford to live even on two jobs, the federal minimum wage is the lowest it's been since the 1960s, and what does Congress do? It repeals the estate tax, as if our economy is in trouble because millionaires and billionaires have to pay taxes on inherited wealth." Pointing to actions such as that, each speaker at the conference urged members of community groups to run for election to public office, stressing that winning positions in local, state and federal government is key to creating "a new economy."

During a question and answer session, one member of the audience, Joelle Fishman, CPUSA political action commission chair, asked a speaker who had won an election campaign what she is doing to ensure that the community groups that elected her stay together and continue working in the community.

Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, recently elected to Chicago's board of aldermen, told the audience "I'll bring the people's issues to policy makers. Can I count on you to bring them to the streets?" The answer was a chant, "I do believe the people win."

Workshops included: "Raise Wages, Empower Workers and Reverse Inequality," "Building A New Civil Rights Movement." "Invest in a Green Economy," "Enforce Fair Taxes on Corporations and the Wealthy," "Make Wall Street Serve the Real Economy," "Guarantee Women's Economic Equality" and "Stopping Bad Trade Deals."

"The system is doing what it is set up to do," said Nathaniel Doehling of TakeAction Minnesota. "It creates huge profits for corporations."

Janice "Jay" Johnson, treasurer of Virginia Organizing, an affiliate of the Alliance for a Just Society, urged representatives of community organizations in every state to work together to create an effective movement to "take back America."

Robert Borosage said: "To change the system, we must take to the streets, take to the ballot box, and true representatives of the people must run for office."

Photo: Peoplesworld.org

Death at the hands of the police - this time in Baltimore

Tue, 21 Apr 2015 13:22:00 +0000

BALTIMORE - Another death at the hands of the police. While the cellphone video evidence of police killings moves from Ferguson to New York to Cleveland to South Carolina and beyond...and now to Baltimore City, no city, town or hamlet can any longer feel immune from the devastating news that, once again, a Black man's life has been taken by the police.

Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American, described by friends as "a well-liked jokester," was stopped by police on April 12 because he "fled unprovoked upon noticing police presence," according to police records. After being stopped by the police, citizen video shows Gray being dragged to a police van, crying out in pain.

Once in the van, police report that he repeatedly asked for medical help, but that they did not call for paramedics until he was unresponsive at the end of the ride. One week later after being in a coma, Gray was pronounced dead - having suffered three fractured neck vertebrae. An investigation has been launched.

Public protest in the streets of Baltimore is ongoing.

Gray's death comes as the Baltimore City Police Department is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of systemic abuse of power by the police. A city-wide public forum, conducted by a Chicago-based consulting firm, Hillard Heintze, was held on April 16 for citizen comment on the extent of the abuse.

DOJ officials and the crowd of 300 heard testimony after testimony of harassment, beatings and even death brought about by officers of a Baltimore City police force which lacks adequate control on its force. The mood of the angry and incensed citizenry at the forum was that the people of Baltimore do not want a cover-up by the DOJ's Collaborative Reform Initiative which is conducting the investigation.

Some called for a wider-range Civil Rights investigation by the Department of Justice which would have binding recommendations.

The death of Michael Brown last August in Ferguson, Missouri contributed to heightened attention to police accountability issues throughout the country. Baltimore was no exception. Ferguson coincided with the results of an intensive probe by the Baltimore Sun newspaper that Baltimore City had paid out close to $6 million in damages since 2011 to victims of police brutality.

Following these revelations, citizen advocacy groups introduced 14 bills into the just-ended Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis on curbing police misconduct. One bill which received much publicity, and which will receive further attention in next year's legislature, concerns the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights (LEBOR), a policy within the police department which prevents transparency from occurring when a police crime is committed.

Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a self-described "grass-roots think-tank," organized busloads of citizens to lobby in Annapolis against LEBOR, for a civilian review board with teeth and other legislation involving the police. LBS will be holding a public forum, "Moving from Protests to Policy-2015 Legislative Wrap Up" on April 28, 6:30 p.m. at the University of Baltimore.

The banner headline of the Baltimore Sun this morning, over a photo of Freddie Gray, reads: "Injuries in van ride focus of city probe." Inside the paper, a popular Sun columnist, Dan Rodricks, wrote in his column, "There's no way to close your eyes to this."

Photo: William Stewart, a friend of Freddie Gray, protests outside City Hall in Baltimore, April 20. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

Historians: History is more than an academic exercise

Tue, 21 Apr 2015 12:18:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS, Mo - Historians from across the country recently converged on the Show-Me State for the Organization of American Historians (OAH) 2015 annual meeting held here April 16-19.

Andrew Zimmerman, a professor at George Washington University, told the People's World, "Understanding history isn't just an academic exercise. History shapes and molds our perceptions of our past, present and future. It informs and builds a narrative. It provides lessons applicable to today's reality."

Zimmerman, who is also the author of Alabama in Africa: Booker T. Washington, the German Empire, and the Globalization of the New South, is currently editing a new volume of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels' writings on the U.S. Civil War for International Publishers.

At the OAH Conference, Zimmerman spoke on a panel titled "Marx and Marxism in America: Taboo or Totem?"

He informed participants that during the period just prior to and during the Civil War, Marx and Engels penned about 500 articles for the U.S. press and had a lively, respectful and welcomed correspondence with President Abraham Lincoln.

According to Zimmerman, Marx and Engels saw the Civil War as "a workers' revolt," "a social revolution." They also saw the arming of African Americans as "a trump card," ensuring the North's victory.

Additionally, Zimmerman analyzed the shifting narrative of the meaning of the Civil War to leftists and communists during the 'Popular Front' period. He said, during the late 1930's the Civil War narrative shifted "as a political function" of anti-fascism. Instead of being a "workers' revolt," as Marx and Engels' characterized it, the Civil War became a continuation of, a second act in the "bourgeois revolution" initiated in 1776.

At another panel, titled "The Red Taboo in American History," Julia Mickenberg emphasized "the networks of hope" forged among women, African Americans and trade unionists "by the fact of Soviet Russia's existence."

Mickenberg, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of Learning from the Left: Children's Literature, The Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States, added, that due to the "Red Taboo" the Soviet Union "looms large, yet is largely unacknowledged" as a one-time, world-wide beacon of hope. Complicating histories of radical interest in and attraction to the Soviet Union is the reality of Soviet political repression and the imprisonment and murder of millions of its own citizens, including thousands of communists, which makes it difficult to clearly examine these "networks of hope," Mickenberg added.

Glenda Gilmore, a professor at Yale and the author of Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950, said that the Communist Party provided "an alternative, aspirational idea, and threat to the racial class order" in the South. Though "The lived Cold War colored every aspect of Southern history" and made clear the "stark limitations of Southern liberalism," it also proved "the power of ideas that moved people [often communists and their supporters] to take risks."

She added, understanding this obscured and neglected history "enriches our conception of hope."

This author asked Gilmore about the lack of Communist Party historiography from the 1960's, 70's and 80's. Gilmore highlighted security concerns and the lack of archival material related to this era, as obstacles.

Undoubtedly, the history of the post-McCarthy, post-Red Scare era - in which many communist activists understandably did not keep records or other archival material due to the lived experience of political repression - and Communist Party activism needs to be told.

Another panel, titled "Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice: Rethinking Labor and Working Class History," highlighted the radical manifestations of Black working class feminism.

Jenny Carson, a professor at Ryerson University and author of the forth-coming book It was up to All of us to Fight': Women, Work, and Resistance in the Laundry Industry, talked about the role of radical women, often communist-led, in organizing the laundry industry in New York City in the 1930's.

She said, "in the 1930's more Black women worked in laundry than in any other industry." Carson not only described the poor working and difficult organizing conditions, she also highlighted the interracial, women-led efforts to maintain democratic control of the union once it merged with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, which was dominated by white males and known for "racism, sexism and union corruption."

Keona Ervin, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the author of the forth-coming book The Labor of Dignity: Black Women, Urban Politics, and the Struggle for Economic Justice in the Gateway City, 1931-1969, talked about African American women organizers in the International Ladies Garment Workers' Union in St. Louis.

In her presentation, titled We Rebel: Black Women, Worker Theater, and Wartime Experiments in Interracial Unionism, Ervin said, "black women's labor activism was a unique crucible for the emergence of critical progressive unionism." Adding that, "women made America's cultural landscape." Specifically, Ervin highlighted the role of African American women union members who "pushed" the ILGWU workers' theatre program "towards more progressive ends," thereby "exposing the racialized and gendered fault lines of progressive unionism's cultural politics."

The OAH conference featured a wealth of opportunities for academic and general interest participants to engage with panelists and exhibitors, talk with authors and explore research topics.

"Taboos" was the theme of the conference, and many of the panels explored controversial topics - like "Ethnic Cleansing or Genocide? Native People and the United States," "Memorializing Massacres in the American West," "Sex, Religion, and Outlaw Teachers: Taboo Topics in the History of American Education," and "Authentic Blackness? Mapping Black-African Authenticity during the 1920s and 1930s," among many, many others - from a range of different, often neglected perspectives.

Photo: OAH Facebook.

Today in history: 50th anniversary of first national march against Vietnam War

Fri, 17 Apr 2015 12:58:00 +0000

On this date in 1965, the United States capital city of Washington, D.C. saw the first major national demonstration against the war in Vietnam, called by a relatively new organization on the left, Students for a Democratic Society SDS). It attracted an estimated 15-25,000 demonstrators from every part of the country in the largest peace march to date in American history.

Earlier that year President Lyndon B. Johnson escalated the war by massively increasing the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam and intensifying the draft of young men into the service. Especially in the light of the civil rights movement at home, with its pressing urgency for equality, voting rights and social justice, students and young people in general had a difficult time understanding how a neocolonial war in Southeast Asia had much to do with defending democracy.

One SDS project that bore much fruit was the research students conducted into the military-industrial complex connections held by members of university boards of trustees at both public and private institutions. They uncovered a thick web of ties with military suppliers, and also pointed to lucrative government contracts in virtually every university department, showing these places of higher learning to be complicit with the horrifying war crimes and atrocities that started coming to light.

Researchers and journalists also learned about the conflict of interest between government politicians who supported the war and military contractors who both provided jobs in their districts and contributed to their campaigns. Between the civil rights movement and the antiwar movement - which not always overlapped - the moral conscience of the Baby Boomer generation was lit.

Although SDS came out of the democratic socialist movement, it soon became radicalized in the Vietnam Era. Among its hallmarks was a policy of non-exclusion on an ideological basis. At a time when McCarthyism was still very much a factor in American life, SDS reached out to a broad spectrum, including Communists of various stripes.

SDS called for an unqualified end to the war, a position not all peace groups endorsed at the time (some favored more limited demands such as a ceasefire, Stop the Bombing or a negotiated settlement). The growth of SDS chapters around the country spurted exponentially in the months following the April 1965 demonstration. Hardly a university in the country lacked its SDS.

In subsequent years thousands of demonstrations took place to try and end the war, many local ones, including weekly silent vigils, and a number of mass national mobilizations. For years it seemed as though nothing was working to halt the carnage, but slowly the tide turned: The American public finally became convinced this was a war impossible to win, and not worth the social cost. And on the Vietnamese side, the series of corrupt puppet governments the U.S. supported lost all sense of legitimacy. In 1975 the Vietnamese national liberation forces won, a full ten years after that first SDS march.

P.S. I marched in Washington on April 17, 1965 with the SDS contingent from Yale.

Photo: AP, circa 1965

Low wage strikes and protests biggest in U.S. history

Thu, 16 Apr 2015 23:13:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES - Low-wage workers in over 200 cities, backed by the nation's unions, walked off their jobs or joined protesters yesterday from one end of the nation to the other.

In New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and in St. Louis, to name just a few of the locations, Americans took to the streets in support of low wage workers demanding a minimum wage of $15 in the U.S., more than twice the current federal minimum of $7.25.

By late afternoon at least 60,000 workers were involved in the Fight for $15 protests, according to organizers, with additional protests still underway or planned for the evening.

Picket lines swelled at many McDonald's stores as Walmart workers and members of community organizations joined them, often forcing managers to shut their stores down.

In LA, by 11 a.m., the huge McDonald's store on Figueroa Blvd. & 28th was forced to shut down and police closed off long stretches of the main thoroughfare itself, just south of downtown. Protesters posted a sign that read "People get burned in here" across the shuttered front doors of the outlet.

Already at that morning hour what started two years ago as a walkout by 200 fast food cooks in New York had grown into the largest protest by low wage workers in American history. It has, the people in the streets said, changed the conversation in America to one of how to end the wider-than-ever wage gap.

No longer limited to fast food workers, in city after city home health care workers, Walmart workers, child-care workers, adjunct professors and airport workers walked off the job and joined the protests.

In many locations workers came from abroad - from Brazil, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany to support their brothers and sisters in the United States.

"It's not just about fast food and not even just about wages," said Patrick Smart, president and CEO of the Southern California Southern Christian Leadership Conference as he joined a picket line at a closed-down McDonald's. "It's a civil rights movement, it's about worker justice and it's about closing the unconscionable gap between rich and poor."

Traditional labor unions were out in force backing the strikers and the demonstrators.

"The UFCW is out here fighting for $15 because we believe everyone, union or non- union deserves a living wage," said Kathy Finn, a director for the union's Local770 which covers LA and much of southern California. "We work for people who have contracts, we work to organize people and provide them with the benefits of a union if that is what they want and we are out here trying to help lift up those who don't have representation. We all rise up but only if we all rise up together," Finn said.

Local 770 has just come off a successful campaign after which workers at seven El Super supermarkets in the LA area have voted to unionize and another where workers at 100 CVS stores have won contracts.

Just before the strikes and protests started today Walmart shut down at least five of its stores, including the Pico Rivera store in Los Angeles.

"They say it was plumbing problems," said Denise Barlage, 56, a nine-year veteran worker at that store. Barlage, who protested and marched yesterday, said "That's what Walmart said but I know better. That Walmart store was the one of the stores where worker organizing has been the most successful."

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents janitors, security guards, hospital aides, nursing home workers and adjunct professors, was in evidence at the demonstrations across the country yesterday.

SEIU brought truckloads of food, water and soft drinks to distribute to strikers and protesters.

Scott temple, 57, a home care worker and a member of SEIU marched through the streets to the University of Southern California, notorious for paying low wages to food service workers, janitors, adjunct professors and others.

"I have construction worker friends who say they couldn't do the heavy work, the lifting, the wheel chair transfers I do. My body aches and I've had two hernias - all for $9.25 an hour. What really makes me sick, though, , is that the rich take so much and we get so little."

Everywhere across the country demonstrators were confident, however, that they have already made a difference. "Cities are raising the minimum wage without waiting for the Republican Congress and everyone is talking now about the wage gap," said Robert Flores, 23, a special education teacher's aide who marched yesterday.

Photo: Fight for 15 Facebook page