People Before Profit blog

"Step closer to equality": Texas judge overthrows gay marriage ban

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:02:00 +0000

AUSTIN, Texas - Presiding U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled Wednesday that the ban on marriage equality in the state of Texas is unconstitutional.

In his ruling, the San Antonio judge, a Clinton appointee, wrote that the same-sex marriage ban "violates plaintiffs' equal protection and due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution."

Last June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on U.S. v. Windsor, which required the federal government-but not states-to recognize same-sex marriages. The logical outflow of the decision continues to trickle through various state courts, with the rivulet showing signs of becoming a torrent.

Already, federal court decisions have struck down all or part of state bans on same-sex marriage in Kentucky, Oklahoma and Virginia. Over twenty states face similar cases.

Wrote Judge Garcia in his order, "By denying plaintiffs Holmes and Phariss the fundamental right to marry, Texas denies their relationship the same status and dignity afforded to citizens who are permitted to marry. It also denies them the legal, social, and financial benefits of marriage that opposite-sex couples enjoy...The laws demean their dignity for no legitimate reason."

Garcia stayed the effect of the order, as a federal court in Austin has pending cases challenging the same-sex marriage ban. This means that, for the time being, same-sex couples will not be able to get married in Texas.

Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican candidate for governor, is united with his fellow GOP primary foes in opposing Garcia's decision. Abbott said that the state would appeal.

State Sen. Wendy Davis, Abbott's probable Democratic opponent in November, responded on a more positive note. "I believe that all Texans who love one another and are committed to spending their lives together should be allowed to marry," she said.

State Democratic Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in his release that "today, all Texans can celebrate that we are one step closer to justice and equality for all."

Garcia's decision will likely be appealed to a higher court. The case could make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, whose decision would impact the nation.

In 2005, 76 percent of Texas voters approved an amendment that limited marriage and civil unions in Texas to one man and one woman.

The mood of the poll-taking public today? A December 2013 poll from The Public Religion Research Institute showed that 48 percent of Texans favored allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally while 49 percent opposed. This almost-even split marks a dramatic change since 2005. However, Texas still lags behind the national rate of 53 percent in favor to 41 percent opposed.

Wrote Judge Garcia in his ruling, "Today's court decision is not made in defiance of the great people of Texas or the Texas Legislature, but in compliance with the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedent."

LGBT-positive developments in federal courts nationwide come against a backdrop of recent conservative-instigated state measures to codify prejudice against the LGBT community. While Arizona Governor Jan Brewer did refuse to sign an anti-gay law this past week, due to pressure from concerned Arizonans and LGBT-tolerant companies, such rear-guard actions could well continue in other states while the nation await the U.S. Supreme Court's revisit of the issue in this or the next term.

Photos: Couples Cleopatra De Leon and Nicole Dimetman and Victor Holmes and Mark Phariss speak with reporters outside the U.S. Federal Courthouse in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this month. The judge in their case ruled Texas' ban on gay marriage unconstitutional Wednesday. (AP/Eric Gay)

Union says inner-city minorities are cheated on mass transit

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 14:59:00 +0000

CHICAGO -- The Amalgamated Transit Union says that mass transit services available to inner-city minority residents in the Chicagoland area are inferior to those available to suburban non-minorities. ATU President Larry Hanley is demanding measures, notably more commitment and funding for buses and subways, to combat what he calls "transit racism."

University of Chicago Associate Professor Virginia Parks told the February, 2014 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that the differences in commuting times for inner-city minority residents and suburban non-minorities were significant enough to affect minorities' pay and job possibilities.

Using 2011 census data on commuting patterns, Parks reported African Americans spend an average of 15 minutes more per day commuting to and from work in the Chicago area. That can be a 25 percent increase over an average urban two-way commute of about an hour, she found. Her study compared workers with similar jobs.

"Because of racial segregation, blacks spend more time getting to work," Parks reported. "The ability of workers to access jobs via a robust transportation system is positively associated with intergenerational economic mobility," her paper, Density For All, added. That results in a disadvantage for minorities, especially African Americans, in getting and holding well-paying jobs.

In cities such as Chicago, low-wage African-American workers frequently must travel long distances outside their neighborhoods to find work, as few service and other low-wage job opportunities are available in their home communities, the paper adds.

As a result, they must spend more on public transit and on car costs, her paper said. Parks found the longest commute, among 95 percent of all workers, is 65 minutes each way. Higher-paid workers are willing to spend more time and money on longer commutes, she said. They also can afford the expense. The data also show that African-American women have the longest commutes, in time, of any group.

"Urban sprawl currently reduces employment opportunities for lower-skill workers and women and dampens the economic mobility prospects for the poor," Parks added.

Hanley said national data, from the Brookings Institution, shows the same pattern-and it's an argument for beefing up mass transit in the nation's inner cities. That would expand job opportunities for the residents, too, says Hanley, whose union represents bus and subway workers, including workers for the Chicago Transit Authority's buses and elevated railway system.

"The disparity in commute times for low wage African-American workers in Chicago as compared to others is the product of a country with a huge and growing urban population," and with "no serious urban transportation agenda except to benefit the rich," Hanley declared.

"This report reminds us of the daily struggles of thousands of workers, reinforcing the lack of mobility for many Chicagoans and the untold impacts of the decades of gentrification. Low-wage African-American workers have been pushed out of cities and denied access to the robust public transportation that has been shown to be essential for economic mobility. Unequal access in Chicago forms a type of transit racism and institutional racism of any kind that must be reversed with a serious urban agenda."

Analyzing national census data, Brookings reported that an average metropolitan resident could reach only 30 percent of the jobs in his or her area within 90 minutes. Hanley pointed out one reason workers may be jobless, especially in inner cities, is due to lack of access to mass transit.

"Is it fair that those who depend on or choose public transit can't get to a job or find one because they don't have a car or bus route to get there?" Hanley asked. "This is what happens when you have a country whose cities grow more crowded every day, and whose only urban agenda is to dole out more favors to the wealthy."

ATU, along with the rest of the labor movement, is lobbying lawmakers for a multi-year mass-transit and highway-funding bill. In a Feb. 25 speech in Minnesota, Democratic President Barack Obama, himself a Chicagoan whose Hyde Park home is on a CTA bus route, proposed a 4-year $302 billion highway-mass transit bill.

But congressional Republicans, influenced by anti-tax tea partyites, are cool to highway and mass transit spending, since Obama wants to fund it by closing corporate tax loopholes. Union leaders, who back the legislation, prefer a graduated increase in the current 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax, which hasn't risen in 22 years.

"It's time for the nation to start thinking big when it comes to public transit, which when done right has been and continues to be a great ladder of opportunity for all," said Hanley. "In May, our coalition of transit workers, riders, and advocacy groups will spread the word that transit matters and our nation desperately needs an urban transportation agenda that enhances mobility for all of us."

Photo: Workers repairing track for rapid transit trains, Feb. 22. Chicago Transit authority Facebook page.

Google hangout with Sam Webb discusses today’s issues, socialism (with video)

Wed, 26 Feb 2014 12:33:00 +0000

"Taking care of the future, from here to socialism" was the subject of a wide ranging google hangout with CPUSA chairman Sam Webb. The conversation opened the discussion period for the 30th National Convention June 13-15 in Chicago.

"Connecting the struggles of the present with the future is easier said than done," said Webb. "The main starting point is engagement in the issues which millions are struggling around today."

"We are going to engage people to the extent we are involved with the issues moving millions," he said.

Webb argued it is vital to participate in what he called the "new surge of people's struggles" that are breaking out mainly at the state and local level around raising the minimum wage, organizing low wage workers, passing marriage equality legislation, and joining in the Moral Monday protests, to name a few.

This new people's upsurge is reflected in the election of a progressive mayor and city council in New York City and the election of a socialist to the Seattle City Council.

It is also reflected in the growth of political independence both within and outside the Democratic Party. Those who want to take care of the future need to build on these trends, which will be the basis of any third party that emerges in the U.S.

Webb said this should involve more communists running for office especially at the local level.

He also said a big challenge is to combine immediate reforms with more radical reforms that cut into the power and profits of big business: for example taxing the rich, demilitarizing the economy and winning a peaceful foreign policy.

"We should be taking part in discussions around socialism," he said. "Millions are talking about it. You would probably have to go back to the 1930s for a similar discussion."

"Our vision of socialism has to be forward looking, a modern vision that is sunk into the 21^st century and the new challenges facing humankind," he said.

Webb paid special attention to the climate crisis, which he termed an "existential crisis" threatening the survival of humanity. Any vision of socialism must address this question.

"There is not a bigger challenge facing humankind," he said.

There is no way to win socialism without combining the overall struggle with the struggle for full racial, gender and sexual orientation equality. This challenge has grown and is the bedrock of building a united movement.

"There is much talk about a post-racial society but not much evidence for it. I'm not suggesting there aren't notable gains for equality. But at same time there is a new racial order in society, which makes struggle for equality more difficult."

Webb also said key to the struggle for socialism is building a much bigger Communist Party USA and left.

"Part of the reason we were able to surmount the crisis of the 1930s was because there was a mass communist party and left. Similarly today the communist party and left can play an important role in building the mass movement that is growing before our eyes," said Webb.

Nearly 200 joined Webb in the live session and many were able to pose questions in the hour-long event. Since then, over 1,400 people have viewed the video, which has been posted on the Communist Party USA Youtube page.

Regular Google Hangouts will take place throughout the convention discussion. To receive alerts sign up here.

Communists and the long struggle for African American equality

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 16:01:00 +0000

Throughout its 95-year history the Communist Party USA has always been in the vanguard of the struggle for African American equality. In fact, Black communists and white communists alike - sometimes alone, sometimes in broad-based coalitions - led the fight against Southern lynch law and Jim Crow, lily-white trade unions, and police brutality, among other issues.

Not only did Communist Party members provide the ideological and intellectual architecture for what would eventually become the civil rights movement of the 1960s, they also founded and led many of the grassroots organizations in the 1930s and '40s that were responsible for training the emerging African American and white working class leaders who would eventually play a decisive role in the civil rights and Black Power movements.

Prominent African American party leaders like James W. Ford and William L. Patterson helped found and lead the National Negro Congress and the Civil Rights Congress, while Communists James Jackson and Esther Cooper Jackson would help found and lead the Southern Negro Youth Congress.

African American trade union party leaders like Ferdinand Smith and Alphaeus Hunton helped found and lead the National Maritime Union and the American Federation of Teachers, respectively, while Angelo Herndon helped build and lead the Unemployed Councils and the Sharecroppers' Union.

Additionally, women African American party members often led the fight against racism and sexism, while building unions, fighting for peace and articulating the special role of women, especially Black women, in the fight for workers' rights and socialism.

For example, Claudia Jones wrote for the Daily Worker, among other party publications, chaired the CPUSA's National Women's Commission, was a leader in the National Peace Council and was the editor of Negro Affairs, the publication of the party's National Negro Commission. Eventually, Jones, who was born in the then-British West Indies, was deported due to her party activities.

Another, though lesser known, African American woman party leader, Mildred McAdory, a domestic worker and SNYC leader, became one of the first civil rights activists to utilize a tactic that would later become the rallying cry of the broad civil rights movement: McAdory refused to give up her bus seat to a white person in Birmingham, Ala., in the early 1940s. Rosa Parks would later credit SYNC and CP leaders like McAdory for their groundbreaking tactics that hastened the defeat of Jim Crow racism.

In the 1960s and '70s African American and white Communist Party leaders and activists played major roles in the civil rights and Black Power movements.

For example, African American Communist Debbie Bell attended the founding convention of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later moved "down South" to work for full-time for SNCC in Atlanta where she led efforts to desegregate "whites only" restaurants. Bell also helped found and lead the W.E.B. Du Bois Clubs of America, named after the great African American Communist Party USA member.

Longtime African American party chairman Henry Winston would prove to be a political mentor to hundreds, if not thousands, of African American and white civil rights leaders. As a prolific author, Winston wrote Strategy for a Black Agenda and Class, Race and Black Liberation, as well as thousands of newspaper articles, pamphlets and speeches.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it was "an honor" to meet Winston while they were both at a Freedomways magazine event in 1968.

During the student uprisings of the late 1960s African American youth leaders like Jarvis Tyner held campus speaking tours where they helped build the struggle against the war in Vietnam, for peace and democracy. Tyner, who was also part of a U.S. peace delegation to Vietnam, would help found and lead the Young Workers' Liberation League. Angela Davis, an activist with the Black Panther Party and then a leader of the Communist Party, became a hero to many for standing up to a frame-up attempt in the 1970s. After a mass campaign won her freedom, she then took the struggle for prison reform to national prominence.

Another prominent African American woman CPUSA leader, Charlene Mitchell, was the first African American women to run for president of the United States. She also helped found and lead the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, an organization born out of, but broader than, the Free Angela Davis Committees.

And today African American Communists continue in the vanguard, fighting for equal rights. Among them are fast-food workers leading the struggle for $15 an hour and a union, which would directly benefit the largely African American women low-wage fast-food workers. It's a struggle seen by many as an important fight against racism.

Others are union organizers filing grievances and bargaining contracts. And others are community, coalition and student leaders building the broad-based movement for social and economic justice. Others are continuing to build "down South," where unions are once again beginning to organize.

Throughout its 95-year history the Communist Party USA has been in the forefront of the struggle for African American equality. This African American History Month - and every African American History Month - it is timely to remember the past and present contributions of African American Communists, as they continue to lay the ideological, intellectual and organizational groundwork for the next generation of leaders who will fight the struggles of tomorrow.

Photo: Art work by Hugo Gellert, well-known Communist artist. Wolfsonian-FIU Library collection.

Fasters for families: Boehner, stop playing with our lives!

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 13:44:00 +0000

"We are taking our message to John Boehner that he must put immigration reform to a vote. We want to protect the future of all children who witness their parents being taken away from them, never knowing when they will see them again, this is why we are fasting and launching this tour.

"We say stop playing with our lives, there are people dying in the heat of the desert, 1100 families are separated daily, and it is painful to see the eyes of children as they watch their parent being taken from them.

"I have been at this detention center, and my children are getting close to voting age, if you want them to vote for you, pass an immigration reform bill," Olga Cordero told the crowd of several hundred that had gathered in front of the Los Angeles Detention center early Monday morning at the starting point of the Fast for Families bus tour.

Fasters and supporters marched from the detention center to Los Angeles City hall where two buses were waiting to begin a 3-week-long cross country tour to the offices of more than 75 members of congress to urge the passing of a comprehensive immigration reform bill, ending at the office of John Boehner in Washington D.C. Apr. 9.

Mexican-American labor union activist Eliseo Medina told the crowd that this fast will remind the citizens of this country, that this is not who we are as a nation, we are not in the business of breaking up families, or allowing people to die in the desert heat.

Dae Yoon of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium stated that there are over 4 million families that have been separated, calling this a moral crisis that needs to be corrected.

East Chicago, Indiana, community organizer Rudy Lopez, another core faster, stated that the votes are there to pass immigration reform, John Boehner needs to put it up for a vote and "this is why we are going to Washington DC."

"We will have immigration reform!" said core faster Christian Avila, an organizer for Mi Familia Vota, a program that works to register Latino voters. Avila stated that it was "not a question of whether we will we get immigration reform it is only a question of when. We all have a way to contribute and a voice to make this happen."

"In a democracy congress does not tell us what to do, we tell congress what to do," stated Rev. Samuel Rodriquez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. "We tell you John Boehner: do not think that we will lose hope, we are prepared to fight until we have immigration reform, because what keeps us going are those who have lost their lives in the desert and their families who will never know what happened to them, of the suffering placed on families when members are deported and the faces of children as they watch their parents being arrested and taken away."

Thousands will join the fasters throughout the three-week tour by fasting each Wednesday during the Lenten season. "By fasting, we hope to follow the examples of Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi to touch the compassion and sensibilities of our elected leaders to address the moral crisis of an immigration system that fails to comport with our national values, our creeds and belief in justice."

Religious clergy of many denominations were on hand to bless the Fasters and their journey across the country. Congresswoman Judy Chu was also present and stated her support for a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Two buses left Los Angeles, one heading on a northerly route the other heading on a southerly route.

To help support this effort or join the fast, go to the website http://fast4families.org/. Join fasters when they are in your congressional district and call your member of congress to make sure he or she is ready to vote for the immigration bill. Follow the bus tour on Facebook, and share their progress.

https://www.facebook.com/fast4families. #fastforfamilies

Photo: Rossana Cambron/PW

“We Tell Our Stories”— a community honors its heroes

Mon, 24 Feb 2014 15:33:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oscars may be coming up this week, but in Oakland, People's World and Mamas 4 Obamas hosted an equally dramatic Feb. 22 event: "We Tell Our Stories." The Black History Month event honored the stories of hard work and victories of local workers, activists and grassroots community leaders.

"We Tell Our Stories" garnered a packed house, listening to the personal stories of the honorees with active enthusiasm. Those honored spanned several generations, the youngest being a young lady in first grade, who brought down the house with her spirited tribute to the late Nelson Mandela.

The crowd opened with a rendition of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Juan Lopez then took to the podium to briefly highlight the 90^th anniversary of the People's World, whose ongoing mission continues to be telling readers, "Yes, people do matter," in a country where the motto is generally "corporate profit before people," Lopez said.

Program emcee Cassie Lopez said that everyone in the room was deserving of an award, whether they received a certificate or not, for the hard work of taking care of jobs and family and bringing positive change to lives around them. "We can end all the bondage upon on our minds, our spirits and our souls," she said, "when we understand that we have a commonality as human beings on the face of this planet, that we do matter."

Among those honored first was Lorrain Taylor, founder of 1,000 Mothers to Prevent Violence. In 2000, Taylor lost her twin sons, Bade and Obadiah, to homicide, both young men killed while they were working on fixing a car together. After several years of grief, Taylor created an organization to give voice to parents and families who have lost loved ones to violence.

Denise Curtis of Community Works was recognized for her organization's visionary work in restorative justice conferences, a revolutionary way of keeping young people who have committed crimes out of the justice system, and also helping communities before a pattern of retribution for crimes escalates. Instead of sending a young person to jail, a plan is created for real justice with input from the victim, law enforcement and family and also a real plan for the child to succeed in life in the future.

Representing one of the newer generations of community leaders was Dominic Ware, of OURWalmart. Originally starting at Walmart as a holiday hire, Ware hoped that hard work and trust in such a profitable company would be his ticket out of a brush with the criminal justice system and into a home and a job where he could support a family. Instead, Ware found his hours cut after the holiday crunch time and, with more time to talk to fellow employees who had been with Walmart longer, quickly realized that he wasn't the only one facing unsatisfactory working conditions.

These problems were coupled with a lack of respect from superiors who did not deign to greet employees on the floor, but would instead bark orders to them over the loudspeakers at the store. Ware brought these issues to a manager using Walmart's vaunted "open door policy," which the company touts in lieu of accepting a union in the workplace.

"I'm 27, I didn't know nothing about a union," said Ware of the experience. Joining the workers' organization OURWalmart, Ware "learned how being a worker, even the 8-hour shift was fought for ... people have been fighting for years for worker rights!"

Shortly after joining OURWalmart, Ware was fired for striking for a day from the San Leandro store. Recently Ware and other Walmart strikers won a ruling from the federal government that the firings had been in violation of labor law and that the workers are entitled to get their jobs back.

Among the many leaders also honored at "We Tell Our Stories" were representatives from local groups ACCE, EBASE, Allen Temple AIDS Foundation, REVIVE Oakland, the Black Organizing Project, and Peacemakers. Attendees, both younger and older, also performed poetry and songs.

"We Tell Our Stories" will also go on to be developed into a film project. Artists and activists will collaborate with people in the community to bring stories like the ones told at the event to the screen, highlighting the work being done in the Bay Area to bring change.

Toussaint, one of the drummers performing for the crowd, captured the spirit of the night, saying, "We're here to celebrate Black History Month, but black history is made 365 days of the year... We're making history here tonight."

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/PW

U.S. Senate race in Georgia reaches a new low

Mon, 24 Feb 2014 12:44:00 +0000

ATHENS, Ga. - Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., is running to replace Republican Saxby Chambliss, who is not seeking re-election to U.S. Senate. The campaign is raffling off an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle as a way to build a list of conservative supporters.

Broun is well-known for his ultraconservative views including referring to the Civil War as the "war of Yankee aggression." On evolution he said, "I don't believe that the earth's but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them that's what the Bible says." Braun says that both "evolution and the big bang theory are "lies straight from the pit of hell."

Incredibly, Broun is the Republican-appointed chairman of the House committee on oversight for science, space, and technology.

Many political analysts feel that he is in danger of losing the race to Michelle Nunn who is running against him on the Democratic ticket. Although new to politics, Nunn, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, comes from a well-established Georgia political family.

A January email sent to supporters by Re. Broun shows just how dangerous his candidacy is:

"Dear Patriot,

As one of the most conservative members of Congress, and a staunch supporter of the second amendment, I am constantly under attack for my values and beliefs.

Today I'm fighting back.

How would you like to start off 2014 with the brand-new AR-15 (assault rifle) for free?

Barack Obama would like nothing more than to ban the AR-15 rifle - and that's exactly why I decided to give away a free AR-15 to my fellow Second Amendment supporters.

That's right, follow this link and add your name to be automatically entered to win a semi-automatic AR 15.

All you need to do is to follow this link to enter and register to win an AR 15. The deadline to enter is Thursday, February 27.

You see it's no secret that the Democrats and liberal media would love to take away our guns and mandate every aspect of our lives, but I refuse to let them get away with that."

A link from the Paul Broun website takes you to a contest entry page which pictures and AR 15 assault rifle and in bold capital letters reads "Barack Obama would like nothing more than to ban the AR 15 rifle. All you need to do is add your name, email and ZIP - then hit the "submit" button and an AR 15 could very well be yours.

This gimmick may well be repeated in other campaigns across the country. The National Association for Gun Rights calls the AR-15 "the firearm Barack Obama and the gun grabbers want to ban."

Photo: http://broun.house.gov/

Today in black history: Malcolm X assassinated

Fri, 21 Feb 2014 15:03:00 +0000

On this day in 1965, Malcolm X - human rights activist and one of history's most celebrated African Americans - was assassinated.

Born Malcolm Little, X was a Muslim minister during his life, as well as an icon for African-American rights.

Though he was, for a time, a member of the Nation of Islam, he came to reject their views, and subsequently became a Sunni Muslim. While he had in the past indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans, at this point he renounced the concept of racialism and expressed his desire to work with civil rights leaders for better equality for all.

He said, "The only way we'll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world. We are blood brothers to the people of Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti ... Cuba - yes, Cuba, too."

According to George Breitman's book By Any Means Necessary: Speeches, Interviews, and a Letter by Malcolm X, the FBI had opened a file on Malcolm in 1950 when he wrote a letter to then-President Truman stating his opposition to the Korean War.

In 1964, Malcolm met Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington, D.C. after they had both attended the Senate to hear the debate on the Civil Rights Act.

Malcolm became an influential figure to many African-Americans and supporters of civil rights and equality, and continues to be so today.

X was assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom and Theater located in the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan. Some years later part of the space was transformed into the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center honoring the lives and legacies of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz by continuing their work through the advancement of human rights and social justice.

The Center is located at 3940 Broadway, New York, NY 10032. The center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5p.m. Tour groups are invited to make an appointment by calling (212) 568-1341 or email info@theshabazzcenter.org.

Go here for a list of today's events.

In 1965, The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published. Alex Haley collaborated with Malcolm X on the book beginning in 1963 and completed it after Malcolm X's death.

In 1992, Spike Lee's biographical drama film Malcolm X was released. Directed and co-written by Spike Lee, the film stars Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo. Lee has a supporting role as Shorty, a character based partially on real-life acquaintance Malcolm "Shorty" Jarvis, a jazz trumpeter. Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and future South Africa president Nelson Mandela have cameo appearances.

Photo: Malcolm X (front, right) meets briefly with Martin Luther King, Jr. Wikipedia

Demonstrators demand justice for Jordan Davis

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:44:00 +0000

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After four days of deliberation, the jury handed down guilty verdicts Saturday evening for Michael Dunn, a 47-yr-old software engineer, convicted on three counts of attempted murder in the second degree and a one count of open fire into a vehicle. However, the main count, that of first-degree murder of Jordan Davis, an African American teenager shot to death by Dunn, was declared a mistrial. State Attorney Angela Corey, who had unsuccessfully prosecuted George Zimmerman for killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, who, like Davis, was African American, said she intends to re-try Dunn on the first-degree murder charge.

"We intend to fully push for a new trial ... Justice for Jordan Davis is as important as it is for any victim," Corey said.

In November 2012, while at a gas station here, Dunn demanded that Davis and his three friends turn down their music that he deemed too loud. They complied but then turned it back up again. Enraged, Dunn grabbed his gun from his car and shot into the car ten times, killing Davis. Dunn then drove away with his fiancée to a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine, 40 miles away. Dunn never called police.

After the announcement of the verdict, the emerging public opinion outside of the courtroom became the real story. A coalition of activists, including members of The Jacksonville Progressive Coalition, Florida New Majority, The Dream Defenders, The New Jim Crow Movement, organized a press conference and march to challenge the mainstream media's narrative around the trial, which CNN dubbed "The loud music trial." Speakers exposed the inherent racism involved in the crime and tied it to similar cases of criminalization of young black men by white vigilantes (and police), and some demanded Corey's resignation. Corey not only flubbed getting Zimmerman convicted for the killing of Martin, she prosecuted Marissa Alexander, a Black woman, for firing a warning shot at her husband in self defense, during a domestic abuse incident.

A week of action is taking place here all this week demanding Dunn be retried. Yesterday people wore black ribbons in remembrance of Jordan Davis.

Photo: Tears stream down a protestor's cheek as she finds out the jury was deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge for Michael Dunn, Feb. 15, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP /The Florida Times-Union/Kelly Jordan).

Unions double down on Southern organizing after loss in Tennessee

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 13:09:00 +0000

HOUSTON - "Workers don't give up," said Larry Cohen, chair of the AFL-CIO's Organizing Committee, when he came out of a session of the federation's executive council meeting here today. "It's sad, in a way, but you can always count on the brave workers it takes to ensure that all workers will, in the end, participate in how decisions are made at their workplaces.

"It's sad, I say, because it all shouldn't really be necessary. The preamble to labor law signed in 1935 says it is the policy of the government of the U.S. to support collective bargaining. Yet today you have U.S. senators who ignore that law."

Cohen, who is also president of the Communications Workers of America, was referring to Tennessee's Republican Sen. Bob Corker who threatened workers at the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant that a vote for the union would result in loss of their jobs. After the intimidation campaign by Corker and a variety of well funded outside groups, the United Auto Workers narrowly lost its bid to represent workers at that plant.

To counter talk in the media about labor being on the ropes, especially down here in the South, Cohen ticked off a list of union organizing activity underway all over the region:

Walmart workers across the South have been participating in the national protests and strikes against the huge retail chain headquartered in Arkansas.

Tobacco workers in North Carolina have been fighting to unionize and are participating in massive Moral Monday marches in Raleigh, the state capital. Last week 100,000 marched on the Capitol there.

A poultry plant in Alabama with more than 1,000 workers unionized recently.

In recent months more than 7,000 nurses have unionized in Florida and Texas. A new campaign to organize nurses in Orlando aims to add 4,000 more to that total.

The TSA workers at airports in the South have been voting to join the American Federation of Government Employees.

CWA has organized thousands at AT&T Mobile in the Houston area.

Thousands have also joined the Texas State Employees Union.

"The commitment of this labor movement is to organize in the South and across this country and to present the spread of collective bargaining rights as the fix for our broken economy," Cohen said.

Tefere Gebre, an Ethiopian immigrant and long-time labor organizer in California's Orange County was elected five months ago as executive vice president of the AFL-CIO.

"In those five months I have travelled to 15 states in the South," Gebre said, "meeting with unions, workers centers and community organizations. As a labor movement we have to focus where people are suffering the most, where children are living in poverty. If we don't do this, if we don't focus on the South, what are we in business for?"

"As we speak, right now, somewhere in the South right wing lawmakers are conspiring with corporate backers about how they are going to take away workers' rights. We have to fight down here because what happens in the South doesn't stay in the South," Gebre said. "And that goes for winning too. Victories here spread all over the country.

"There is no reason to believe that if we join with allies and work in coalition and organize in Mississippi and Texas the way we did in California that we will not get the same good results - higher salaries, better workplaces, better communities and a better life for our people."

Nurses present at the executive council meeting here said their organizing battles in the South are tougher and even more strategically important than people might think. "We are directly confronting corporate power," said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United. She explained that nurses do direct battle with big corporations when they organize because it is those corporate entities that are taking over more and more of the major health institutions.

"When I went to work in the hospital before we had a union I never knew when I'd be able to go home, said Jan Rodolfo, Midwest Organizer for National Nurses United. "And when we won union rights they couldn't force us to work dangerously long hours, and patients and communities saw we were on their side. Every gain we made was matched by gains for the community. It's why we are succeeding in organizing here in the South."

In Texas, where collective bargaining rights over wages and benefits are banned for public workers, Rodolfo said nurses organize unions around issues like staffing levels. But even then the nurses admit, despite successes, they face problems like the ones they had at a Brownsville, Texas hospital that fired the NNU organizers. But as Cohen said, despite the difficulties and obstacles, "Workers don't give up."

Photos: Some 80,000-100,000 demonstrators of all ages marched for livable wages and democratic rights in North Carolina, Feb. 8, as part of a growing Moral Mondays movement. (PW/David Bender)

Youth march and tribute to Craig Gauthier mark African American History month

Wed, 19 Feb 2014 12:40:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Giving new meaning to the significance of African American History Month, the New Elm City Dream and YCL are organizing a youth march to end violence and for jobs this Sunday, Feb. 23, with the support of labor and political leaders and Mayor Toni Harp.

The march starts at Elm and Kensington streets at 3:00 pm, at the spot where 20-year old Tyrell Trimble was shot to death a year and a half ago, and will end up at the Peoples Center, 37 Howe Street, in time for the 40th annual African American History Month celebration hosted by the People's World at 4:00 pm.

Labor and community leader Craig Gauthier, who will help lead the march with the youth, will be recognized for his courage and commitment at the celebration, "In Solidarity to End Racism - Craig Gauthier Tells His Story: Fighting to End Racism and Discrimination from Louisiana to New Haven."

The event will also be held in Hartford on Saturday, February 22 at 6:30 pm at the King-Davis Labor Center, 77 Huyshope Avenue, where spoken word will be performed by Shaquana Cannon and Quadell Williams.

In New Haven the program will open with drumming by Brian Jarawa Gray and the presentation of prizes for the high school arts and writing competition expressing the needs and vision of youth for New Haven.

At both celebrations an excerpt of the film Free Angela and All Political Prisoners will be shown. Gauthier traveled with Angela Davis to speaking engagements in New England after her release in the 1970s.

Gauthier will trace his journey from Louisiana where he grew up during Jim Wrow segregation to the military and then to New Haven where he worked at Pratt & Whitney and Yale New Haven Hospital and for many years at the Winchester factory in Newhallville.

Gauthier became president of IAM Victory Lodge 609, and IAM District 170. He served on the executive board of the New Haven Labor Council and many community organizations. As a member first of the Black Panther Party and then of the Communist Party USA, he has campaigned for peace, to end police brutality, meet the needs of youth, to create living wage jobs in the community, and for union rights. He will address today's needs to step up the fight against racism and build unity around a program of economic, social and racial equality.

Growing up in Donaldsonville, Louisiana Gauthier was taught by his mother how to survive the brutality of institutionalized racism. After high school, he served in the army for four and a half years and then moved to New Haven in search of a job at Pratt & Whitney aircraft. While working a second job at Yale-New Haven Hospital, he helped organize the dietary workers into Local 1199.

After an incident with police brutality Gauthier joined the Black Panther Party. Soon after, he met the Communist Party, liked its long view and broad coalition tactics, and found his political home.

Gauthier worked at the Winchester Repeating Arms factory for 22 years from the time it was the city's largest employer before it moved abroad. He made an indelible mark in 1979 as a union leader in the landmark 1-month strike and later became union president.

Today, Craig is active at the Peoples Center and in the Newhallville community. The youth in the New Elm City Dream and the YCL greatly appreciate his encouragement and support.

The young people came up with the idea of marching for African American History month to honor well-known African American leaders, and also the young people who are dying as a result of violence, many of whom are African American. Sunday's march will pay tribute to the lives of their lost friends, and recognize their contributions to their neighborhoods and families.

The youth understand that if society were free from racism and division, the society Gauthier has fought for his entire life, all youth in Connecticut and elsewhere could become strong leaders today.

The Hartford and New Haven celebrations will include a home made buffet. Requested donation is $5 or what you can afford. For information call 203-624-8664.

Photo: New Elm City Dream youth prepare posters for their African American History Month march against violence and racism and for jobs. Photo credit: Eamon Linehan

Bison slaughter brings stampede of outrage

Tue, 18 Feb 2014 16:52:00 +0000

Yellowstone National Park is rounding up bison to be slaughtered, in order to maintain a target population and reduce the spreading of a disease called brucellosis from bison to valuable livestock. The problem with these reasons? They're not reasons. They're excuses. And people ranging from Native Americans to animal rights activists are calling Yellowstone out on it.

The American Bison is a species that, like so many others, may soon become a relic of the past due to human interference. After excessive hunting, by 1890 their population had been reduced to 750 and they were on the verge of becoming extinct. Conservation efforts have since saved the animals, pushing their number all the way up to 360,000. But those efforts are now under attack, as corporate and right-wing anti-environment measures become more prominent. Perhaps nowhere has this been more clearly demonstrated than in the case of the current Republican-led effort to truncate and restrict the Endangered Species Act.

As part of a controversial agreement between the park and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes, between 600 and 800 bison will be slaughtered this winter. So far, 20 have been killed. This slaughter is expected to diminish an already-endangered subpopulation of bison located in what is called the Central Interior. Those bison have not yet recovered from a previous park-led slaughter in 2008.

James Holt, a Nez Perce Tribal member, has criticized the other tribes' decision to agree to take part in Yellowstone's "population control objective." He remarked, "It is disheartening to see tribes support these activities. Buffalo were made free and should remain so. It is painful to watch these tribal entities take such an approach when they should [represent] the strongest advocacy and a voice for protection. Slaughter agreements are not the answer."

The park has argued that tribal concerns over the spreading of brucellosis to their livestock from the mammals is the primary reason for the cull. But Dan Brister, executive director of the Buffalo Field Campaign, a nonprofit organization formed to stop bison slaughter, has disputed that. He also seemed to find their slaughter objective to be cruel and baseless. "The number was politically derived to limit the range of wild buffalo, and has no scientific basis," he said. "It does not reflect the carrying capacity of the buffalo's habitat in and around Yellowstone National Park."

Cattle ranchers, meanwhile, fear that brucellosis from bison wandering away from the park will infect their livestock and cause their cows to abort their calves. However, there has never been a single documented case of a wild bison transmitting the disease to cattle. That the bison are wandering in the first place may be linked to climate change, as the animals increasingly must stray farther from Yellowstone to find winter forage.

Michael Leach, founder and director of nonprofit conservation group Yellowstone Country Guardians, remarked, "There has never been a case of a bison transmitting brucellosis to cattle, but this has not stopped the spending of millions of taxpayer dollars to capture and slaughter them to protect the Brucellosis-free status of the states of Montana and Wyoming. But by February of 2004, Wyoming had already lost that status, Idaho's status was stripped two years later, and in 2008, Montana followed. But guess what? Elk, not bison, were determined to be the culprits for all of these cases."

He concluded, "In my opinion, the Yellowstone bison debate is no longer an issue of wildlife management, but one of social justice and moral responsibility. The bison management strategy that has sent 3,800 wild bison to slaughter since 2000 - simply for wandering across an invisible line in search of food - remains stagnant and archaic." And action on this issue, he stressed, is of the utmost importance. "How we will be evaluated by future generations as wildland stewards will ultimately be measured by how we respond to this challenge."

Photo: A bison relaxes in Yellowstone National Park. Jan Kronsell/Wikipedia (CC)

Don't drink the water? West Virginian records each sip

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 16:03:00 +0000

Editors' note: On Jan. 10, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced a state of emergency, banning the use of water except to flush toilets or put out fires, for nine counties with a total population of 300,000. President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration for the state, triggering immediate federal aid to the residents. The reason? A massive chemical leak from Freedom Industries polluted the Elk River, the source of drinking water for Charleston and surrounding areas.

Nikki Ardman, a mother of two children with autism, teacher and resident of West Virginia, recently performed an experiment: She drank the water for a month after authorities said it was OK to do so, and video blogged about it. Her experiment took some courage, as most of the 300,000 people affected did not go back to drinking the water - and for good reason - the water can make you sick. By the end of her journey, Ardman drew the conclusion that she may have to leave the state because of the terrible conditions this water crisis has produced. Below are Ardman's story and a link to her video blog.

CHARLESTON, W. Va. - It might surprise you to realize that I've set out to prove that our water company, our state officials, and the EPA have our best interest at heart. As skeptical as I am about that assertion, I hope you understand that I have this instinctual attachment to enduring no harm from this. Besides which, as the state of affairs has dictated, we have no choice but to trust the decisions that can't be resisted. I'm inclined to be all in or all out. If no harm comes to me from this exercise, I'm hoping that it can ease our minds into peaceful trust. If I suffer adverse effects from this exercise, I honestly don't know what the next step is.

I've been teaching for almost 20 years. Human behavior is one of my favorite subjects, and my affinity for it gets plenty of stimulation. So many people will be buying their drinking water. Many of them have said they won't trust the tap water for a very long time. It's been one week for me today since the ban on water, and they finally lifted the ban here. I followed the directions for flushing, which, by the way, is my least favorite word right now. A bitter part of me wonders if they were counting on people buying water in bottles and jugs. I admit that it's a bitter part of me. From our first lie, we were cognizant of liars. We see in others who we've been. Part of me also responds to this with fear.

I certainly do hope that everything will be right as rain. Let's move forward without wasting energy on blame, if you please. Inexplicable facts already exist, and, while there are many versions of the truth, putting them to words in sequence and without emotion reveals to us which version we prefer.

The spill happened upstream of a water treatment plant. The filtration system couldn't stop 4-methyl cyclohexane methanol from reaching our homes and businesses. The ban on water began. The smell. Water that burns. Press conferences. FEMA. Bottled water. Town hall meetings. Maps of red then blue. Flushing. Water treatment plants located down stream shut off their intake of the river's water. FEMA leaves. Distribution centers shut down.

Can we focus on the water now? If it wasn't apparent to you that there are some chemicals that simply can't be filtered, you may have recently learned something new. This is just the one chemical. How many more chemicals do you think exist that can make it through our filters? I don't have that answer. Unknown.

They're unsure of the effects of MCHM to the human body. No wait. They don't know at all about the effects of MCHM on the human body. I don't know what the outcome of this exercise will be.

Nevertheless, I have faith that this is the right path. I'm going with the flow, honoring their wishes, and I'm drinking the recommended daily allowance of water from my tap. I'll be video-documenting each glass for 40 days.

You can see the entire video blog on YouTube: WV Water Video Blog.

Photo: The Ardman family turn toy containers into rain barrels to collect water for bathing (Nikki Ardman).

Unionists, greens start "Repair America" drive

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 15:21:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Unionists and green groups, seeking to both create well-paying union jobs and improve the environment, are embarking on a "Repair America" campaign they hope will resonate with voters concerned about low incomes, citizens worried about climate change and lawmakers who will respond to pressure on both.

The campaign, discussed at the Good Jobs Green Jobs conference in D.C. on Feb. 9-11, got its congressional kickoff with an indoor Capitol Hill rally jammed with Steelworkers, led by union President Leo Gerard, and lawmakers headed by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Its objective: To convince citizens and Congress to back massive funding for repairing and rebuilding the creaky, crumbling U.S. infrastructure of unsound bridges, leaky water pipes, energy-inefficient schools, homes and hospitals, crumbling highways and rails split by extreme heat and cold.

Unions and greens both face the problem of reaching a wider public that is apathetic or cynical about politics and policy, concerned about jobs, concentrating on kitchen table issues and worried about paying the mortgage, sending kids to college and retiring securely.

Greens have failed to show how their movement could help people achieve those goals. Business, the radical right and its Republican lackeys vilify unions as job destroyers whose members earn too much and whose pensions are too high.

But they have one big positive, Gerard told the packed house in a U.S. Senate hearing room: Strength in numbers. The BlueGreen Alliance, which USW and the Sierra Club co-founded, has unions and greens with 14 million members, combined.

"We're the ones campaigning for good jobs and to create the jobs of the future," he said.

To get to those jobs of the future, however, the unions and greens need to concentrate on jobs now, in a time when unemployment is still at 6.6% and the number of long-term jobless remains at or near record highs.

That led to the emphasis on infrastructure, especially "shovel-ready" repairs.

"We have a D+ infrastructure," Gerard declared, comparing the state of U.S. bridges, roads and railways to India or "a South American country that never invested.

"You can't have a competitive economy when you have bridges that fall down as you try to get to work, water systems leaking 15% of their contents before they ever get to your kitchen sink, and buildings that lose twice as much heat" as comparable structures in other countries, Gerard stated.

And consumers in West Virginia, hit by leaky toxic chemicals in their water in the Charleston area, "were told they couldn't turn their water off, because if they took the pressure off, the pipes will collapse."

Fixing those problems is the point of the repair campaign that unions and greens are launching. Its centerpiece is creation of a National Infrastructure Bank to use public dollars to leverage private investment in such repair and replacement projects. The campaign also emphasizes using the money for "green" repairs that save energy - and create U.S. jobs in everything from high-quality pipe to windmills for electric power.

"If we invested enough money to get to a grade of 'B' on infrastructure, we'd have 11 million more jobs and put those Americans back to work," Gerard declared.

Lawmakers, all Democrats, enthusiastically endorsed the repair campaign. And they added their own demand, which USW drafted with them: Strong language mandating materials for the projects must be U.S.-made.

"It's as easy as A-B-C," Pelosi said. "(A) Make it in America, (B) Build the infrastructure of America with products made in America and (C) For community: Corporate America must make decisions that respect all stakeholders" in America, "not just shareholders."

But unionists and greens face GOP opposition, as usual, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., warned. The foes will say: "There they go again, spending money," said DeLauro, author of the infrastructure bank bill. "You let them know this is not a partisan issue, but one that involves our long-term prosperity.

"We can develop transportation systems that cut down on carbon usage" and slow global warming, "build more levees to contain floods, construct more energy-efficient smart grids and build public housing, hospitals and schools - and create jobs that cannot be outsourced," she exclaimed.

Unionists and greens also must take that non-partisan message out on the road, said Dave Foster, a former Steelworkers district director who now heads the BlueGreen Alliance. That's one reason Gerard, earlier, urged USW Rapid Response conference delegates to recruit enough colleagues to double their numbers. "Imagine the power we'll have in the statehouses, in the municipalities and here if we were double," he said. "We want to have a stronger voice to take on these challenges."

Photo: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaking at the conference. Good Jobs Green Jobs Flickr page.

Union leaders hail Obama order raising minimum wage for contract workers

Fri, 14 Feb 2014 13:57:00 +0000

WASHINGTON -- Union leaders hailed President Barack Obama's signing yesterday of an executive order raising minimum wages for future federal contract workers - janitors, fast-food workers and others - to $10.10 an hour.

They urged other politicians, notably lawmakers in Congress, to follow his lead and raise the national minimum wage.

Service Employees President Mary Kay Henry praised Obama for helping workers who now earn "poverty wages that can't support their families." Then she urged lawmakers to raise the national minimum wage, now $7.25. "But when American jobs and livelihoods depend on getting something done, the president shouldn't have to wait for Congress" to act, Henry added.

Other union leaders agreed, then noted local politicians are ahead of the feds. In his state of the city address, new New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed raising the living wage for similar workers employed by city contractors to $15, a move Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers President Stuart Appelbaum hailed.

De Blasio's proposal also mandates that retailers who receive such city contracts cannot oppose organizing drives. "At a time of rising poverty and inequality throughout our city, we should use every available policy and legislative tool to strengthen the lives of working people," Appelbaum responded.

And Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., personally testified before state legislative committees on Feb. 11, advocating a statewide minimum wage hike, to $10.10, there, a move Maryland union leaders strongly endorse.

Some 2.2 million workers now toil for the minimum wage, or slightly more, under the federal contracts. Obama's order takes effect Jan. 1 and would aid several hundred thousand of them after that as contracts roll over, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said.

Obama said the workers, like other most other minimum wage workers, "are not teenagers taking their first job. They're adults. The average age is 35. A majority of lower-wage jobs are held by women. Many have children that they're supporting.

"Right now, there's a dishwasher at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas making $7.76 an hour. There's a fast-food worker at Andrews (Air Force Base), right down the street, making $8.91 an hour. There's a laundry worker at Camp Dodge in Iowa making $9.03 an hour. Once I sign this order, starting next year...each of them and many of their fellow coworkers are going to get a raise. And by the way, that includes folks who get paid in tips-they'll get a raise, too. These are Americans who work full-time, often to support a family, and if the minimum wage had kept pace with our economic productivity, they'd already be getting paid well over $10 an hour."

Photo: Surrounded by workers, President Obama signs an executive order to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Feb. 12. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Texas sportscaster blasts homophobia in NFL

Thu, 13 Feb 2014 13:45:00 +0000

In a searing rebuff to pervasive anti-gay attitudes in professional football, Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen delivers a moving and insightful commentary on NFL-bound University of Missouri All-American defensive lineman Michael Sam, who came out publicly last weekend and will be the first openly gay professional football player.

In Dale Hansen's words:

It was quite a weekend.

That little dust-up in Lubbock Saturday night, and then on Sunday, Missouri's All-American defensive end Michael Sam - the SEC's defensive player of the year and expected to be a third to fifth-round pick in the NFL draft - tells the world he's gay.

The best defensive player in college football's best conference only a third to fifth round NFL pick? Really? That is shocking, and I guess that other thing is, too.

Michael Sam would be the first openly gay player in the NFL; says he knows there will be problems... and they've already started.

Several NFL officials are telling Sports Illustrated it will hurt him on draft day because a gay player wouldn't be welcome in an NFL locker room. It would be uncomfortable, because that's a man's world.

You beat a woman and drag her down a flight of stairs, pulling her hair out by the roots? You're the fourth guy taken in the NFL draft.

You kill people while driving drunk? That guy's welcome.

Players caught in hotel rooms with illegal drugs and prostitutes? We know they're welcome.

Players accused of rape and pay the woman to go away?

You lie to police trying to cover up a murder?

We're comfortable with that.

You love another man? Well, now you've gone too far!

It wasn't that long ago when we were being told that black players couldn't play in "our" games because it would be "uncomfortable." And even when they finally could, it took several more years before a black man played quarterback.

Because we weren't "comfortable" with that, either.

So many of the same people who used to make that argument (and the many who still do) are the same people who say government should stay out of our lives.

But then want government in our bedrooms.

I've never understood how they feel "comfortable" laying claim to both sides of that argument.

I'm not always comfortable when a man tells me he's gay; I don't understand his world.

But I do understand that he's part of mine.

Civil rights activist Audre Lord said: "It is not our differences that divide us. It's our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences."

We've always been able to recognize 'em. Some of us accept 'em.

And I want to believe that there will be a day when we do celebrate 'em.

I don't know if that day's here yet. I guess we're about to find out.

But when I listen to Michael Sam, I do think it's time to celebrate him now.

My patients suffer because GOP rejects Medicaid expansion

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 13:07:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS - The approximate cost of Medicaid expansion (part of the Affordable Care Act) and its larger impact remain widely debated. While it is common knowledge that Missouri did not participate in Medicaid expansion in 2013, it is less widely known how this decision impacts thousands of poor and working class Missourians. It can have life or death consequences.

In addition, in anticipation of the state's participation in Medicaid expansion, the federal government eliminated Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments, funds that ease the financial burden hospitals face when they care for uninsured patients. In Missouri, this has taken a heavy toll on those hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured patients.

Furthermore, when uninsured individuals are brought to the hospital they are screened for Medicaid eligibility. One question asked during this screening is: Will you be disabled for 13 months or longer? If the answer is "no" the patient does not qualify for Medicaid in Missouri.

Many patients and their families are impacted by this requirement. As a hospital social worker for trauma patients, I constantly see the emotional stress this causes.

Several months ago a young man was brought to the hospital following an assault. His primary family support was his mother - a single mother with two sons. She expressed how hard things were for her. She struggled to keep her family afloat.

Her employer did not offer time off, even though she had to care for her son. She had no one else to turn to. The young man was also working, but not full time and without health care benefits. The fact that he was expected to have a full recovery meant that he would not qualify for Medicaid coverage.

Earlier this year I worked with another young man who had been on his own since he was a teenager. He took great pride in being independent and in having a stable job. Tragically, he was shot one night while driving home from work. He suffered injuries to both femurs.

While he would recover, he would also need a lot of personal support when discharged, as he would be unable to put much weight on his legs. He told me he had no one to help him.

Obviously, he was at a high risk of returning to the hospital if he didn't have proper care after being discharged. He might push himself too hard and fall at home, and he had an incision on his abdomen that could get infected if not watched.

I called numerous facilities for support. Even a week of therapy and nursing care would speed his recovery, I argued. In the end, I was unable to provide him any additional support. As with the other young man, he did not qualify for Medicaid under Missouri's rules.

The DSH payments mentioned above do not support patients after they are discharged. So not only have these very important funds been eliminated due to Missouri Republicans' refusal to expand Medicaid, but patients - after being discharged - are increasingly being left to fend for themselves.

While uninsured people will be treated if they are admitted into a hospital, they have very limited options for aftercare. Expanding Medicaid would provide aftercare options such as inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing care, or in-home nursing care, options both of my patients could have benefited from.

The above are real-life instances of people falling through the holes in our health care system. Perhaps not every hole can be filled by Medicaid expansion, but it would have made a world of difference to these two young men - as well as thousands of other Missourians.

Rachel Cramsey has served as a hospital social worker for two years, working with trauma patients and their families, liver transplant candidates, and liver/bile duct/gall bladder patients. Her role is primarily to provide support in safe discharge planning. She currently lives in St. Louis but is originally from Quincy, Ill.

Photo: This July 2013 map indicates which states are expanding Medicaid coverage in 2014. Blue indicates states that are expanding Medicaid, red indicates states that are not, and gray indicates states that were still debating expansion as of July 1, 2013. Wikimedia Commons

Postal workers warn public about outsourcing deal with Staples

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 12:20:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. - Postal workers and their allies braved the cold and rain to hold a rally here outside of an east Orlando Staples store on Feb. 8. Their goal was to educate the public about the impact on the postal workers' jobs of a deal between the giant office supply chain and the United States Postal Service that has resulted in the opening of counters offering postal services at more than 80 Staples in four states.

"Outsourcing an essential public service to a for-profit corporation staffed with clerks making less than a livable wage and no accountability to the American public is completely irrational," said Steve Morris, president of American Postal Workers Union Local 1462, which represents 1,100 Postal Service employees in Central Florida.

"Not only does it jeopardize the safety and security of the U.S. mail system, but consumers are getting a bad deal, too," said Morris. The union points out that the Staples employees staffing the mail counters won't have the training and expertise required of career postal workers who must qualify for their assignments, pass a civil service exam to be hired, and take an oath to protect the U.S. mail.

"I'm here to lend support to the postal workers union," said Steve Wisniewski, president of Communications Workers of America Local 3108, which represents AT&T and Verizon workers in Central Florida. Offering postal services "in a non-union environment where workers don't have pensions, don't have quality health care, and they pay them a lot less is going to put a downward force on the postal workers' ability to stay" in the middle class, Wisniewski said.

Postal workers earned an average of $25.00 an hourin 2013, and have negotiated benefits such as health care. Non-managerial employees at Staples earn around $8-$9 an hour and often lack benefits. (Staples CEO Ronald L. Sargent was paid $6.5 million in 2012.)

Staples' policies limit part-time workers to less than 25 work hours per week so they don't qualify for the company-funded health plan, according to Fight for Florida. The AFL-CIO-backed group organizes Floridians against what it calls an "assault" on the middle class by Florida's right-wing Gov. Rick Scott and Republican-controlled Legislature.

While the 25 participants held signs that said "Stop Staples-the U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale"and chanted, a small delegation entered the store to deliver a letter to the company. After waiting 20 minutes for a manager to come out of his office, Morris left the letter on the customer service counter and the delegation left, disgusted by the company's apparent lack of interest in APWU's concerns.

Staples CEO Sargent also has refused to meet with APWU national president Mark Dimondstein.

In the letter, the union calls the arrangement between the company and the USPS "an attack on the character and integrity of what the U.S. mail stands for in our country. Post offices are pillars of our community."

"Hundreds of Post Offices, from the small offices to large Mail Processing Plants are at risk. This risk equates to thousands of good well-earned jobs," says the union. "By staffing your stores with non-trained employees, the security and sanctity of the U.S. mail is being exposed and [this] jeopardizes the 'most trusted agency' status of the USPS! Postal employees are sworn to protect the mail, whether the USPS employees are in your store delivering the full-service that our country has come to expect and deserve, or at your neighborhood Post Offices."

This deal is bad for consumers, says APWU, since they "will be paying the same prices for far less service if USPS employees are not in your store."

APWU says it "never has opposed expanding services to the American public, but we do oppose privatization that simply profits corporations! This deal is an attempt to profit Staples. Shuttering Post Offices and deducting Postal Retail office hours does not put the customer's interests first."

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe claimsthat the deal between Staples and the USPS is not a privatization ploy and that USPS is seeking "to grow our business to provide customer convenience to postal products."

Postal Service employees worry, however, that the arrangement with Staples will divert customers from post offices in the vicinity of the company's stores. This will, they say, lead to the eventual closure of those facilities and cost postal workers their jobs.

"My concern is that the Postal Service is giving our jobs [to employees] of Staples stores, and that's not right," said Juan Rincon, an Orlando-area USPS maintenance employee. "The [mail counters] should be run by actual employees who care about the mail and service."

Donahoe says that he would like to see postal service counters open in all of Staples' 1,600 U.S. stores "as soon as possible." Donahoe also has been dismissive of the postal workers' contention that the mail counters should be staffed by USPS employees, saying that who works at them "is Staples' business. They make their own business decision and it has nothing to do with us."

Photo: Ben Markeson/PW

The forgotten rebellion of the Black Seminole Nation

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 11:51:00 +0000

The Seminole Nation of Florida had one of the most amazing if not one of the most important alliances with freed African slaves. Many Native American Nations formed partnerships and deep relationships with African slaves. Both groups fought for freedom and the right to exist in peace, away from the colonizing forces trying to stomp them out. The rebellion of the Black Seminole nation is one of the most overlooked partnerships in Native American/African American History.

The Seminole Nation, during a period called the second Spanish period, formed a deep bond with the freed African Slaves of the coastal south, creating a mixed culture known today as Black Seminoles. In the 1680s, African slaves fled from English South Carolina to Spanish Florida seeking freedom. In 1693, King Charles II of Spain made an edict that escaped African slaves would receive freedom and protection from slave owners if they help defend the Spanish settlers at St. Augustine. Because of this partnership the freed slaves became a militia and they formed a settlement in 1738, the first legally sanctioned free African town in North America.

Because of the settlement the African slaves formed relations with the Seminole Nation. They began marrying and trading with one another, creating a new cultural identity that fused many aspects of their culture. However, even though there were some Native Seminoles and African slaves getting married and having children, the majority of Black Seminoles were not Native. The U.S. Army coined the term "Black Seminole," but this did not stop the two groups from working with each other.

One of the things that bound the history of these two groups is both faced utter and complete obliteration. The Seminole Wars began after the American Revolution. With the U.S. slave owners winning the revolution against England, space was opened up within which other issues could be addressed, particularly issues concerning free African slaves living alongside Native Americans in Spanish Florida.

When England lost the war, they ceded to the new U.S. east and west Florida. In the 1790s, all of the freed slaves living in east or west Florida were forced back into slavery. Then there was a break in the United States effort to destroy the Black settlements.

After the War of 1812, however, General Andrew Jackson made destroying these settlements a top priority. The Native and Black communities moved to south and central Florida.

In 1820, when Spain lost the rest of Florida to the United States, many of the Black Seminoles understood that is was dangerous to remain there. In 1821, many slaves and Black Seminoles escaped to Cape Florida and the Bahamas. During this exodus many Black Seminoles were killed or taken back into slavery.

The height of this story happens during the Second Seminole War, which began in 1835. The tension between the United States and the Seminole Nation was at a high point and this was also the biggest moment for the African-Seminole alliance. In 1830, Jackson, the anti-Seminole general, was now president and he signed into law the horrific Indian Removal Act, which forced the removal of more than 4,000 Native Seminole people along with 800-plus Black Seminole allies. The Black Seminoles understood that if their Native allies were to be removed they would be forced back into slavery. So they joined forces with the militant Seminole leader Osceola. After the rebellion broke out, many Black Seminole leaders, such as John Caesar, Abraham, and John Horse, played a key role in fighting against the U.S. Army.

They recruited African slaves on plantations to fight. From the winter of 1835 to the summer of 1836 Black Seminoles, escaped slaves and Native peoples were fighting alongside one another, destroying sugar plantations and killing U.S. soldiers.

The United States government started to panic. What could be done to stop this increasingly growing and increasingly successful alliance? They came up with a plan to turn the Black Seminoles against the Native Seminoles by promising them that if they turned against their Native allies they would be granted freedom.

Very few Black Seminole took this offer. The Black Seminole alliance fought alongside the Seminole Nation until the bitter end. In 1838, over 500 Black Seminoles joined the Seminole Nation on the Trail of Tears. Many Natives, Black Natives, and Black Seminoles died on the trail. Some made it to Oklahoma, other Black Seminoles that didn't go on the Trail of Tears fled to Mexico.

We must remember the struggles that bind us together. The story of how the Black Seminoles fought and died for freedom is something we are still fighting for today.

Photo: U.S. Marine Corp painting depicts Marines searching for Seminoles among the Everglade mangroves during the 1835-42 war (Wikimedia).

The sun shone on massive North Carolina Moral March

Mon, 10 Feb 2014 16:34:00 +0000

RALEIGH, N.C. - Tens of thousands descended on the state Capitol here Saturday in a Moral March demanding equality for North Carolina's families, an end to voter suppression and cuts to unemployment benefits, a renewed commitment to women's rights and education and an end, in general, to right-wing extremism.

The march, organized by the NAACP, labor unions, and religious leaders, amounted to a dramatic comeback of the many Moral Monday protests that drew the attention of the nation here over the last year.

The city was abuzz the night before the Moral March there with services and preparations for the massive demonstration. I had a chance to sit down over North Carolina barbeque and speak with Ned and Betsy Kennsington of Durham

They said the march was their first demonstration since the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s. And that they were here because they have seen the far right go off the deep end, with its control of both houses and governorship of North Carolina.

The Kennsingtons, who have a daughter who is an organizer with Unite Here (the hospitality workers' union) in Connecticut, say its no accident that the right wing has gotten so powerful, because North Carolina is "the least (union) organized state in the nation."

Unless there is a massive mobilization of progressive forces, the say, the right wing remains in a strong position, particularly because state legislative district lines have been gerrymandered. "The way the law is drawn up, district lines will not be changed until 2020," explained Betsy.

North Carolina is also feeling the effects of the recent repeal of section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Progressives note that the repeal will empower far-right extremists to propose even more repeals and policies that make it still harder to vote. According to Rev. William Barber, chair of the North Carolina NAACP, with this repeal the North Carolina Republicans have passed laws making it harder to vote than in any other state - including South Carolina and Alabama.

North Carolinians are not new to struggles for justice. In 1960, in Greensboro, North Carolina, four black university freshmen refused to move and sit in the part of the diner that was designated for "colored people". It began with four students and grew to twenty. Amidst Jim Crow and lynchings, North Carolina stood firm - so firm, in fact, that in 2008 Barack Obama, the nation's first black president carried the state.

Now, here we are, in Raleigh for the Moral March of 2014, people are coming together of every shade, "making a beautiful mosaic of people of "all ages from carriage to cane," as one marcher from New York put it.

The signs were as varied as the people themselves. Signs that speak of a woman's right to choose, legalizing medicinal marijuana, saving our public schools, fighting to raise the minimum wage, the right to organize unions, stopping voter suppression, and even "no cuts to the movie industry of Wilmington" were all in evidence. "We ain't going back," was a common theme of the demonstration.

Monica Lewis, 50, who was there with her church and her two kids, said, "I see communities taking a stand because no one should go hungry, no one should go without health care, and no one should be living in poverty. Working people living in poverty doesn't make sense."

Tre Murphy, 18, was there with the National Alliance for Education Justice. "The way I see it," he said, "education is the civil rights issue of our present day and age. Anything that has to do with jobs has to do with education. Education is at the root cause in disparities of racial inequality across the nation."

Currently, bills are being proposed that hurt students and teachers of low income communities, and that penalize these communities for being poor while rewarding others for being rich.

Britney Jordan, an 18-year-old fast food worker in Durham said, "$7.25 really doesn't help pay the bills and if you're tired of working hard for people that are getting rich off us, join the movement for higher pay. Together we're stronger. It makes a difference."

Many young workers said they were there for their children. One father, a Bojangles worker carrying his son on his shoulders, said Obama's proposal of $10.10 really isn't enough, "but it will help and if we could get more help it would be a lot better for other families."

Together, they and the many thousands of others marched to the state house, chanting and singing. People were mixed in a way that must have created some kind of bond - atheists were standing next to theists, blacks were marching next to whites.

At the end, Rev. Barber gave a rousing speech, drawing up a five-point plan.

After the speech, the many thousands assembled, tears streaming down many of their faces, sang 'We Shall Overcome.' Almost prophetically - during the very last verse - the sun broke through the clouds.

Photo: NAACP North Carolina Facebook page.