People Before Profit blog

Youth march and African American History Celebration inspire struggle

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 14:54:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Chants rang through the Dwight neighborhood attracting honks of support and thumbs up as the New Elm City Dream and Young Communist League lead a lively youth march Feb. 22 shouting "Hands Up, Hoodies Up, Jobs for Youth, Jobs for All."

The 100 youth and adult allies were joined by Zenobia Thompson, social justice activist from St. Louis, Missouri. She was visiting to share experiences from Ferguson during the African-American History Month celebration that followed.

Before the march, participants gathered at the Peoples Center to make a "peace pledge," writing the name of a loved one lost to violence, or a message of peace, on a red felt cut-out heart. Marchers pinned their red hearts to their coats.

"We may not be a large group, but we are powerful," said Jacqueline Marks, a ninth grader at Co-op High School. "One can move one hundred and one hundred can move a thousand, we are youth who are wanting to make change in our city."

Jordan King, an eighth grader at New Haven's Edgewood School, announced that the youth groups had collected 389 youth jobs petition signatures going door-to-door during the summer months. "The issue of jobs is important to us because jobs will give us better opportunities," said King.

High school junior Alexandra Marks spoke about how police brutality relates to other forms of violence. "Young people in our community should not be afraid of police or of other violence. We are sick and tired of living in a society where (violence) is allowed."

Jennifer Graham, also in the 11th grade, explained that re-opening community centers is central to curbing the violence. "If the Q House (community center) hadn't shut down, Dixwell would be a peaceful neighborhood," said Graham.

It was the first time some of the youth organized a march. They spoke with confidence and clarity.

A large colorful banner created in partnership with the New Haven Free Artists featured the words "Equality, Peace, Justice, Hope, Love, Change." Also marching were the LGBTQ rights group Youth Kickback, the Bereavement Care Network which supports families who have lost loved ones to violence, union members and several elected officials.

The march stopped for a moment of silence at Kensington Street, where many shootings have occurred and then continued back to the Peoples Center. Thompson adapted a union chant and everyone joined in shouting "We've got the power, what kind of power? Youth power!"

Back inside from the cold and snowy streets, drumming by Brian Jarawa Gray and friends opened the 41st annual People's World African-American History Month Celebration on the theme "Indict the System, Life Matters for All, Let us Breathe and Grow."

Four prize-winning poems, essays and artwork were presented by their authors to loud applause, culminating the annual High School Arts and Writing Competition "How do we achieve justice for all?"

Guest speaker, Zenobia Thompson, a retired nurse, board member of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and member of Jobs with Justice, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Organization for Black Struggle, inspired the audience with her experience in the fight to save Homer G. Phillips Hospital where she worked. This was one of the only hospitals where African Americans could be trained as doctors at the time. When she got a phone call warning her that communists were involved she replied, "Well the communists aren't trying to close my hospital, are they?" That got her curious. She learned more, joined and is now a member of the National Committee of the Communist Party, USA.

St. Louis, Thompson explained, is a historically segregated city. Ferguson itself is currently a seventy percent black population, with fifty police officers, only two of whom are African American. The entrenched racism in the court system in Missouri has distorted not only the outcome of Darren Wilson's case, but also has vastly increased the number of people facing the death penalty in the state. "We are going to surpass Texas soon with our numbers of people on death row in Missouri," said Thompson, shaking her head.

The murder of Michael Brown and the lies that the right wing promoted afterwards have angered many in Thompson's community. She explained, "I live just about five or ten minutes from Ferguson. Many people, especially the youth, have been very upset, understandably so." Michael Brown's mother, through tears after his death, told the community, "you have no idea what it took for me just to get him to graduate from high school," said Thompson. Brown was to have begun college the week following his murder.

Thompson said that the labor movement had contributed largely to the efforts to address police brutality in Ferguson. One of the unions paid a $15,000 electric bill for a facility where protesters had gathered for shelter and comfort in the weeks following August 9^th. The local painters union is setting up a job-training center in Ferguson, where community members can become prepared for jobs that earn up to $35.00 per hour.

Thompson closed with an inspiring message to stay in the struggle and stay joyful in the movement. She told the young people in the crowd that she hoped they could learn and carry on the history of pushing for justice.

A large surprise birthday cake with the words "Life Matters for All, Happy Birthday Zenobia!" ended the program with a standing ovation and song.

The unity of people of all ages that gathered for the march and the celebration gave a sense of hope that such celebrations and the struggle for equality will continue on.

Photo: PW

Today in African American history: African Burial Ground National Monument

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 14:39:00 +0000

On this date in 2006, President George W. Bush signed a proclamation declaring a seven-acre plot at the corners of Duane and Elk streets in Lower Manhattan to be a national monument. For a century, beginning in the 1690s, this land served as a cemetery for both free and enslaved Africans. It is believed to be the resting place of more than 15,000 people.

At that time the cemetery was situated outside the boundaries of the settlement of New Amsterdam (now New York). Lost and forgotten because of centuries of development and landfill, this old burial ground was discovered by construction workers during excavation for a federal office building only as late as 1991. The remains of 419 people recovered at that time provided extensive insight into the lives of some of the earliest African settlers in America.

The African Burial Ground National Monument was called "the most important historic urban archeological project in the United States,"highlighting the forgotten history of African slaves in colonial and federal New York City. By the time of the American Revolution, they constituted nearly a quarter of the population in the city. New York had the second-largest number of slaves in the nation after Charleston, South Carolina. Scholars and African American civic activists joined to publicize the importance of the site and lobby for its preservation. In 1993 the site was designated a National Historic Landmark and in 2006 a National Monument.

The memorial was dedicated in 2007 and included several commissioned pieces of public art. A visitor center opened in 2010 to provide interpretation of the site and African American history in New York.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

NY Mayor de Blasio addresses the State of the City

Thu, 26 Feb 2015 12:33:00 +0000

NEW YORK - Mayor Bill de Blasio opened his State of the City address with a commitment to maintaining a city that is inclusive and affordable. He then laid out his vision, which leaned heavily on housing. "In total, we pledge to preserve or construct nearly 200,000 units of affordable housing - enough to house between 400,000 and 500,000 New Yorkers-to help working people by literally putting a roof over their heads."

The plan would put into motion 80,000 new units that would be affordable to average wage earners.

The mayor's address went on to highlight other achievements but returned to the theme of affordable housing, sighting the high cost of living as a danger to the city's essence: Some "46 percent of our city's residents live at or near the poverty line" he said.

A challenge to the administration is securing a percentage of affordable units that is higher than 20 percent. For example, comparing the Queens Sunnyside Yards project (some 200 acres), to Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan the mayor would like to see Queens development boast the same number of affordable apartments, approximately 11,000, which housing advocates say is inadequate considering the land mass. Stuyvesant Town itself has become unaffordable to due to hedge fund machinations.

Some housing advocates were not happy with the mayor's housing plan. They sighted the example of the 421 tax abatement system which gives developers a short-term 100 percent tax abatement (an end to the 421-a tax abatement) and zoning laws that allow developers to build larger and larger apartment buildings at taxpayer expense e.g., inclusionary zoning which pushes out long-term tenants as the rents climb and the neighborhoods become unaffordable to working-class families.

Tenant advocates say that given the broad opportunity developers have to build luxury housing and charge market rents (80 percent of new units) the administration can and should negotiate at least 30 percent to 40 percent of those units to the median income of the community. Advocates have suggested that developers open their books to show cause as to why this allocation of units would not allow them continue to turn a handsome profit.

"Mayor de Blasio's plan for building or preserving 200,000 affordable housing units is not enough to make a dent in the number of New Yorkers seeking affordable housing. Last year, tenants won 2,500 new apartments through 41 lotteries that drew a total of 1.5 million applications," write Mireya Navarro-The New York Times.

A large question then, is, can the mayor's vision of an inclusive, affordable city be maintained without federal partnership e.g., Mitchell-Lama type housing.

Kathryn Wylde, president of business group Partnership for New York, said, "Affordable building in the Koch era only worked thanks to "robust public-private partnership," and argued that collaboration was even more important today. However, tenants say this "partnership" is based on old and lopsided agreements that favor developers.

There were many other highlights in the Mayor's address e.g., ending stop-and-frisk, and perhaps his signature achievement, full-day pre-K for more than 50,000 children.

Crime is at an all-time low and New York's police commissioner, William Bratton, is putting back into place community policing something that Mayor David Dinkins had pushed during his administration.

Mayor de Blasio complimented the hard work of police officers - EMS workers and all public employees who protect the safety of all New Yorkers.

Sweeping reforms are being made at the Department of Corrections including an end to punitive segregation for adolescents in city jails.

With the help of the City Council, the mayor is pushing to raise the minimum wage to $13 an hour and indexing it to the cost of living; this is big - if Albany can be moved.

Quoting Mayor Fiorello La Guardia de Blasio said, "A mayor who can not look 50 or 70 years ahead is not worthy of being in City Hall. We must lay the foundation now for the strength and stability of New York's future a future of greater equality and opportunity."

To listen to Mayor de Blasio's full address go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AyzXv_eshE

Photo: Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers the 2015 State of the City address at Baruch College. Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office.

Chicago “Mayor 1%” Rahm Emanuel forced into runoff

Thu, 26 Feb 2015 10:16:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Money can buy Rahm Emanuel a lot of things but it couldn't buy him love - at least not from the voters here in the Feb. 24 primary race for mayor. Emanuel failed to capture a majority of the vote Tuesday in his bid for a second term, an embarrassment for the former White House chief of staff who now faces a runoff against Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.

Despite widespread support from business leaders, national name recognition, millions of dollars in campaign funds and a last-minute boost from President Obama, Emanuel fell short of the more than 50 percent necessary to avoid an Apr. 7 runoff against Garcia, a former alderman and state senator. With nearly all the votes counted, Emanuel had 45 percent, Garcia 34 percent, and the three other candidates divided the rest.

Dubbed "Mayor 1%" for his brazen pro-corporate agenda, focus on downtown development at the expense of neighborhoods and bullying demeanor, Emanuel earned the ire of teachers, parents and students when he forced the teachers union to strike in 2012, followed by closing more than 50 schools in 2013, most of them in African American neighborhoods. Emanuel's approval ratings plummeted after that.

Joyce Rodgers, who is retired, said she believed the school closings cost Emanuel the trust of the African-American community - and possibly the president's. "There is total disappointment (in Emanuel)," she said. "I believe that Obama's been let down, too, he's just not going to say it."

In stark contrast, Garcia billed himself as the "neighborhood guy" and reminded voters that he was an early and staunch ally of the beloved Harold Washington, the city's first Black mayor. Born in Mexico and raised in Chicago, Garcia decided to run after being asked by Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, who had been considering a mayoral bid herself before being diagnosed with a brain tumor. Garcia's narrative soon became a variation on the "tale of two cities" theme: downtown developers and giant corporations leech off taxpayers while poor and working-class communities suffer.

In a jubilant election night speech, Garcia said, "Today we the people have spoken. Not the people with the money and the power and the connections; not the giant corporations, the big money special interests, the hedge funds and Hollywood celebrities who've poured tens of millions of dollars into the mayor's campaign. They've had their say for too long.

"But today, the rest of us had something to say! The bus drivers, train operators, police officers and emergency responders, students, health care workers, retirees, block club leaders, community organizers, teachers, working moms and working dads, the people who make this great city great - we have something to say.

"We have something to say to all those big corporations and special interests who've spent all those millions to install their own Mayor: We want a change," he said. (Read the full speech here: http://www.ctunet.com/blog/speech-jesus-chuy-garcia-primary-night or watch here: http://abc7chicago.com/politics/video-jesus-chuy-garcias-full-election-night-remarks-/533439/.)

Garcia slammed the mayor for cutting schools and police while giving millions to corporate cronies, and for his inability to curb the gun violence plaguing the city, forcing many families to leave the city for the suburbs.

Quoting civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, Garcia said, "We're sick and tired of being sick and tired. We are going to build a new Chicago. A Chicago that works for everyone. A Chicago that people want to move to, not run away from."

Voter frustration with Emanuel's policies trickled down to the aldermanic races where many of the mayor's allies were forced into runoffs by independent progressive candidates, including three teacher union activists. The CTU has been a major political force in the mayoral and numerous aldermanic races, mobilizing volunteers and other resources necessary for any grassroots campaign, and pushing for an elected school board, an advisory measure on Tuesday's ballot, which voters approved overwhelmingly.

In the 33rd ward, Deb Mell, a former state representative who was appointed by the mayor in mid-2013 to replace her father, Dick Mell, a longtime council power broker and unabashed defender of political patronage who is now a City Hall lobbyist, fell just short of winning the election outright with 49.7 percent, to 35 percent for high school teacher Tim Meegan and 16 percent for nonprofit consultant Annisa Wanat. Meegan ran on a program that called for a $15 an hour minimum wage, end to privatization of schools and other public assets and services and investing tax dollars into neighborhoods instead of subsidizing downtown corporate development. Mell received significant backing from the mayor's political action committee, Chicago Forward.

"It's possible that a regular guy can take on the machine and beat it," said Meegan, in a speech following the run-off announcement. "This isn't just a campaign. It's a movement."

In the 10th ward, CTU member Sue Sadlowski Garza will be heading into a run-off with incumbent John Pope.

"We pushed back against the machine. We pushed back against corporate America," said Garza.

The third candidate of the CTU trio, Tara Stamps, will face 37th ward incumbent Emma Mitts. Stamps, a public school elementary teacher on the West side, ran on a platform that included a moratorium on school closings and a $15 minimum wage.

The run-off elections are set for Apr. 7.

Also of note was the overwhelming victory of 26-year-old progressive Carlos Rosa over mayoral ally Rey Colón in the 35th ward. Rosa will become first openly gay Latino alderman in Chicago history and was endorsed by the CTU.

Teresa Albano contributed to this story.

Photo: Jesus "Chuy" Garcia waves to his supporters at an election night celebration, Feb. 24, in Chicago (via Jesus "Chuy" Garcia/Facebook)

Today in African American history: Muhammad Ali the champ!

Wed, 25 Feb 2015 13:08:00 +0000

On this date in 1964, the 22-year-old, Louisville, Ky.-born Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in a stunning upset. At the height of his athletic career Ali was well known for both his fighting ability and personal style. His most famous saying was "I am the greatest!" Ali is the only fighter to win the heavyweight fighting title three separate times - 1964, 1974, and 1978. He defended his title nine times.

Among the most recognized athletes of all time, Muhammad Ali was crowned "Sportsman of the Century" by Sports Illustrated magazine, and "Sports Personality of the Century" by the BBC. He explained his boxing style in a phrase that has caught on and found use in many parallel situations: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." He was known not only forhis skills in the ring: He also triumphantly proclaimed transcendent values of religious freedom, racial justice, and principle over expedience.

Ali joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name, formally converting to Islam in 1975. Three years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War. In a quote that made him a hero to North American people of color, he stated publicly that "No Vietcong ever called me n****r." He amplified his remarks, saying, "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?"

The U.S. government declined to recognize him as a conscientious objector, however, because he declared that he would fight in a war if directed to do so by Allah or his messenger (Elijah Muhammad). He was arrested and found guilty by an all-white jury on draft evasion charges and stripped of his boxing title. He did not fight again for nearly four years, losing a time of peak performance in an athlete's career. But on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971. As an objector to the war Ali became an icon for the antiwar movement and the counterculture generation of the 1960s and 70s.

Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1984, Ali has been in gradually declining health ever since. Eager to seek out the company of a world-class athlete and hero to billions of people around the world, U.S. presidents invited him to the White House. On November 9, 2005, President George W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Editor's Note: The headline on this story has been edited.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

Today in people's history: 1199 opposes the Vietnam War

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 16:11:00 +0000

Fifty years ago, on this day in 1965, District 1199 Health Care Workers became the first labor union in the United States to formally oppose the Vietnam War. This preceded by almost two months the first national March on Washington against the war in April, organized by Students for a Democratic Society.

1199 is a local union now of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), but was at that time under the auspices of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). With a membership of 360,000 it claims to be the largest local union in the world.

Local 1199 was founded in 1932 as a local of the Drug, Hospital, and Health Care Employees Union by Leon J. Davis to organize pharmacists in New York City. The local also included pharmacy clerks and "soda jerks." The union led pioneering demonstrations and strikes against racial segregation and racially discriminatory hiring in Harlem and elsewhere in New York City during the 1930s.

The House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Local 1199's leadership in 1948 for "Communist infiltration." Expelled from the CIO in the late 1940s, 1199 found shelter with RWDSU.

Local 1199 first successfully organized nonprofessional hospital workers in 1958, mobilizing the industry's heavily Black and Puerto Rican workforce. A 1959 strike against seven large private hospitals in New York City involved about 3500 hospital workers and lasted 46 days, leading eventually to collective bargaining rights under the state's labor relations act. In 1965 Local 1199 began representing workers throughout New York State, and within a few years had begun to organize nurses.

Martin Luther King, Jr., who by the mid-1960s had already begun linking the civil rights struggle at home with U.S. imperial policy in Vietnam and elsewhere, famously described 1199 as "my favorite union." His widow Coretta Scott King became the honorary chair of 1199's organizing campaigns as it sought to expand outside of New York City beginning in the late 1960s.

District 1199's declared opposition to the Vietnam War can be traced to its historically progressive leadership since the union's beginnings. With its growth into one of the foremost unions comprising a majority membership of people of color from the 1960s on, it became a powerful union voice against war, and for the redirection of U.S. resources toward peaceful, domestic purposes. As much as pro-war politicians and the corporate media tried to drive a wedge between student activists and blue-collar workers, District 1199's position on the war proved that the labor movement was capable of seeing through government propaganda. In time, other unions would follow in opposing the war.

On May 7, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford formally declared an end to the "Vietnam era."

Photo: Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking at 1199.

Today in African American history: Birthday of W.E.B. DuBois

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 14:16:00 +0000

One of the greatest scholars, thinkers and activists for African American liberation was born on this date in 1868 in Great Barrington, Mass. "The cost of liberty," he wrote in 1909, "is less than the price of repression."

William Edward Burghardt DuBois received two B.A. degrees - from Fisk University in 1888 and from Harvard in 1890 - and he was the first African American, in 1895, to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. He was a professor of economics and history at Atlanta University, 1896-1910. From 1910-32 he edited The Crisis, magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which he helped to found in 1909. After 1932 he returned to Atlanta as professor of sociology. He served as editor of the Atlanta University "Studies of the Negro Problem" from 1897-1911.

DuBois rose to national prominence as the leader of the Niagara Movement, a group of African American activists who wanted equal rights for blacks. DuBois and his supporters opposed the Atlanta Compromise, an agreement crafted by Booker T. Washington of the Tuskegee Institute, which provided that Southern blacks would submit to white political rule, while Southern whites guaranteed that blacks would receive basic educational and economic opportunities. Instead, DuBois insisted on full civil rights and increased political representation, and believed that African Americans needed access to advanced education to develop the community's leadership.

Racism was the main target of DuBois's work. He strongly protested against lynching, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in education and employment. His cause included people of color everywhere, particularly Africans and Asians. He was a proponent of Pan-Africanism and helped organize several Pan-African Congresses to fight for independence of the African colonies from European powers.

Anti-capitalist, peace activist, communist

DuBois believed that capitalism was a primary cause of racism, and he sympathized with socialist causes throughout his life. He was an ardent peace activist and advocated nuclear disarmament. In 1950 he became chair of the newly created Peace Information Center (PIC), which worked to publicize the Stockholm Peace Appeal in the U.S. The appeal set out to gather signatures on a petition to governments around the world to ban all nuclear weapons. The U.S. Justice Department alleged that the PIC was acting as a foreign agent, and thus required the PIC to register with the government. Du Bois and other PIC leaders refused, and were indicted for failure to register. Some of Du Bois's associates, notably in the NAACP, refused to support him, although many labor figures and leftists, including Langston Hughes, did. After a trial in 1951, with defense attorney Vito Marcantonio arguing the case, the case was dismissed. Nevertheless, the government confiscated Du Bois's passport and withheld it for eight years, until the Supreme Court decided that it was unconstitutional for the State Department to deny a passport to a U.S. citizen for political reasons. DuBois was unable to attend the 1955 Bandung conference in Indonesia, a meeting of 29 nations from Africa and Asia, many recently independent, representing most of the world's people of color.

In 1958, Du Bois regained his passport, and with his second wife, Shirley Graham DuBois, he traveled around the world, visiting both Russia and China, where, at the age of 90, he was celebrated with great honor.

In 1961 the Supreme Court upheld the 1950 McCarran Act, a key piece of McCarthyism legislation which required communists to register with the government. To demonstrate his outrage, DuBois, now 93, joined the Communist Party USA in October 1961. He wrote: "I believe in communism. I mean by communism, a planned way of life in the production of wealth and work designed for building a state whose object is the highest welfare of its people and not merely the profit of a part.

Death in Africa

While visiting Ghana in 1960, DuBois entertained the idea of creating a new encyclopedia of the African diaspora, the Encyclopedia Africana. In early 1961, Ghana notified him that they had appropriated funds to support the project, and invited him to come to Ghana and manage the project. In October of that year, DuBois and his wife moved there to commence work. When in early 1963 the U.S. refused to renew his passport, he made the symbolic gesture of becoming a citizen of Ghana.

His health declined during his two years in Ghana, and he died on August 27, 1963, in the capital of Accra, at age 95. He was buried in Accra near his home, which is now the DuBois Memorial Centre. A day after his death, at the March on Washington, speaker Roy Wilkins asked the hundreds of thousands of marchers to honor DuBois with a moment of silence.

Among DuBois's major works are The Souls of Black Folk, John Brown, The Negro, Darkwater, and Black Reconstruction in America.

Schools, libraries and cultural centers are named in honor of W.E.B. DuBois. In 1992, the United States Postal Service issued a 29-cent stamp to honor DuBois, an open member of the Communist Party.

Photo: DuBois at around the age of 50. | Wikipedia (CC)

Texans rally for marriage equality

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 13:02:00 +0000

AUSTIN, Texas - Religious leaders from all over Texas rallied for gender equality on the north steps of the Texas Capitol on Feb. 17. The Unitarians seemed to have the most signs, but many others, including Baptists, Methodists, and Episcopalians were also represented, according to Equality Texas organizer Daniel Williams. He also said that marriage equality has union support, particularly from the Communications Workers, in the state.

The procession of ministers who spoke were strongly and completely behind the federal judge who ruled, that same day, that Texas' ban on same-gender marriage was unconstitutional. Texas can be counted as one in a long line of states with unconstitutional homophobic laws. Unfortunately, Austin's county probate judge refused to begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples until further appeals are settled.

The crowd of about 100 was enthusiastic. They didn't just come to rally and to sing, they also spent the day inside the Capitol to lobby their legislators.

Photo: Matt Slocum/AP

Sen. Blumenthal, immigrant families call to overturn Texas court decision

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 14:52:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Vowing not to be deterred by the Texas federal court ruling which temporarily stopped implementation of President Obama's immigration directives, families being hurt and their advocates gathered in New Haven City Hall to tell their stories to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and lay out ideas for an action plan.

They told of increasing concerns in the community that dreams will be put on hold once again, and that lives would be endangered if a different president rescinds the directives. The consensus was that the larger the number of people who apply, the harder it will be to invalidate the program.

Clinics to assist those eligible to apply for the Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are going forward throughout Connecticut, and Blumenthal promised to come by to offer support and allay fears.

"The more people who apply, the more difficult it will be to undo the directives from the President," he said. "The laws and facts are on our side...the hearts, minds and children of families are the ones who will be hurt."

Blumenthal, a lead proponent in the U.S. Senate to stop needless deportations separating families and in support of comprehensive immigration reform, issued a call to President Obama just after the November elections to take immediate executive action for relief, at a crowded press conference also held at New Haven City Hall.

"It is very clear that the Republicans don't want us here because of the color of our skin," said one father, a factory worker in this country for 12 years, surrounded by his wife and children.

"The children are not at fault, they are U.S. citizens and have the right to be here and to live with their parents. I will fight this," he told Blumenthal, "because this is something that came out of racism."

Calling the ruling "misguided both legally and factually," Blumenthal said it is "deeply flawed and should be immediately overturned."

The Texas Attorney General, joined by more than 20 states, filed the request to block implementation on the grounds that the President "overstepped his Constitutional authority." The Department of Justice is preparing to appeal the decision.

In response to the roundtable discussion, Blumenthal said he would urge that the Department of Justice file an emergency stay on the ruling so implementation can go forward without delay. He also agreed to oppose the attempt to hold hostage the normalization of five million immigrant lives to Department of Homeland Security funding.

At the state level, under the leadership of the Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance (CIRA), a grassroots push is also underway for passage of a bill by the state legislature which would improve the Trust Act and separate federal immigration from local law enforcement with a consistent policy statewide. If passed it would be the strongest in the nation, a tribute to years of grassroots organizing.

In addition to the families affected, organizations at the roundtable included the director of Immigrant Rights and Racial Justice at the Center for Community Change, Unidad Latina en Acción, JUNTA for Progressive Action, the Hispanic Federation, and CT Students for a Dream.

Photo: Sen. Blumenthal with immigrant families opposing federal court decision that halted President Obama's immigration directives. | Sen. Blumenthal

Spanish language media condemns GOP attempt to block Obama's immigration action

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 10:55:00 +0000

WASHINGTON, D.C. - While the next steps of the judicial and legislative battle over the new immigration policies initiated by executive action are less than clear, what is already certain is that Spanish language media reaction is so strong that it should give pause to Republicans celebrating Judge Hanen's poorly-reasoned and politicized decision to stop undocumented immigrants from applying for long overdue relief.

After Judge Hanen's ruling, Univision's nightly news co-anchor Jorge Ramos tweeted, "The Texas decision clearly defines who is against immigrants in the U.S. Latino voters will remember; 2016 is not that far away."

Meanwhile, the nation's largest Spanish language daily newspaper, La Opinión, blasts Judge Hanen's ruling and Republicans' anti-immigrant obsession in a new editorial titled, "Indignation, Lest We Forget":

"Republicans celebrate while the immigrant community feels utter disillusionment.

A Texas judge ruled in favor of 26 states led by the GOP, opening the door to deportation for hundreds of thousands of 'Dreamers' and preventing millions of parents living in this country from working without fear of being expelled.

This is a triumph for those who believe that exploiting and deporting undocumented people is a priority. We cannot ignore the fact that this represents a defeat in the debate on presidential power. Aside from humiliating President Obama, the ruling destroys the future of millions of people.

This is a victory for those who think -- based on fear, stereotypes and ignorance, -- that legalizing the status of undocumented people will drain the U.S. treasury. They think the same way California ex-governor Pete Wilson did 20 years ago. They will also suffer the same backlash.

This court decision has emboldened the Republican majority. The ruling would normally give a rest to the Department of Homeland Security's budget dispute, since it allows Republicans to break out of the current gridlock by leaving that decision in the hands of judges. On the contrary, today more than ever they are set on tying the fate of the budget to the elimination of executive actions.

This is the time for Latino voters to take a look around them and see who is celebrating this ruling, who denounces it and who looks the other way. There is no middle ground here or room for benevolent interpretations.

The human reality cannot be hidden behind supposed legal excuses. Republican legislators and governors are the reason there will be more people deported, and that 'Dreamers' who have integrated to society to contribute with their labor are once again on the brink of expulsion.

The impact of this verdict is temporary, as there is still much to resolve, but the indignation it has provoked and the animosity against those who promoted it and are now celebrating will remain for a long time. We cannot forget those soulless and ignorant people who believe that they are doing the country a favor by destroying working families."

Multiple polls have found that approximately 90 percent of Latino voters back President Obama's immigration executive action. The reason? Immigration is a defining and personal issue for many Latino voters in America. As Ramos explained recently:

"If Republicans had their way, more than four million undocumented immigrants would lose the protections President Barack Obama granted through an executive order in November. They would face deportation again. Latinos have no choice but to take this personally...

...What Republicans don't understand is that for us, the immigration issue is the most pressing symbolically and emotionally, and the stance a politician takes on this defines whether he is with us or against us. For us, this is not abstract: Half of all Hispanics (older than 18) are immigrants. We ask Republicans about immigration because they are the ones blocking immigration reform in Congress and because it's an unresolved issue.

Republicans seem not to have learned anything from their electoral defeat in 2012. Their own post-election analysis stated that, 'If Hispanics think that we do not want them here, they will close their ears to our policies.' That's absolutely right.

They are now setting themselves up to lose the 2016 presidential election - it's not possible to win the White House without the Latino vote."

Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Memorial for 3 Muslim students calls for end to hate, ignorance

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 10:14:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Calls for unity to end hate and bigotry in all forms echoed throughout Northeastern Illinois University's memorial here Feb. 17 for the three slain Muslim students slain in Chapel Hill, N.C. last week. Vigils and tributes across the country are being organized for newlyweds Yusor Mohammed Abu Salha, 21 and her husband Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and Yusor's sister, Razan Mohammad Abu Salha, 19, who were killed Feb. 10 by a neighbor, a white male identified as Craig Hicks, 46. Hicks has since been arrested on three counts of murder, however in dispute is his motivation: was it hate and Islamophobia or a dispute over parking without any bias?

Local law enforcement officials say they are investigating possible hate crime charges. A federal investigation was announced after Muslim and civil rights groups demanded more scrutiny be brought to the case. The disturbing murders seem to represent a watershed moment for U.S. Muslims, and for the country's long-standing need to confront what has been a pervasive and growing anti-Muslim bigotry that also affects people of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African descent regardless of religion.

The victims' families, and many other people, question the parking scenario. The only people Hicks killed were Muslim, although he reportedly had had other altercations with neighbors about the issue.

Student and faculty speakers at the memorial connected the crimes to hate and intolerance. "It saddens my soul. It's heartbreaking that it took so many murders to recognize Islamophobia," said Meriem Benrahmani of the university's Muslim Student Association. Wearing a headscarf, also called a hijab, she said that before the Chapel Hill murders she lived safely and comfortably in the United States. "Now I wonder," she said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Frank Ross said the global community has witnessed outrageous acts of hate and this memorial is a way to "stand in solidarity to confront Islamophobia, to end bias and hatred."

Many speakers identified themselves with Yusor, Deah, and Razan in multiple ways: as Americans, as students, as Muslims, as young people just starting their adult lives, as human beings.

"Yusor, Razan, and Deah were college students working for their degrees just like you and I. They are remembered for their community service, selflessness, kind interactions with family and friends, and their short-lived marriage," said Amani Abutaleb, a social work major and student aide.

"The Chapel Hill shooting was unacceptable and unjust," Abutaleb said. "Such incidents should never occur with any religion or race or how one chooses to look or dress. All lives matter and as a college student and worker here at Northeastern, I am hurting inside because this could have been any of us."

Perhaps the saddest words uttered during the event, held at the university's Alumni Hall, were Abutaleb's when she said Yusor and Deah "did not even get to see their own wedding photographs."

In a poignant slideshow, two of those wedding photographs were projected onto large screens, along with other family photos which showed these three vibrant young people on the beach, the basketball court and dance floor, radiating a contagious enthusiasm for life.

Mateo Farzaneh, assistant professor of history, sketched with bold outlines the "root cause of every loss of precious lives - ignorance and greed." While remembering Yusor, Deah and Razan, Farzaneh said, other victims of ignorance and hate should be remembered too, including Matthew Shephard, James Byrd Jr., who paid the ultimate price for being different, and Dr. Prabhjot Singh, a Sikh man beaten brutally in New York in 2013.

Continuing the grim list, he added, the 21 Coptic Egyptians "slaughtered like sheep in Libya" last week, the killings in Denmark also last week, and the rape and burning of a Turkish student.

"Let us not forget," he said, the Native Americans, the Jews, Roma, and Poles in concentration camps, those who jumped out of the tall buildings on Sept. 11, those who were defecated on in Abu Ghraib, the young victims in Norway, the Kurdish women, Charlie Hebdo.

But even with such hateful acts, he said, "we have to be hopeful."

Quoting historian Howard Zinn, he said:

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacriﬁce, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places - and there are so many - where people have behaved magniﬁcently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an inﬁnite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in deﬁance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

The audience then rose for a moment of silence.

Photo: Chris Seward/AP

Trumka: Injunction against Obama’s immigration action a temporary setback

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:56:00 +0000

(AP) - A federal judge in Texas Monday temporarily blocked President Obama's November executive action on immigration. The judge's action threatens immigration relief for as many as four million people. The Obama administration will appeal the ruling. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued the following statement.

This temporary setback will not deter the AFL-CIO's work on the ground to ensure that as many workers as possible are eventually able to gain protections and work authorization under the new deferred action programs. Around the country, we will continue educating workers, training union activists and helping eligible applicants gather the documents they will need to qualify.

This lawsuit represents a misguided effort to use a false economic basis to block the immigration relief that millions of hardworking, longtime members of our community deserve. The executive actions on immigration will in fact increase earnings, grow the tax base, strengthen the economy and further the public interest, as states like Washington, California, Illinois and New York have explained to the court. The AFL-CIO supports the Department of Justice's decision to file an appeal, and we trust that higher courts will undo this wrong.

The path to justice often includes obstacles. We will not give up the fight until Congresses passes comprehensive immigration reform with a clear pathway to citizenship so that all workers in this country will have the ability to assert their rights on the job and in their communities. In the meantime, this ruling will further strengthen the resolve of a resilient community that is a vital part of our labor movement. We know that an organized community is a stronger community, and that together we will rise.

Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP

“Let us breathe and grow”: 41st African American History celebrations

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:12:00 +0000

The 41st Annual People's World African American History Month Celebrations in Hartford and New Haven, Conn., will feature remarks by guest speaker Zenobia Thompson, long-time social justice activist in St. Louis, Mo., on the theme "Indict the System - Life Matters for All - Let Us Breathe and Grow."

A youth march will be held prior to the New Haven program.

Thompson, a retired nurse, serves as a board member of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty and participates with Jobs with Justice, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Organization for Black Struggle. She is a recipient of the Martin Luther King Award for leading the struggle to save Homer G. Phillips Hospital, and serves on the National Committee of the Communist Party USA.

She will address the situation of police violence in Ferguson, near where she lives, and the struggle to overcome structural and institutional racism in our country.

The first program will be held in Hartford on Saturday evening, Feb. 21 at 6:30 pm at the King-Davis Labor Center, 77 Huyshope Ave., including dinner and remarks by Thompson.

The events on Sunday, Feb. 22 in New Haven will be held at the Peoples Center, 37 Howe Street. "Hands Up, Hoodies Up, Jobs for Youth, Jobs for All!" is the theme of the New Elm City Dream and the New Haven YCL march at 1:30 pm to be followed by a celebration at 4:00 pm.

The march will honor the lives of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and all others lost to racist violence, and will build support for a growing movement for jobs in New Haven. The youth have asked the community to "come out and support the loved ones we've lost and the changes we are going to make."

The 4:00 pm celebration includes remarks by Zenobia Thompson, drumming by Brian Jarawa Gray and presentations of prizes for poems, essays and artwork in the High School Arts and Writing Competition. Students were asked to present on the theme "How Do We Achieve Justice for All?" highlighting the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act and recent police killings of black youth across the country.

A call to action will be issued at both events in support of legislation introduced this month by Rep. John Conyers, who became the first African American Dean of the House on Jan. 1. The bills are HR 885 the Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2015, which will restore and strengthen protections stripped out by the Supreme Court last year, and HR 429 the Grand Jury Reform Act of 2015, which will strengthen the Justice Department's ability to investigate allegations of police brutality.

The events kick off the 2015 People's World Fund Drive in Connecticut. All contributions will be appreciated. A donation at the door of $5 or what you can afford is requested at both events which offer a homemade buffet.

Photo: http://www.iaohra.org/

A lynching in New Orleans

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 11:39:00 +0000

I spent the years 1966-1971 in New Orleans, attending graduate school at Tulane University and organizing the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapter there. It was the height of the movement against the Vietnam War. We had a city-wide chapter of SDS comprised mostly of non-students called Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS), which published a monthly newsletter called The Midnight Special.

All kinds of magazines and newsletters arrived in our MDS mailbox from abroad - China, Cuba, the Soviet Bloc countries, and from various fraternal movements. Even though the U.S. was bombing the smithereens out of Vietnam, it was not an officially declared war, so I suppose that's why mail continued to come from there as well.

One time a pamphlet from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam came through, which was Ho Chi Minh's memoir of his early political education and activism when Indochina was still a French colony. As a young man Ho served in the merchant marine and traveled the world. He wrote that around 1919 his ship stopped in New Orleans, and he noticed from the local morning newspaper (the States-Item, perhaps?) that later that afternoon there would be a lynching of a Black man in a public square, to which everyone was invited. I couldn't believe it! I mean, it might have been one thing if the paper had reported an event that had occurred the previous day, but to announce it in advance and basically say, "Y'all come on down!" was simply not credible to me,

Being right there in New Orleans, I had the resources readily accessible to prove him wrong. I hopped on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar down to the main library where I could look at a microfiche of the newspaper of the date Ho had cited.

Damned if he wasn't perfectly right, date and all! Clearly he had clipped this article and kept it among his papers as reference for a future memoir that he might compose some day. He stated exactly what the newspaper said. I was shocked, and it offered me a powerful lesson in the history of our country reading about it approximately 50 years later. How recent these events! How deeply seared in living human memory!

Ho Chi Minh died in 1969, while the war was still in progress, although the end of it in 1975, prolonged mercilessly though it was, could already be seen. The announcement of his death reminded me that he had taught me something sobering and disturbing about my own country. I imagined I might well be walking the streets of New Orleans with people who could have witnessed that lynching half a century before. It gave me further resolve to continue doing all I could to bring those sorry chapters to a close.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

Today in African-American history: Honoring Robert Robinson Taylor

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:34:00 +0000

Today is not Robert Robinson Taylor's birthday: That is June 8, 1868. But we choose this date to honor him because last week, on February 12, 2015, in Washington, D.C., the United States Postal Service issued the 38^th and latest in its series of Black Heritage stamps, and the subject is Taylor. This first class forever stamp is available in post offices now.

Taylor was the first academically trained black architect in the U.S. and the first black graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Born in Wilmington, N.C., Robert Robinson Taylor came from a middle-class family. His father, Henry, was the son of a white slave owner and a Black mother. The elder Taylor had been allowed to go into business for himself before the Civil War, building cargo ships for trade routes between the United States, the Caribbean and South America. He also built commercial and residential edifices.

Young Taylor trained in his father's building trade business and was admitted to MIT in 1888. He graduated in 1892, and almost immediately went to work as an architect and educator at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which had been founded by Booker T. Washington. Taylor served as Washington's second-in-command at the school. He stayed there until he retired in 1935, with only one interregnum from 1899 to 1902, when he worked on his own and for the architectural firm of Charles W. Hopkinson in Cleveland. Taylor designed most of the buildings built before 1932 at Tuskegee, including the original chapel and the library.

Washington wanted Taylor to develop the industrial program at Tuskegee alongside the construction of new buildings. Taylor's first building project on the campus was the Science Hall (Thrasher Hall) completed in 1893, and constructed entirely by students, using bricks made also by students under Taylor's supervision. The project epitomized Washington's philosophy of instilling in Tuskegee students, the descendants of former slaves, the value and dignity of labor, and of mastering practical trades. Tuskegee graduates were meant to provide an example to the world of African-American capabilities.

Taylor also designed buildings in various other states. He collapsed and died at the age of 74 in 1942 while attending services in the Tuskegee chapel that he considered his outstanding achievement as an architect. He was buried at the Pine Forest Cemetery in Wilmington, N. C.

The Robert Taylor Homes housing project in Chicago was named after his son, also an architect, civic leader, and former Chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority. Robert Robinson Taylor is, coincidentally, the great-grandfather of Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama.

Photo: Stamp, USPS.

Florida lawmaker backing raise-the-wage ballot initiative

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:13:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. - U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., wants Floridians to vote in November 2016 on a constitutional amendment to raise the state's minimum wage to $12.50 an hour initially-which would be the highest among the states-with increases in it tied to the inflation rate.

The campaign to gather 683,000 signatures to place the measure on the ballot will begin "no later" than April, Hastings told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Feb. 15. It would need 60 percent of the vote to pass.

Hastings, the newspaper reports, "has already started testing the waters, outlining his plan earlier this month at a Democratic gathering in Coral Springs and referencing 'my work to raise the minimum wage'" in a recent fund-raising e-mail.

"I believe if you can get momentum going, it will take on a life of its own," said Hastings, whose heavily-Democratic district encompasses Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The $12.50 an hour is just a "starting point," said Hastings, adding that he isn't seeking $15 an hour because that would make the opposition "go bonkers."

Florida's minimum wage increased to $8.05 an hour ($5.03 for tipped workers) on Jan.1-a whopping 12 cents more than the previous year. Over half the states in the U.S. have minimum wages that are higher than the federal rate of $7.25 an hour (last raised in 2009).

Hastings also has supported raising the federal wage to $10.10 an hour, an idea proposed by President Obama and supported mostly by Democrats.

"A full-time minimum wage worker earns only $15,080 a year, making it nearly impossible to support a family and save for the future," Hastings noted in a statement released last October on National Minimum Wage Day. "Raising the national minimum wage to $10.10 would return it to close to its 1960s inflation-adjusted value and permit millions of additional workers to independently support their families."

As wages and benefits have stagnated, raising pay through the ballot box has gained favor with voters. Four Republican-leaning states-Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota-approved measures last November that brought their minimum wages up to $8.50 to $9.75 an hour, depending on the state.

A Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters in January, 2014 found that 73 percent were in favor of raising the minimum wage although they were not asked to specify the amount of the increase. Support came from all political sectors, ranging from more than 90 percent among Democrats and 74 percent among independent and third-party voters, to 53 percent among Republicans.

Hastings' proposal would replace the minimum wage amendment to Florida's constitution that voters approved in 2004. That measure created a minimum wage of $6.15 an hour ($1 higher than the federal rate in effect at that time), indexed to the federal Consumer Price Index.

It was backed by a coalition of labor unions and progressive groups, including the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the National Education Association and Moveon.org. Seventy-one percent of voters supported the 2004 measure although big business interests-including Publix Supermarkets, Outback, the Florida Restaurant Association, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Burger King and Walt Disney-spent more than $4 million trying to defeat it.

While this was a setback for big business, they have, in recent years, been able to stymie other measures to improve wages, benefits and worker protections. These have included stopping enactment of a statewide wage-theft law and passing a law, in 2013, that bars Florida's counties and municipalities from mandating earned or paid sick time.

However, the factors that drove enthusiasm for the 2004 amendment have not abated. These include low wages, the lack of benefits, such as sick time, and the refusal of Florida's GOP-controlled legislature to expand Medicaid to aid more than a million Floridians who earn too little to qualify for health insurance subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

Florida's current minimum wage would have to be more than doubled to $16.98 an hour to be a "living wage" for a single person working full-time, according to a 2014 report by the Washington-based Alliance For a Just Society. For a household with two working adults and two children, Florida's minimum wage would need to be at least $20.18 to cover food, housing, utilities, transportation, child care and other necessities.

"Too many working families in Florida depend on poverty-level wages without access to sick leave, requiring cutting back on essentials, choosing whether to work while sick or lose earnings and possibly their job, and living with sky-high medical debt," noted the Alliance. "Working families need more support, including increased wages, to help ensure that full-time work ensures the ability to make ends meet."

Photo: Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

What's behind Republican attacks on Social Security?

Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:16:00 +0000

Last month Republican House members went after Social Security on their very first day at work. Some 11 million people who receive Social Security disability benefits could see their benefits cut by 20 percent in 2016 and cuts to Social Security retirement benefits for everyone could also be in store. Here's what some other folks have to say about that and other attacks Republicans may launch against Social Security.

The coalition Social Security Works says last month's action barring transfer of funds from the Social Security Retirement Trust Funds to the Social Security disability program-known as reallocation-unless taxes are raised or benefits are cut is "stealth attack on America's working families."

Like other stealth attacks against the American people's Social Security, the groundwork is being laid in advance. It will suddenly explode sometime in the next two years. The rule change would prohibit a simple reallocation! It will require more significant and complex changes to Social Security. In other words, the Republican rule will allow Social Security to be held hostage....Hostage-taking to force changes that the American people do not want to a vital program like Social Security is no way to run the United States of America.

Kathy Ruffing of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says:

"By barring the House from approving a "clean" reallocation in 2016, the rule will strengthen the hand of lawmakers who seek to attach harsh conditions (such as sharp cuts in eligibility or benefit amounts) to such a measure."

Max Richtman, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said:

"It is hard to believe that there is any purpose to this unprecedented change to House rules, other than to cut benefits for Americans who have worked hard all their lives, paid into Social Security and rely on their Social Security benefits, including Disability Insurance, in order to survive."

Richard Eskow of the Campaign for America's Future asks on Huffington Post, "Why are they doing this?"

Undoubtedly, one reason is to please campaign contributors. Wealthy individuals, like conservative billionaire hedge-funder Pete Peterson, are committed to gutting the program. Many defense contractors and Wall Street firms are involved in the campaign to cut Social Security through a group called 'Fix the Debt,' despite the fact that Social Security doesn't contribute to the federal debt. (Ironically, all of these firms have benefited greatly from public expenditures.) What's their motivation? Among other things, Social Security cuts would ensure that they're not asked to pay more in taxes.

And then there's this scary reminder from Eric Laursen at AlterNet, "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is now chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.

This makes him an even bigger force on Social Security policy than he was as Budget Committee chair, when he repeatedly called for hobbling the program....With Ryan heading up their response, the Republicans are more likely to insist on drastic changes to the entire program."

Looks like they've already started.

The above article appeared in the AFL-CIO Now Blog.

Ban on travel to Cuba still in place

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 15:29:00 +0000

When Presidents Obama of the United States and Raul Castro of Cuba announced the historic breakthrough in the relations between our two countries on Dec. 17, hopes were raised that the entire U.S. policy of blockading Cuba was now could end. Some steps needed to turn the policy around are now accomplished or underway.

The Cuban 5 are free, and difficult but promising negotiations have been going on in Havana about the restoration of full diplomatic relations. There is a high probability that Cuba's inclusion on the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism will be removed this year. This can be done by the administration with nothing more than a recommendation from the Executive Branch. The president has already expanded the categories of people authorized to travel to Cuba, and the amount of money that can be sent to relatives in the island.

However, the center of the U.S. anti-Cuba policy, namely legislative prohibitions on trade between the two countries and the galling restrictions put on travel to Cuba by U.S. citizens and residents, are still in place. Especially onerous is the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which stipulates that normal trade relations cannot be restored unless certain steps are taken: A new government must be formed according to U.S. stipulations, including the exclusion of Fidel and Raul Castro, and all U.S. citizens whose property was nationalized after the Cuban Revolution must have it restored or receive full compensation.

In fact, Cuba offered compensation for nationalized property of foreigners at the time of the Revolution, which was accepted by all countries except the United States. Helms-Burton added another aspect, namely that persons who were Cuban citizens at the time that their property was nationalized and have since become U.S. citizens must also be compensated or have their property restored. Cuba as a sovereign nation could never accept these things.

So the Helms Burton Act, the Toricelli Act, the Cuban Adjustment Act and other mainstays of the Cuba blockade, laws which do real economic damage to Cuba, require legislative action to be either repealed or amended. President Obama, on Dec. 17, called for action in Congress on this. Now, as a start, four bills have been introduced that aim to begin this process.

On Jan. 29, Senator Jeff Flake introduced S. 299, the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2015. This bill, which has been sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, stipulates the following, according to the Congressional Research Service:

* The President may not prohibit or otherwise regulate travel to or from Cuba by U.S. citizens or legal residents, or any of the transactions incidental to such travel, including banking transactions,

*Any regulation in effect of the enactment of this Act prohibiting or otherwise regulating such travel or transactions incident to such travel shall cease to have any force once effective,

* But the prohibitions and requirements of this act shall not apply if the United States is at war with Cuba, armed hostilities between the two countries are in progress, or if there is imminent danger to the public health or physical safety of U.S. travelers.

This bill has been sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It already has 14 co-sponsors, including four Republicans and 10 Democrats.

A companion bill, H.R. 664, was introduced in the House by Representative Sanford Mark, R-S.C. on Feb. 2. It already has 12 co-sponsors including three Republicans and nine Democrats. It has been sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

On Feb. 11, another bill designed to end restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Charles Rangel, D-NY. HR 634, the Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2015. It quickly accumulated 27 cosponsors, all Democrats. This bill does not deal with major issue of trade with Cuba, but rather makes sure that U.S. citizens and legal residents travelling to Cuba can legally bring their baggage in and out and can carry out normal transactions in Cuba that are incidental to their travel. This bill has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

On Feb. 12 a companion bill to H.R. 634 was introduced in the Senate by Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., with bipartisan support. It had not been assigned a number at writing.

The progress of all four bills, and more to come, can be followed on the U.S. Congress website.

In Congress, most opposition is likely to come from the Republicans, but there is also a small group of Democratic senators and congresspersons, led by U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who will join their Republican colleagues in fighting fiercely against any legislation to dismantle the Cuba blockade and the travel restrictions.

On Feb. 11, opponents of improved relations between Cuba and the United States published a full page ad in the U.S. press denouncing the change in U.S. policy. Among the 58 signatories include many heavyweights of Republican and right wing politics, including former Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America Elliot Abrams, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton, former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba James Cason, media impresario Steve Forbes, former State Department Director of Cuban Affairs Dennis Hays, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, former Senator Mel Martinez, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Otto Reich.

However, there are business interests in the United States which have been lobbying for the blockade to end so they can trade with Cuba. So even with the Republican majorities in House and Senate, this legislation can win as long as we do the legwork of informing the public and lobbying Congress.

Photo: Despite breakthroughs in U.S.-Cuba relations, restrictions on open trade and travel remain in place. | Lynne Sladky/AP

Today in African American history: Birthday of Eddie Robinson

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 12:27:00 +0000

Edward Gay Robinson (February 13, 1919 - April 3, 2007) was an outstanding American football coach. Born in Jackson, La., he is the second winningest coach in NCAA Division I history and third winningest coach overall. For 57 years, from 1941 to 1997, he was the head coach of the Tigers at Grambling State University, a historically black university in Grambling, La. Robinson is recognized by many college football experts as one of the greatest coaches in history.

During a period in college football history when black players were not allowed to play for major college programs, Robinson built Grambling State into a "small" college football powerhouse. In all, he sent more than 200 players to the NFL. He retired in 1997 with a record of 408 wins, 165 losses, and 15 ties. Robinson coached every single game from the field and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame upon his retirement in 1997. He died at Ruston, La.

Source: Wikipedia and Chase's Calendar of Events (2012)

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

Adjunct Prof. Leleua Loupe’s office: the trunk of her car

Thu, 12 Feb 2015 10:53:00 +0000

At the beginning of the semester," explains historian and lecturer Leleua Loupe, "students don't know history or understand the world around them. Some even get angry when I challenge what they believe. But by the end, they become aware of our history, of discrimination, and begin to understand what they themselves have experienced.

"I love every aspect of teaching," she continues. "The interaction with students, the research in my own field. I feel I'm contributing to creating a better world."

It's that love of her profession that keeps her going, despite the obstacles she faces. Hers is a familiar story - that of the freeway flyer. Today she teaches on just two campuses -- five classes a semester at Cal State Fullerton, and one class at Mount San Antonio College. But there have been years where it was three campuses, and even more classes.

In the hierarchy of academia, lecturer positions are sometimes described as stepping stones to eventual tenure, and lecturers themselves denigrated as less experienced or knowledgeable faculty. This clearly doesn't fit Loupe's professional profile. Growing up between Seattle and Honolulu, she started in community college in Hawaii, did archeological field work at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and then got bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees at the University of California in Riverside, in public history resource management. Since receiving her PhD in 2005 she's written books and many journal and encyclopedia articles, recorded oral histories, and presented papers "all over," she says.

That, however, didn't get her tenure. That's no surprise, given that institutions of higher education now employ far more non-tenured faculty than tenured. But in this environment it's also easy for discrimination to thrive. A decade ago Loupe started with a tenure track interview at Cal Poly Pomona. But her interviewer questioned her about her marriage and children. Instead of tenure, she got a one-year contract that wasn't renewed. "I didn't know about the CFA then," she says, "so when they wanted to get rid of me, I went quietly."

Loupe did then what most recent graduates do, and began picking up classes wherever she could get them. Every year she taught 3-5 at Cal State Fullerton, 2-3 at Mount San Antonio, and 2-3 at Rancho Santiago - a total of 7-9 per semester. At first she lived in Riverside. From there it's 30 miles to Mount San Antonio in Walnut, another 20 to Fullerton, and then 10 to Rancho Santiago in Orange.

Loupe was a single mom by the time she got her PhD, but her good fortune was that her mother, an artist and muralist, lived with her and her oldest daughter Alea. Loupe's family is Hawaiian, and many relatives have migrated to southern California. Alea was surrounded by aunts and uncles. "But my mom raised her because I was never home," she remembers. "She told Alea why I had to do what I was doing, and I made sure we got some quality time, but it was a big price to pay."

Putting together all the classes, she was making $2000-2500 a month, paying $550 rent on a two-bedroom apartment, and putting a lot of miles on a worn-out car. She and her partner then moved to Fullerton, and using her credit and his cash, were able to buy a house. Even with both incomes, however, her debts piled up, and eventually they lost the home to foreclosure and bankruptcy.

That was when the recession began. In the budget cuts she was reduced to one class each on two campuses. "For a year I was desperate. I still don't know how we survived," she shudders. But things got better, and eventually she got her classes back - a blessing and a curse.

The curse is living in the car. "I'm commuting sometimes eight hours a day," Loupe says. She's been rear-ended three times, spending three years in therapy after the last one. As an adjunct, she has no office of her own, sharing space and a copier at CSU Fullerton, but with nothing at the two community colleges. "I have to think ahead all the time, and constantly make lists of things to do, and when. I prepare for one campus at another, going to the cafeteria, or even Starbucks. I get home at 10 and then stay up til one."

Her actual office is the trunk of her car - full of books, office supplies, changes of clothes, water and her laptop.

Finally she found a partner who could understand and accept the crazy lifestyle, got married again, and had two more children. "I come from a large family, and I'm 39 now. So it was take the risk and have kids now or I'd never be able to. But," she says, "I have colleagues who aren't married and have no kids because they can't afford it. Some are still living at home with their parents." She herself now pays $1200-1600 a month for childcare, which would have been impossible when she was still single.

For the first few years of adjunct work she got tenure interviews every year, but never was offered the position. "I began to ask myself, 'Is it me?' Finally, after the worst abuses, I got in touch with CFA. That changed my life. Being a freeway flyer means instability and isolation. CFA gave me a sense of community."

When she got active, her chapter in Fullerton wasn't very responsive to lecturers, but with the efforts of Loupe and other adjuncts that began to change. The chapter established a lecturers' council, with a consistent membership of 4-5 people. The bylaws were changed to create a permanent position on the executive board for a lecturer, which she now holds, and other lecturers were elected local vice-president, secretary and board member.

"We have input now on campus policy on evaluations and appointments," she says. "We've gotten some pay raises and restructured the salary schedule, and there's more security in reappointment rights."

If only Loupe could get a tenured position she'd be able to envision a secure future. "When I began I had this idea of being a professional and having a career. Now I just have a job. I see people given tenure with less experience or publications, while some of the most talented faculty are still untenured. People say, 'you have to pay your dues,' or 'you're lucky to have a job.' But really, we should all have tenure, especially after teaching ten years. People should be lecturers only by choice, not because they're forced into making a living this way."

So, with no secure future in sight in California, Loupe is planning a return to her roots in Hawaii. "It's a huge risk - to take ten years to build up again what I have now," she worries. "But the way we're living isn't sustainable." She dreams of becoming active in the native Hawaiian homestead movement, helping people descended from the islands' original inhabitants not just to reclaim land but to reestablish community.

For Loupe, community is where it's at. "It's like what I found in CFA," she explains. "For the first time at work I felt that sense of community. We feel isolated so much of the time, and now instead we are colleagues cooperating for the common good, working towards a common goal."

Photo: Leleua Loupe. | David Bacon/PW