People Before Profit blog

In Johnstown, Pa., Democrats make case for “you’re hired” president

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 13:05:00 +0000

JOHNSTOWN, Penn. -- Along the Conemaugh River in this Western Pennsylvania city stands a proud holdout from a once thriving steel industry. Johnstown Wire Technologies, Inc. began operations in 1911 as the Johnstown Wire Mill, built by the Cambria Steel Company. On July 30, over a century later, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, made a visit to this unionized mill.

This proud city was a stop on the initial Clinton/Kaine bus tour following the Democratic National Convention. This tour is a crucial one for the campaign. The rust belt region has been hard hit in recent decades and many folks in these parts feel they have been left behind by the economic recovery.

Descendants of immigrants who arrived in Johnstown in the 19th century from places such as Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, and Poland can still watch the local short line, the Conemaugh & Black Lick Railroad, move railcars around the local plant. According to its website, Johnstown Wire Technologies is the largest independent "producer of value added carbon and alloy wire in North America." Those jobs of "adding value" are good-paying unionized work. The neighborhood surrounding this local mill is filled with churches, ethnic clubs, and modest houses, which once sheltered the hard working families who helped put Johnstown on the map. This is a region of dedicated folks who have endured three major floods and crippling economic downturns, but keep moving forward.

Not every story is as positive as Johnstown's wire mill. Throughout Western Pennsylvania are remnants of once bustling factories. With the loss of jobs has come the loss of population, which means less registered voters. Redistricting by political factions unsympathetic to unionized workers has also occurred following population shifts. These realities have transformed once thriving Democratic strongholds into the toss up category.

Clinton and Kaine shared with their plans to create more good paying jobs with the workers inside the plant. As Kaine took the podium, he thanked United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard for attending the rally. Kaine acknowledged the importance of public investment in infrastructure as a win-win for business and labor. He said, "We'll put workers first, we'll put their wages first, we'll put their families first ... and we need to do something that has a direct tie to Johnstown Wire's business which is invest in infrastructure."

As he introduced Clinton to the crowd, he said, "Johnstown, we've got a 'You're hired' president in Hillary Clinton!"

Clinton praised the local company where business and labor work together. She said, "We are visiting places that prove what Americans can do. We are the most productive, competitive workers in the world."

Clinton praised President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for their efforts to rescue the American economy following the Great Recession. Clinton forcefully said as the crowd applauded, "...over the opposition of the Republican Party, they saved the American auto industry which is a big customer of this plant."

Infrastructure is an important goal in the campaign platform and Clinton reiterated her plans to invest in bridges and highways. Clinton spoke of her support for a National Infrastructure Bank so investments can be made every year regardless of congressional whims.

Clinton also supports investments in manufacturing, pointing out a large order Johnstown Wire Technologies recently had for Bangladesh. She said she especially wants to create jobs in places that have been left out and left behind.

"Anyone willing to work hard should be able to find a job that pays well enough to support a family," she said.

A big round of applause came as Clinton announced, "We have to be serious in defending American workers. That means we've got to defend the right to organize and bargain collectively which helped to build the American middle class in the first place. That's why I love coming to plants like this that work, business and labor together."

Clinton compared this to her opponent Trump's practice of hiring union busting firms that break up attempts at organizing. She proclaimed her support of worker's unions, saying, "Right-to-Work is wrong for America!"

Clinton and Kaine will spend much time in Pennsylvania and Ohio during this campaign. Many towns in the region have endured difficult transitions in changing times.

Although cities like Johnstown have traditionally supported Democrats in the past, many of these voters' concerns go beyond economic issues. Changing social times have created difficult transitions too with some socially conservative voters, which seems to be a current that the Republican nominee has tapped into.

Clinton concluded, "I know that we've got to fight for every single vote and I'm ready to do that. That's why we're on this bus tour because we want you to know the differences. We want you to understand what we're proposing and why we think it will work."

Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP

Member-supported Workers’ Education Society registers St. Louis voters

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 11:18:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS -- African American community leaders Shuron Jones and Akeem Shannon have been knocking on doors day-in and day-out for months now.

Jones is the secretary of the Ward 15 Democrats. Shannon is a member of the Communications Workers' Union of America (CWA) Local 6300.

Both are members of the St. Louis Workers' Education Society (WES) and are currently staffing the WES Votes voter registration campaign.

With the Missouri August primaries right around the corner, WES is feeling optimistic about voter engagement and registration in the region it covers, which includes the communities in Wards 8, 9, 15 and 20.

Building local networks

As a 501(c)3 non-profit, WES cannot endorse candidates, but it can register and educate voters, which lead to the creation of the WES Votes campaign.

"Voter engagement and turnout is abysmally low in St. Louis, especially in working class, African American communities," Jones told the People's World.

"However," she added, "this isn't because people don't care. It's because they feel like no one listens."

"We are trying to challenge the cynicism. We are trying to register, educate and activate, while also building WES' base."

Undoubtedly, the Workers' Education Society wants to see higher turn-out in the up-coming August primary and November general election. But its goals aren't altruistic. WES also wants to build a network of community leaders who are ready to fight for working families in St. Louis, and to hold elected officials accountable.

In the two-short years since its founding and the purchase of its headquarters (at 2929 S. Jefferson Ave.), WES has built a robust and active network of community partners, collaborated with the Painters District Council 58 sponsored an Advanced Skills Workforce Center, grown to a membership of over 600, a monthly sustainer base of nearly 100 and has received on-going generous financial support from a number of unions - including IBEW Local 1439, SMART Local 36, Laborers' Local 110, SEIU Local 1, Painters' District Council 58 and the Operating Engineers' Local 148.

"The Workers' Education Society is unique in the non-profit world," WES secretary-treasurer Don Giljum said. "We are entirely self-sustaining. We receive absolutely no grant or foundation money. We are entirely funded by our members, sustainers, supporters and union allies - people and organizations who see a direct benefit from the work that we do."

A community-labor coalition

Giljum, the former business manager for Operating Engineers' (IUOE) Local 148, is no stranger to labor-community collaboration. He led Local 148 for 27 years, while helping to build a number of grassroots labor-community organizations like Jobs with Justice and the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care.

WES purchased its headquarters from IUOE 148 in September of 2014.

"People want to be a part of what we are doing because we are strategic, and have tactical, long-term plans for activism in our service communities," Niles Zee, a Ward 8 leader, said.

For example, last year WES helped increase voter turnout in Ward 20 by nearly fifty percent (compared to prior off-year ward elections). Cara Spencer, the new Alderwomen, has championed increasing the City minimum wage to $11 per-hour, fighting for workers' rights and reigning-in payday loan companies and their obscene interest rates.

Job training-and political education

"Voter engagement and registration is a central part of our mission," Zee added. "On-going adult worker-education is another part of our mission, which is partly why we've partnered with the Advanced Skills Workforce Center."

Last year the Painters' District Council 58 sponsored Advanced Skills Workforce Center (ASWC) was created. ASWC's goal is to specifically identify women and people of color from low-income communities for pre-apprenticeship training in the painting industry.

"Last year we graduated forty-five African American men out of our training program," Steve Wayland, director of business development for DC 58, said. "Nearly ninety percent of those graduates were placed with union contractors and are now members of the Painters' Union."

The ASWC program has graduated eight participants so-far this year. The summer program started in early July. On Tuesday's and Thursdays, WES facilitates labor history and political education classes with the ASWC participants.

"Part of our curriculum includes connecting union members to elected officials and candidates," Giljum said. "We want ASWC participants to have a direct link to the folks who represent them."

Labor-backed candidate Peter Merideth (80th District) and Bruce Franks (78th District) both addressed ASWC participants this spring as part of the WES Votes campaign.

Merideth, a life-long resident of the Shaw community, former neighborhood association president and lawyer, has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, as well as the St. Louis Central Labor Council, IBEW 1349, IUOE 148, the Painters' DC 58, Laborers 110 and Firefighters 73, among many others.

"Good paying, union jobs are the backbone of our communities. When unions are strong, our communities thrive," Merideth told the PW. "The Painters' and WES are confronting the challenge of unemployment, especially among African Americans, head-on. Their training program is a model that should be duplicated everywhere."

WES Votes will continue registering voters until the October deadline.

"We hope to dramatically increase voter registration and engagement in our concentration areas as we head into the August primary and November general election."

"To us, voter registration and engagement, political education, and union training classes are all connected," Jones continued. "They are all part of a larger effort to build workers' power here in St. Louis. We are trying to redefine labor-community worker-education for the long-haul."

"This is what non-traditional organizing looks like," Jones concluded, as she headed off to register more voters. "This is what democracy looks like."

Photo: WES organizer Adam Rosen talks with a community member named Val. | Workers Education Society

This week in history: Robert Carter III starts freeing his slaves

Mon, 01 Aug 2016 09:35:00 +0000

On August 1, 1791, 225 years ago, Virginia plantation owner Robert Carter III, scion of generations of slaveholders, announced that he would start to gradually manumit his slaves.

Although his great-grandfather had freed slaves in his will, and provided homesteads and livestock for them,manumission became illegal in 1732, the year Carter's father and grandfather died, and did not become legal again until 1783. Born in 1727 or '28, Carter came of legal age in 1749; by then he owned 6500 acres of land and 100 slaves.

Carter travelled to London, studied law at the Inner Temple, and returned to Virginia in 1751 before being admitted to the bar. He took up residence at Nomony Hall, in Williamsburg,and served in the Virginia courts and legislature.

In 1754, he married Frances Ann Tasker, daughter of former Maryland governor Benjamin Tasker.When Carter became a co-administrator of his father-in-law's estate, he delayed scheduling a sale of the slaves of Bel-Air plantation, since that would break up families, although his procrastination led to more than 18 years of litigation with his Tasker in-laws.Carter rarely whipped slaves, or allowed them to be whipped, although he did whip his own children.

Carter sold land and some slaves to pay his debts in 1758, but never purchased slaves (unlike George Washington and other neighbors), and in fact became known for his humane treatment. He had been influenced by the example of Governor Fauquier, who in his will allowed his slaves to choose their masters. His plantations had roughly double the rate of slave population increase as others in the state.

Carter concentrated his efforts on trade, including ironworks, a textile factory and a flour mill, in addition to draining swamps around Nomony and diversifying crops at all his plantations. Although publicly neutral, he honored the continental boycott against England declared in 1774. In 1777 he gave his loyalty to the new Commonwealth of Virginia and began supplying provisions and bayonets to the American cause in the Revolution.

Carter became known for his religious freethinking and support of dissenters even before the Revolution. His spiritual seeking led him to compose his own prayer for God to "have pity upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels & Hereticks," and he traveled to visit Quaker, Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist preachers. The noted Methodist missionary and anti-slavery activist Francis Asbury also lodged at Nomony Hall. Carter scandalized neighbors by joining Morattico Baptist Church, a mixed congregation of white and black, free and slave, which brought persecution and death threats upon him. Although he believed human slavery immoral, he passed on his convictions to his children with only partial success.

During the 1780s, even the Baptist Church began to segregate its meetings, and Morattico Baptist Church ruled that only free male members could vote. Carter responded by drafting a charter for a splinter congregation, Yeocomico Church, which required egalitarian voting, and signed the charter below the signatures of several slaves. In 1790, Carter wrote British Baptist elder John Rippon, "the toleration of slavery indicates very great depravity of mind."

After manumission became legal again in 1783, Carter began a personal program of gradually freeing the slaves on his many estates. He announced his plan on August 1, 1791, recording a Deed of Gift in Northumberland County on September 5th. Fifteen slaves would be freed each January 1st over a 21-year period. Slave children would be freed at age 18 for females and 21 for males. By February of 1793, he was ahead of his own planned schedule.

Carter designed the gradual program to reduce the opposition of slave-owning white neighbors, but they shunned him. Moreover, rather than relocating freed blacks, he began offering them wages, as well as grants and tenancies, sometimes dispossessing obstreperous white tenants on his land. Perhaps victimized by mob action such as tar-and-feathers, Carter and his daughters fled by ship with Negro George and Negro Betty to Baltimore on May 8th. He never returned.

The meetinghouse used for the Yeocomico Baptist Church burned down six months after Carter left; Carter had saved an unsigned complaint letter that compared the Deed of Gift to fire destroying neighbors' houses.

Living in Baltimore, Carter spent the last decade of his life issuing manumission papers pursuant to his recorded program, writing letters in support of freed slaves whose papers had been stolen, and contemplating religious and political issues. He lent money to Baltimore to build its city hall and donated money to Haitian refugees.

Citizen Robert Carter (as he preferred to be called) died in his sleep on March 10, 1804. His son and executor, George, brought the corpse back to Nomony and buried it in the garden. The same day that George announced his father's death, he bought new slaves for Nomony to replace those his father had freed. Over the son's objection, an 1808 decision from the Virginia Court of Appeals upheld the program of manumission of the slaves illegally held in bondage, and in the end Carter's became the largest release of slaves in North America prior to the Civil War. Within his lifetime he freed 452 slaves, and more following his death.

Adapted from Wikipedia and Chase's Calendar of Events.

Photo: Robert Carter III | Wikimedia (CC)

Rev. William Barber baptizes nation in revolutionary thought at DNC

Fri, 29 Jul 2016 14:44:00 +0000

PHILADELPHIA -- After three days of heavy hitting speakers such as First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Mothers of the Movement, and President Barack Obama, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) held here came to a close July 28 with Democratic Nominee Hillary Clinton delivering her acceptance speech. Clinton's highly anticipated and well-received speech would not be the only memorable moment of the night. For several electrifying minutes, the Reverend William Barber transformed the convention arena into a church of revolutionary thought.

The Rev. Barber, chair of the NAACP Political Action Committee, has been making headlines since 2013 when he led a coalition that launched North Carolina's Moral Mondays movement. Moral Mondays is a grassroots organization that uses strategies of civil disobedience and demonstrations to bring attention to voter suppression, social programs cuts, the repeal of North Carolina's anti-death penalty Racial Justice Act, women's reproductive rights restrictions, and other social justice issues across the country. His current project, Repairers of the Breach, aims to frame public policies based on a "progressive agenda rooted in a moral framework to counter the ultra-conservative constructs that try to dominate the public square."

Barber said his travel around the country and working with others on "the revival and calling for a revolution of values," he is concerned by those who "say so much about what God says so little, while saying so little about what God says so much."

Without using the Republican Party's presidential nominee's name, Barber said he was deeply "troubled" by those who cynically use their beliefs "to serve hate, fear, racism and greed."

Instead, the reverend urged a close listening of the Prophet Isaiah, who said what the Lord wants is for the nation "to pay people what they deserve, share your food with the hungry...Do this, and then your nation shall be called a repairer of the breach." (Story continues after video.)

Referencing Dorothy Day and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., he said the problem in America was a problem of the heart. Listing struggles such as: the fight for $15 and a union; combating voter suppression and defending the Voting Rights Act; guaranteeing universal health care; improving public education; defending rights of immigrants, and the LGBT community, fair trade policies, he said these struggles were reviving the "heart of our democracy," and these issues were not a matter of left or right but of right and wrong.

He said, "Our constitution calls us to commit our government to establish justice, to promote the general welfare, to provide for the common defense and to ensure domestic tranquility." He noted that however imperfectly "lived" that "vision" has been, it "ought to be the goal at the heart of our democracy."

"When we love the Jewish child and the Palestinian child, the Muslim and the Christian and the Hindu and the Buddhist and those who have no faith but they love this nation. We are reviving the heart of our democracy," he said to cheers.

Barber said "when we hear the legitimate discontent of Black Lives Matter" and take steps to "renew justice in our criminal justice system" it was a necessary part of "embracing our deepest moral values and reviving the heart of our democracy."

Barber took on violence and militarism as part of the revival of the democratic heart aand values. "When we fight for peace and when we resist the proliferation of military style weapons on our street. And when we stand against the anti-democratic stronghold of the NRA, we are reviving the heart of our democracy," he said.

The self proclaimed "theologically conservative liberal evangelical Biblicist" said to correct the heart problem in America, the people had to be the nation's "moral defibrillator."

"We must shock this nation with the power of love. We must shock this nation with the power of mercy. We must shock this nation and fight for justice for all. We can't give up on the heart of our democracy, not now, not ever," he said.

Recognizing the importance of Hillary Clinton's campaign and voice, Barber said no individual "can do it alone."

"Vote together. Organize together. Fight for the heart of this nation," Barber called out over the cheering crowd, which had rose to its feet, baptized in compassionate revolutionary values to galvanize them to the polls in November and beyond.

Photo: Rev. William Barber speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Hillary Clinton at DNC: America at a time of reckoning

Fri, 29 Jul 2016 11:24:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - Hillary Rodham Clinton walked onto the stage and into the history books at the Democratic National Convention here Thursday night, becoming the first woman to accept a major party's nomination for President of the United States.

Proclaiming to a 20,000-strong crowd at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center that "America once again faces a moment of reckoning," Clinton presented a program that contrasted sharply with the fear and division of Donald Trump's Republican campaign. "Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart," she said, referring to Trump. "Bonds of trust and respect are fraying."

Beating Trump, the former secretary of State said, will require a broad coalition of diverse groups and constituencies. That strategy, with its slogan of "Stronger Together," is a direct challenge to the one-man authoritarianism that was pitched at the RNC in Cleveland last week. Speaking to the nation, Clinton cautioned against Trump's false promises, "Don't believe anyone who says: I alone can fix it."

Her address acknowledged the historical importance of her candidacy to the struggle for equality, highlighted the breadth of the 2016 Democratic platform, and argued for unified action by all the forces for social progress heading into November and beyond.

Milestone for equality

Ninety-six years have passed since the women's suffrage movement won the struggle for the ballot. Now, just before the 19^th Amendment's centenary, a woman stands poised to win the highest office in the land.

From Victoria Woodhull, the first female presidential candidate in 1872, to Geraldine Ferraro, the first female to be nominated for vice president by a major party in 1984, there have been many women leaders and activists who prepared the way for Clinton's ascension to the top of the ticket.

In her speech, Clinton acknowledged the historic nature of her nomination, noting, "We've reached a milestone in our nation's march toward a more perfect union." She said that nominating a woman for president sets an example not just for women and girls, however, but also plays a role in setting expectations for men and boys. They develop appreciation and respect for women generally when more females take on leadership positions.

Stronger together

With a message of economic growth and broadly-shared prosperity, Clinton signaled an intention to build upon the accomplishments of the Obama Administration. Though she did not mention the Fight for $15 campaign by name, Clinton said that the minimum wage should be a living wage. Countering Trump's empty promise of reopening shuttered mines and mills, she also spoke specifically to working class Americans who have not seen the benefits of globalization and free trade trickle down to them.

"An awful lot of people feel there is less and less respect for the work they do. And less respect for them, period," Clinton said. "Democrats," she argued, "are the party of working people." She admitted, however, that the party has not "done a good enough job showing that we get what you're going through, and that we're going to do something about it."

Clinton addressed the need for reforming the role of big money in politics, saying that as president she would act to overturn Citizens United, via constitutional amendment if necessary. She also argued for a rebalancing of power in the economy, declaring, "Wall Street, corporations, and the super rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes."

The Democratic nominee reached out to the supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders, some of whom have expressed reluctanance about supporting her in the general election. She thanked Sanders for putting "economic and social justice issues front and center, where they belong."

Addressing his delegates in the hall, Clinton said, "Your cause is our cause. Our country needs your ideas, energy, and passion. That's the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America."

Calling for unity around the Democratic platform, widely seen as among the party's most progressive ever, she said, "We wrote it together - now let's go out there and make it happen together."

She also recognized the central issues of the Black Lives Matter movement and pledged to lead the charge on reforming the criminal justice system. She asked Americans to put themselves in the shoes of young black and Latino men and women "who face the effects of systemic racism, and are made to feel like their lives are disposable."

Hitting back against the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee planks of the Trump-GOP program, Clinton said that rather than building a border wall, the task was to instead "build an economy where everyone who wants a good-paying job can get one." She vowed to pursue comprehensive immigration reform and help open pathways to citizenship for undocumented people.

Trump's Islamophobia was roundly rejected in both Clinton's speech and in remarks earlier in the evening by the parents of Captain Humayun Khan, a young Muslim American man killed in the line of duty while serving in the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2004. "We will not ban a religion," Clinton declared.

She also indicted the recklessness and unpredictability which has characterized the Trump campaign as evidence that he could not be trusted with foreign policy issues. "Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis," she said. "A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."

And in a forceful rebuke to Trump's accusations that she is trying to "play the woman card" of identity politics in the election, Clinton told the nation, "We're going to help you balance family and work... If fighting for affordable child care and paid family leave is playing the "woman card," then Deal Me In!"

Clinton's solid embrace of her feminist credentials electrified the hall, bringing delegates to their feet. The impact of her speech in the arena was palpable, especially among women. Her nomination represented the achievement of a goal many have waited decades to see.

From the White House to the statehouses

Clinton made the case for the broadest possible coalition to secure a landslide victory against Trump. Securing any of the progressive components in the party platform will require not only keeping the White House out of Trump's hands, but also taking back the Senate, putting a dent in GOP rule in the House, and making gains in legislative and gubernatorial races across the nation.

With direct appeals to workers, women, African-Americans, Latinos, the LGBT community, and people with disabilities, coalition politics saturated Clinton's speech. Disaffected Republicans unwilling to be complicit with Trump's extremist agenda were also welcomed to join with these popular movements on Election Day.

The optimistic vision of the Clinton campaign, along with its multicultural, multiracial makeup presented a forward-looking embrace of the future. In Cleveland, by contrast, Trump was trying to sell a dystopian, pessimistic, and exclusionary outlook meant only to sow fear.

The two roads presented by these campaigns have placed a clear choice before American voters.

Photo: Wordpress

Progressive Dems hold climate panel, address barriers to change

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 23:42:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - Unofficially, it was the March for a Clean Energy Revolution that kicked off a week of marches coinciding with the Democratic National Convention. Over 10,000 people showed up to march in the streets and demand a renewable energy future.

Given the street heat surrounding the issue, what has prevented us as a society from committing to collective action? The Progressive Democrats of America held a panel about finding the courage to fight Climate Change.

Climate activist Russell Green, a former executive VP of Cheesecake Factory and Margaret Klein-Salamon, an Ivy League-educated former psychologist, facilitated the panel. These two found a way to dramatically reorient their lives, but are under no illusions that the average person can do the same.

"After Pearl Harbor," said Klein-Salamon, "the country unified around the fight because we realized that if we don't win, nothing else matters."

It's true. All hands were on deck after the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. But that attack took place over hours, not generations. As she then illustrated, human's aren't evolutionarily prepared for generation-long threats.

"We deny, we compartmentalize, we say, 'the climate crisis is happening, but what does that have to do with me,'" she said, "What happens when we take it in and let it change us... I've had a pretty good life, but it wouldn't be good for long if civilization collapses."

Klein-Saloman is the founder of Climate Action and is a believer that gradualism isn't enough.

"Gradualism is hegemonic in climate advocacy. Making sure we can cut emissions without harming business. Well, 50 percent emissions reduction by 2050 won't cut it."

The panel also explored the effect of art on opening people to the world of climate action. Xiuhtezcatl Martinez is a 16-years old "eco rap" artist who says he's been a fighter for the environment since he was six years old.

"To me, it's all about disconnection. Racism is disconnection from each other and the reason we let the world deteriorate is because we've lost our connection to the earth," said Martinez. "It's more than boots on the ground, its more than Bernie or Hillary, but about the world we'll leave the next generation."

Check out the performances by Xiuhtezcatl Martinez's here.

Josh Fox is an environmental filmmaker and the director of Gasland. He held the environmental movement accountable with a reminder of the intersectional realities.

Fox told the room, "The climate movement is too old and too white... I'm not saying we shouldn't work in our communities, but we need to talk about race, about breaking out of our silos because we can't afford to be careful.

"We have to reach out and be uncomfortable."

Fox's main issue is the issue of fracking, a banning of which did not make the final draft of the Democratic Party's platform.

Fox also pushed for practicality rather than idealism going into 2016 election saying, "It's not about Bernie or Hillary, but Bernie and Hillary... the Clinton campaign has to find a way to absorb the Sanders voters."

"We can't walk out," Fox said, "we have to walk in... we have to march in the street and have a thousand people walk out of the convention, then we need to go right back in."

Photo: Climate march in New York City. | John Minchillo/Climate Action Network (CC)

“How can we get 64 million low-wage workers to the polls?”

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 14:36:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - Poverty-income workers and their allies gathered in Philadelphia City Hall, July 27, to strategize on how to mobilize the 64 million workers who earn less than $15 an hour to go to the polls and elect a President, Senate, and House that will act to raise workers' wages next November 8.

Hector Figueroa, president of SEIU Local 32BJ welcomed the crowd, many of them delegates to the Democratic National Convention. "There are 64 million workers in the U.S,. who make less than $15 an hour," Figueroa said. "The typically low-wage service industry is growing rapidly while good-paying manufacturing and white-collar jobs are declining. This massive shift in the economy has given way to a new voting bloc: low-wage worker voters."

This voting bloc, he said, represents nearly one in four Americans "and will play a huge role in the coming election....the reality is that these 64 million workers----forty two percent of the workforce---are largely ignored, not seen as a voting bloc."

(SEIU) Local 32BJ sponsored the panel discussion just days after the union averted a walkout at the Philadelphia airport during the DNC.

Steve Rosenthal, SEIU's interim political director, projected on a screen data defining poverty-wage workers. "We see these workers everywhere in the economy," Rosenthal said. "They are disproportionately women, 55 percent of the total, and African American and Latino."

He cited North Carolina where two million workers toil at below $15 an hour. Yet 1.2 million of them are unregistered to vote. Republican, Mitt Romney won North Carolina in 2012 by only 92,004 votes.

Targeted engagement aimed at registering these low income workers to vote "could yield 105,000 votes," enough to tip the state for the Democrats in November, Rosenthal said. The Republican power structure "does everything they can to put up barriers, to make it tough for us," he said, such as eliminating same-day registration, early voting voter ID laws and other measures that make it easier to vote.

Vigorous grassroots campaigns on a range of issues such as the $15 minimum wage, he said, is key "to turning this situation around," convincing the unregistered that there is a good reason to register and vote, to oust the Republicans and elect candidates committed to raising the minimum wage.

SEIU Local 32BJ staged a sit-in of hundreds of Philadelphia Airport workers at one of the terminals July 14 to press the workers' demand for a $15 minimum wage.

The local had voted overwhelmingly to strike on the eve of the DNC, a stoppage that would have created a nightmare for DNC delegates and guests. A year ago, the workers, some earning just over the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, won coverage under Philadelphia's "living wage" law guaranteeing them at least $12 an hour.

Shakira Stewart, a Philadelphia Airport worker who led her 1,000 fellow workers in that struggle was a panelist. She was there with her two young children, Te'ray and Daryl. She explained that opening the eyes of the working poor to the possibility of winning is key to getting them registered to vote, getting them to the polls to vote in November.

"Our voices need to be heard. Last week we called off our strike because American Airlines decided to come to the table. We won a victory. Without the union we are nothing. We have no voice. I was not into politics until this fight. It is important for us to vote for candidates who will support us. The Republicans are not for us."

Shakira Stewart, herself, was the target of retribution for her leadership, her work schedule shifted, forcing her to find a babysitter or lose her job.

Former Philadelphia City Councilman Wilson Goode, author of the Philadelphia Living Wage law, and now a fulltime adviser to the City Council, was present at the news conference. He told the People's World the City Council at one point refused to approve a new multi-billion lease between the airlines and the city until they agreed to a "labor peace" side agreement that compels the airlines to recognize the "Living Wage" law and pay the workers at least $12 an hour.

Asked if the city could expand his living wage law to cover private-sector workers as well, Goode explained, "We are prohibited by state law from enacting a higher minimum wage for all workers. The State Constitution does not allow municipalities to enact high minimum wages."

He added, "The overall goal must be to get a $15 Federal minimum wage. That is part of the Democratic Party's platform. I think the $15 minimum wage is going to be instrumental." The movement for a higher minimum wage and Hillary Clinton herself "will use that plank in the platform to get low wage workers to the polls."

Photo: It started at the Liberty Bell and ended July 19 at the Philadelphia Airport. Low wage workers from all over the city stood side by side with airport workers demanding $15 and a union. SEIU activists are laying plans to mobilize a huge vote among low wage workers. | SEIU 32BJ Facebook page

Correction: In an earlier version of the story, SEIU Local 32BJ President Hector Figueroa's name was incorrect. We regret the error.

“Your voice is your vote”: DNC Black Caucus defends Black Lives Matter, Voting Rights Act

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 10:34:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

On the third day of the Democratic National Convention Black delegates from around the country came together to discuss the state of Black America and the need to get out the vote. The caucus met just weeks after shockwaves rippled throughout the country earlier this month as the nation bore witness to the police murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and the sniper shooting that killed five police officers during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas. The major themes of the meeting became clear as Black leaders took to the stage to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, voter suppression, and what was at stake for people of color in the the impending presidential election.

Speakers for the meeting included: the 82nd Attorney General of the Unites States, and the first African American to serve in the position, Eric Holder; CEO of the DNC Leah D. Daughtry; Mayor of Baltimore Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; DNC Chief of Staff Brandon Davis; and president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Cornell William Brooks. Former Attorney General Holder was also the caucus' honoree for the day.

Leah D. Daughtry came to the stage opening up the meeting with a short prayer and greetings before going into an explanation on the importance of voting in the upcoming election. Daughtry stated that there was a need to make a connection between "change and voting," and that voting "does matter." The CEO of the DNC went on to say that "people in communities who say it [voting] doesn't matter come from a place of privilege." She expounded on her statement by explaining that issues such as healthcare, unemployment, student loans , and affordable housing were all issues that greatly affected communities of color. "We [people of color] can't afford to stay home or sit it out. Your voice is your vote. We've got to keep the White House," Daughtry proclaimed.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake went on after Daughtry and echoed similar sentiments about the importance of voting. Blake stated that we have to "think about the young people. We do not want a country ruled by fear."

Chief of Staff for the DNC Brandon Davis outlined the goals of the Democratic party for the upcoming general elections. Referencing the Democratic party's platform Davis remarked that it was a "policy agenda that will work for Black people." Yet, David noted that it wasn't just the presidential election the Black community needed to get out the vote for but state and local elections as well. "We can not forget the nine battleground states. We have to win up and down the ticket. We have to expand our voter registration. All of this will matter in the long run. We need to govern for a generation."

Former Attorney General Eric Holder took to the podium expanding further on sentiments he expressed in his Tuesday night speech at the DNC convention proceedings. "The agenda for common sense gun control remains unfinished," Holder stated. "We need reasonable gun control in our nation. This affects our communities. Any candidate not for gun regulation is not a candidate that would get my vote," he went on. Referencing the tragedies at Sandy Hook and the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando Holder said, "95 percent of the population wanted it [gun control]. The Gun Lobby convinced Congress to vote a different way."

Focusing in on voter suppression Holder proclaimed that the "gutting of the Voting Rights Act was one of the worst decisions ever made," and that, "the Voting Rights Act was the gem of the Civil Rights Movement." Holder is referencing the 2012 Supreme Court decision that section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, the part where states having a history of the worst discriminatory practices against voters have to preclear their voting changes with the federal government, as unconstitutional. "Five members of the Supreme Court voted against the Voting Rights Act. This needs to change. Who is put on Supreme Court matters," Holder emphasized. "Can you imagine the guy from The Apprentice picking the next Supreme Court Justice," he said, in reference to Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump's history in reality television.

Holder also pushed for a need to support the Black Lives Matter movement. Comparing the emerging movement against police brutality against people of color to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, Holder explained, "I know these young people. They are committed, they are determined to be heard. They are in the best traditions of the Civil Rights movement. They are trying to move this country towards a place it ought to be, so you all [should] defend Black Lives Matters. And you all should defend that term because for too long in our history Black lives didn't matter."

NAACP president Cornell Brooks was one of the final speakers. He focused on the fight against voter suppression. Opening his speech Brooks reflected on Eleanor Roosevelt's famous speech at the Democratic Convention of 1940 in which the former First Lady stated, "This is no ordinary time." The NAACP president stated that this sentiment held true for today. "We find ourselves in a peculiar part in time as we are without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act since it was signed 50 years ago. This is not your parents' voter suppression," Brooks explained. "The right to vote is a civic sacrament. If you believe Black Lives Matter then you have to believe the Black vote matters," he concluded.

The caucus meeting was closed out by the commissioner of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Thomas Hicks, who urged delegates to do two major things going towards the presidential elections, "Check your registration and volunteer to be a poll worker... The best way to influence the election is to be inside of the election."

Photo: Members of the Black Caucus of the DNC including former Attorney General Eric Holder (second from left). | Chauncey K. Robinson/PW

Obama at DNC: Don’t fear the future, shape it together

Thu, 28 Jul 2016 09:31:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - In his final address as president of the United States before a Democratic National Convention, President Obama delivered a forceful message to the American people that the time had come to once again make history. Recalling his own election as the first African-American president nearly eight years ago, he encouraged maximum turnout to beat Donald Trump in November and make history again by putting the first woman into the White House.

Before thousands of delegates chanting "Yes We Can," Obama said that while much progress has been made during his presidency, there was still farther to go and that Hillary Clinton was the candidate to lead the progressive coalition forward.

Reminding listeners of the financial crisis and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that he inherited from George W. Bush, Obama said that while "a lot's happened over the years," he remained optimistic about the future of the country.

Yes we can, not yes he will

Obama spoke directly to disaffected Americans who feel that economic growth has left them behind. He offered a scathing critique of Trump's false promises of authoritarian prosperity.

He acknowledged the "real anxieties" that many have about paying their bills, protecting their children, and taking care of their parents. Acknowledging the concerns of many working class voters, he said, "There are pockets of America that never recovered from factory closures; men who took pride in hard work and providing for their families who now feel forgotten."

To those forgotten people, the President warned that the program of one-man rule offered by Trump and the GOP was a deception. "Does anyone really believe that a guy who's spent his 70 years on this Earth showing no regard for working people is suddenly going to be your champion? Your voice?

"We get frustrated with political gridlock, worry about racial divisions, are shocked by the madness of Orlando and Nice," he said, but the "deeply pessimistic vision" offered last week in Cleveland peddled only fear. Referring to Trump's nomination acceptance speech, Obama said, "There were no serious solutions to pressing problems - just the fanning of resentment, blame, anger, and hate."

The President's speech made clear that the path ahead will only be found through collective action and democratic participation. He exclaimed that no "self-declared savior" promising order has ever brought about progress. Capturing the essence of the contrasting visions of the progressive coalition and that of Trump, Obama declared, "America isn't about Yes He Will; it's about Yes We Can."

He insisted that stopping Trumpism has to go beyond just beating Trump. In a nod to Bernie Sanders' supporters, Obama said it was necessary to elect Democrats up and down the ticket "and then hold them accountable until they get the job done." He went further to add the need to not only vote "for a president, but for mayors and sheriffs and state's attorneys and state legislators," noting "that's where the criminal law is made."

The President was also "feeling the Bern," praising the activists of the Political Revolution as setting the pace for the fight against inequality and the role of big money in politics. He praised their organization and persistence as models for the whole progressive movement.

Keep moving forward

Though Republicans have acted to obstruct his agenda ever since they took control of Congress in the 2010 elections, Obama reminded Democrats in the hall and Americans viewing on television of the many victories achieved since 2008. The president made clear that although Trump may describe an America in ruins, his nightmare vision does not jive with the actual facts.

To note, under the Obama administration, economic disaster was averted after the financial crisis, millions of people gained health insurance with the Affordable Care Act, the war in Iraq was ended, nuclear proliferation in Iran was prevented, the Paris Climate Agreement was hammered out, and a new relationship with Cuba was initiated.

Defending those gains and building upon them requires the broadest possible alliance of Americans from "every party, every background, every faith...black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, young, old, gay, straight, men, women, and folks with disabilities." President Obama's speech calling out the many elements of the coalition presented a sharp contrast to the divisive message of the Trump fear-fest in Cleveland.

This mission of unity even extended a hand, however temporary, to some conservatives, like Michael Bloomberg, who are unwilling to follow Trump down his dark road. In his speech before convention delegates earlier in the evening, Bloomberg described Trump as a "dangerous demagogue" who has to be defeated. The former mayor of New York urged Americans to elect, "a sane, competent person."

It was a continuation of vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine's invitation to Republicans upset that the GOP "has moved too far away from the party of Lincoln."

Carry Hillary like you carried me

Obama closed out his address with an appeal to progressives to unite around the Democratic nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton. He expressed confidence that as he passes the baton and returns to private life, he was "leaving the Democratic Party in good hands."

Discussing how Clinton has been caricatured on both the right and the left for decades and has made some mistakes, Obama explained that's what happens when you spend "forty years trying to make a difference." His message to delegates was one of principled pragmatism.

Putting more justice in the justice system, fighting climate change, protecting "our kids and our cops" from gun violence - achieving these goals and many more require a landslide victory in November. It was unity and faith in the future that "gave women the courage to reach for the ballot and marchers to cross a bridge in Selma and workers to organize and fight for collective bargaining and better wages," the president explained.

Obama asked Democrats to do for Clinton what they did for him in 2008 and 2012: "Carry her the same way you carried me."

Obama's final call to voters in the hall and across the nation was to "reject cynicism and reject fear." He encouraged them to "summon what is best in us" and elect Hillary Clinton. Thousands cheered during the president's closing lines and moments later he was joined on stage by the nominee herself. The image of two presidents - one current, one future; one an African-American man and the other a white woman - was a powerful symbol of how far the nation has come since both 1865 and 1920.

Photo: President Obama and Hillary Clinton wave to the crowd during the third day of the DNC in Philadelphia. | John Locher/AP

Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders on the rise at Dem Convention

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:18:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - They may not always receive their due in the media or in film and television, but the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community is a group on the rise in the politics of this country. It is a community of communities, whose members come from a diversity of national and ethnic backgrounds spanning half the globe. But as a whole, what they are looking for in this election is candidates who are serious about creating tangible change.

This demographic is rapidly growing as a proportion of the U.S. population and is an important part of the progressive coalition. At the meeting of the Democratic Party's AAPI Caucus here Wednesday, delegates formulated plans for getting out the vote for November and encouraging a new generation of leaders.

A community oriented toward the future

Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing group in the United States and make up the largest share of recent immigrants. In many election contests across the nation, they are increasingly in a position to provide the margin of victory.

The last few election cycles have demonstrated they are also a group that is moving solidly into the progressive camp. In 1992, the majority of AAPI voters voted for George H.W. Bush. Twenty years later, in 2012, 73 percent of them went with Obama and the Democrats.

That swing is reflective of the pragmatic progressivism that prevails among all generations of AAPIs, but especially among millennials. Bing Chen, a board member at the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE), says it is less about party loyalty, but rather that the community "is looking for specific plans for immigration, for economic growth, and so much more."

Elaborating on this practical orientation, Chen said, "We don't care how much money or pizazz a party or a candidate has, we just want to know what they are going to do on hard issues. We want to know whether they are real changemakers."

Olivia Chow, who previously headed up digital media work at the Center for Community Change, said, "It's not enough to just say Trump is evil and bad." "Democrats," she emphasized, "need to have an uplifting message - something to be for."

To get a sense of just how central AAPI people will be to America's future, John Chiang, the State Treasurer of California, says look to his state. "California today is what the U.S. will look like by 2065," he told caucus-goers. "Our state is already 15-16 percent AAPI," he said, compared to their current 5 percent nationally.

Also showcased at the caucus was a new generation of progressive AAPI leaders who are stepping up in states and cities around the country. Stephanie Murphy, candidate for Congress in Florida's 7^thDistrict, addressed the delegates and emphasized the need for voters to pick capable leaders when they head to the ballot box. "Our future depends on the quality of the people who are at the helm of the state."

Her district is home to the Pulse nightclub, where a mass shooting attack occurred last month. It has been targeted as a "red to blue" district and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has earmarked $3 million for her race. Speaking about Trump's anti-science and anti-immigrant tirades, Murphy, whose family came from Vietnam, said that defending public education is part of why she is seeking office. "Education is the opportunity piece of the American dream story, and it's one of the reasons I'm running."

Democratic platform is for everyone

This year's Democratic platform has been widely hailed as the party's most progressive ever. Karen Narasaki, one of the two AAPIs on the platform committee, said, "It reflects the values and interests of our communities."

In its preamble, the document recognizes an Asian American hero for the first time. Larry Itliong, who helped organize Filipino farmworkers, is hailed alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, as one of the three founders of the United Farm Workers (UFW).

"The platform commits to a $15 minimum wage, keeping Wall Street honest, and family immigration as one component of comprehensive immigration reform," Narasaki said. The fairer tax system it proposes would unlock resources to "train workers, repair our roads and bridges, invest in 21^st century infrastructure, and build a green economy we can be proud of."

Narasaki also praised the platform's "thoughtful approaches to ending mass incarceration and repairing tensions between communities and the police." The voting rights provisions of the document, which commit to providing multilingual voting materials, was highlighted as particularly important. "Bilingual election materials have allowed so many in our community to participate in our democracy," Narasaki said.

Shifting to a comparison with Trump and the GOP, delegates were told there was only one clear choice in the race for president. Trump's harsh anti-refugee stances came in for heavy criticism, as many people in the AAPI community have shared in the refugee experience themselves. Republican plans to dismantle the Affordable Care Act were marked as another reason to stop Trump, as "1 in 6 AAPIs lacked insurance" before it became law. "The GOP wants to tear it apart," she said.

"The Supreme Court is in the balance and the Republicans have gutted the Voting Rights Act. Elections matter, ideas matter," Narasaki declared at the end of her report. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro joined her, saying that, "There is only one candidate in the race who can beat the divisiveness and scapegoating being offered by the other side."

Castro predicted, "In the years to come, we are going to see the first Asian American vice president or president."

Sounding the call to the next generation of AAPI leaders, Evan Low, 33-year-old California State Assembly member for the 28^th District, said, "As a millennial, I encourage anyone who wants to be in public service to keep getting involved. Follow the example of those like Stephanie Murphy and others who have put themselves forward and offered to serve."

AAPIs have come a long way since the racist murder of Vincent Chin in Highland Park, Michigan in 1982, the event which heralded the political awakening of the Asian American community. Today, this is an engaged and assertive group, ready to take the lead in building cooperation and fostering solidarity across communities.

Photo: California State Assembly member Evan Low addresses delegates at the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 27, 2016. | C.J. Atkins/PW

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Organize unions to end boom and bust economy

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:09:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio all delivered the same message today to the Democratic Party's Labor Council: the time is ripe for the American trade union movement to take the lead in building an economy that works for the 99 percent.

"Something very powerful is happening in America," de Blasio told the audience of labor activists. "All the work, all the organizing, all that you have done for many years is now culminating [in results] as never before."

The Council meeting took place on the third day of the Democratic Party National Convention, which ends tomorrow.

De Blasio cited new laws recently passed in New York City and New York State to raise the wages of low wage workers such as those working in car washes. The laws also guarantee that such workers will receive sick leave and family leave and that their working conditions will be safer.

De Blasio said that for too long the Democratic Party was not clear about programs to fight wage inequality, but "when the voices of Bernie delegates came together, the Party heard and produced the most progressive platform in history."

De Blasio as well as the other speakers credited the labor movement with convincing the Democratic Party to adopt its current platform. Each one said they are convinced Hillary Clinton will work to turn the platform's goals into laws.

De Blasio said winning the platform could be the first step in winning a 2016 version of the New Deal.

"This is our 1933," he said, citing the year organized labor began winning economic reforms that lead to the growth of the American middle class.

Sen. Warren continued the same theme.

"There was a time when American workers built America" with their unions," she said.

"From the 1930s to 1980 we had an economy that worked for people. As America got richer, workers got richer and as workers got richer, America got richer.

"But then," Warren said, "the Republicans took over. The first thing they did was to fire cops; not cops on the beat, but the cops that made sure Wall Street was obeying the law.

"They then cut taxes for the very rich, which left less money for schools, health care and for maintaining the infrastructure."

The worse thing the Republicans did, Warren said, was to take aim at unions.

The result: over 70 percent of the wealth generated since 1980 has gone to the top one percent of Americans.

Meanwhile, wages have remained flat.

"But," Warren said, "labor unions built America and we will re-build it now."

She said that if labor unions "fight side by side" and organize, they can stop this "boom and bust economy."

She concluded, "We can build an economy that works for all people."

The audience chanted in Spanish "sí se puede!" (yes we can).

After Warren, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his state is "the most unionized in America, and I'm proud of that."

He said that at one time "being a Democrat and being pro-union" was the same thing, but the Party drifted away from that.

Now, he said, the Democratic Party is returning to its roots.

He reported that his state has raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour and requires that all publicly funded construction projects be union jobs.

Furthermore, he said, he has appointed an Exploited Worker Taskforce to develop plans to protect all workers, whether they are documented or not.

"These things are good for New York State," he said, "and would be good for the United States."

Photo: Elizabeth Warren speaks at the DNC. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Activists turn Chicago police torture site at Homan Square into Freedom Square

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 20:03:00 +0000

It was a scorching eighty-seven degrees in Chicago July 26, but the abandoned lot on the intersections of Homan and Fillmore remained occupied by protesters with tents, banners and chairs, as they approached the fifth day of their sit-in protest.

The action continues to take place across the street from the infamous Homan Square warehouse, where numerous human rights violations have occurred at the hands of the CPD. It has been reported that as many as 7,000 people have been brought to the facility since August of 2004 - a majority of which were African Americans. Horror stories from the 'black site' reveal tales of torture, interrogation, and even sexual abuse - making it a centerpiece of the broader national conversation revolving around police brutality.

The official action was launched last Wednesday by a coalition of groups, including the #LetUsBreathe Collective, BYP100, and Black Lives Matter, as they blocked the road leading to the Chicago Police Department's Homan Square facility. Activists cemented their arms together and chained themselves to prop ladders, demanding an end to state-sanctioned violence against communities. Since then, activists have moved to the lot across the street where they say they will remain while they actively challenge the systems of policing that have plagued black and brown communities across the nation.

Among those that participated in the arrestable action was Damon Williams, a leading voice in the #LetUsBreathe Collective. Williams, along with his sister Kristiana Colon and others, have been facilitating educational conversations at what they now call "Freedom Square," centered around the ways in which communities can challenge oppressive systems of power that target marginalized peoples. Williams elaborated on why the coalition picked the Homan Square warehouse site: "This is, to me, in America, the greatest known example of how our system does not work - it is designed and mechanized, as you see by the scale and stature of the building behind me, in a way that is violent and destructive to our community." (story continues after video)

Williams has been involved in the movement since the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, when members from an collective called The Lost Voices inspired him to start organizing in his own community. The occupation of Homan Square is one of several national protests currently being led by African-American-led organizations that have occurred over all over the country. While they have not yet completed their first week, activists hope that 'Freedom Square' will set a precedent for similar future actions across the nation.

The location is set up with tents and donated food supplies for those who intend to stay for extended periods of time. There is even an outdoor snow cone station for participants who bring their children. "This is a lively space," said Williams, "but we are not just out here to have fun. We are here trying to practice and model the world we want to see. A world without police, a world without prisons, and a world based on new systems."

The Facebook event page for 'Freedom Square' makes a call for action on behalf of the #LetUsBreathe Collective. It states that the occupation of the space will remain until the family of slain police shooting victim and teenager Pierre Lour y is given the official police report from CPD, and that activists will stand their ground until "Alderman Ed Burke and other councilmen on the City's Public Safety Committee immediately recall a proposed ordinance that would make protesting police violence a hate crime, commonly known as "Blue Lives Matter".

The Blue Lives Matter ordinance, which was recently signed into law in Louisiana, would expand the state's hate crime law to include law enforcement officers, firefighters and other emergency medical services personnel. The passage of such a legislative measure would make it virtually impossible for the public to demand accountability for police misconduct, and would severely limit the ways in which communities could fight back.

The Collective also voiced its support of the newly introduced ordinance for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), which would serve as a replacement for the Rahm Emanuel appointment 'Task Force.' The community coalition backing the CPAC ordinance is being led by the Chicago chapter of The National Alliance. The CPAC would allow for elected community members to hold police accountable for acts of brutality or violence. Additionally, the CPAC would create a mechanism for communities to have a voice in determining how they are policed.

In the meantime, protesters continue on, despite the unwavering heat. Shavonna Brown, a member of the North Lawndale community has been camping out for several days with her daughter and six siblings. She spoke to People's World about her own personal reasons for joining the occupation. "This represents freedom. I'm showing them [daughter and siblings] that when something not right you have to stand up and say something. One person can be the change - it doesn't matter how old you are."

Brown said she was inspired after she took a trip to Atlanta, Georgia to visit family and didn't hear gunshots the entire time she was gone. It was the first time she was able to venture outside of the city, and upon returning she said she felt compelled to make change in her own neighborhood.

Unfortunately, In the short time that she has been part of the occupation, Brown has already lost a close friend, 26-year-old Jonathan Mills, who was gunned down in Chicago on Monday. "He just dropped me off the other day and now he's gone," Brown said. She added that she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from other protesters. "I had so much support. I had so many people tell me it was going to be ok." Even though she is in mourning, she said the occurrences of the last couple of days have only cemented her resolve to continue the fight.

"I lost a best friend - and if I have to stand out here the whole summer and the whole winter just so people understand - I will. I'm not just doing this for myself. I'm doing this for our community."

Freedom Square is currently ongoing; for readers based in Chicago, activists continue to accept donations of food and other supplies at the location. The group is not yet accepting online donations from the public.

Photo: Screenshot taken from video

Video: Earchiel Johnson/PW

Peoples Convention held last weekend just before DNC

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 19:55:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

Former Bernie Sanders organizer, Jackrabbit Pollack, opened "The People's Convention" last Saturday to a crowd of enthusiastic activists at the historic Arch Street Friends Meeting House in downtown Philadelphia. Held two days prior to the opening of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, the event was "an attempt to reclaim our democracy," according to its convention program.

The immediate business at hand, as explained by Pollack, was approval of a "People's Platform," but Pollack also stated that the day was structured to accomplish several other important, interactive goals, namely to help build relationships and to strategize about the future of the movement.

"So many people I talk to have the mistaken idea that electoral politics aren't important," Pollack said. "To the contrary, direct action must be combined with electoral politics to bring about real change." To that end, Pollack implored the participants, "I'm begging you. Do not drop out after the election."

The People's Platform was comprised of five planks: Creating Real Democracy; Racial Justice; Climate Justice; Economic Justice; and Healthcare is a Human Right.

The Racial Justice plank highlighted areas of "systemic inequality" and the "intersectionality of experience, oppressions, and possibilities across the platform as a whole," including in the areas of the criminal justice system, education, economic justice, voting rights access and reparations.

But as with other planks, it was explained that the platform was a living document open to input and personal experience from the day's participants. Thus, in one of the sessions someone spoke to her work getting bail for clients, emphasizing that the 8^th amendment says that excessive bail shall not be imposed. Another woman spoke to an epidemic in certain parts of the country of racial profiling of Black mothers whose children are taken from them in one way or another.

A highlight of the day was the appearance of former Ohio State Sen. and Bernie Sanders surrogate, Nina Turner. Stressing the influence of the Sanders "insurgent campaign" on "the most democratic platform the DNC has ever had," and recognizing the value of the substantive work of the People's Convention, she said, "This is about endurance. This is about 2017, 18, 19 and 20. We have to stick together and not tear each other down. There is nothing we cannot do."

Like Nina Turner, Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, spoke to thunderous applause in the afternoon plenary session. And while many of those present expressed a strong sentiment for Stein, some speakers from the floor emphasized that maximum unity is required to defeat Trump in November and that a Trump presidency would represent a huge setback to building the progressive movement for people's needs.

Another pronounced tone of the People's Convention was expressed by Robert Caldwell, a CWA state employee from Texas. He told the People's World that as he sees it, the role of the left is to build a strong movement in the streets against the ultra-right in order to fight the neo-liberal agenda, including the TPP. The People's Convention, in its closing, crowded session of 800 people, echoed this sentiment by the longest, loudest cheer of the day, "Stop the TPP!"

Photo: State Sen. Nina Turner of Ohio was a featured participant at the Peoples Covention in Philadelphia last Saturday. | AP

History: Hillary Clinton nominated for Presidency of the United States

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:24:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - Hillary Clinton last night became the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major American political party. After completing the roll call of delegations here at the Democratic National Convention, delegates saw a brief video of a glass ceiling being shattered.

Observers pointed out that outside the United States for decades now dozens of nations have had women heads of state. This makes breaking this glass ceiling In America even more significant.

The significance was summed up even before the roll call by Minnesota's Senator, Amy Klobuchar.

"I'm here to make the case for a leader who, as you just saw, is focused on security: security for our country and our democracy. A leader who knows we are all more secure when women have the opportunity to lead with their heads high and their strides strong. That leader is Hillary Clinton," said Klobuchar. "She sees a world where girls are not captured and sold but are fearless and bold: where they lead, not follow. And where when someone tells a young woman, 'You fight like a girl.' Her answer is, 'Yes I do. And I'm proud to be that girl."

Women in America were barred from voting until 1920. Since then, making it possible for a woman to be nominated by a major political party has taken 96 hard years of organizing.

The first 44 presidents of the United States have been men. Since the nation's founding there have been 57 presidential elections with the voters never having the chance to vote for a woman nominated by a major political party.

The historic nomination takes on significance too because it comes at a time when women's rights are under attack by Republicans in state after state across this country with particular aim being taken at the right of women to control their own bodies.

Rising to announce their votes for the presidential nominee of their party, each delegation praised both Hillary Clinton and her opponent in the primaries, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

As hundreds of delegates waved signs that read "History" they could not help notice the difference from the Republican convention, where the Cruz and Trump delegates shot daggers at each other.

Although there was a brief walkout of some Sanders delegates, Sanders himself made the procedural motion that officially made Clinton the nominee. The historic moment came when he rose from his seat among the Vermont delegates to declare: "I move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the United States."

Vince Insalaco, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, said the choice of the first female presidential nominee was a historic moment.

"I'm so proud to be a Democrat tonight," Mr. Insalaco said, "and so proud that we can call this woman one of our own."

Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP

Michael Jordan speaks out on police shootings: “I can no longer stay silent”

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 12:43:00 +0000

CHICAGO -- Michael Jordan, whom many consider a saint in this city, broke his silence on one of the most pressing issues of the day: racism and policing. For years, Jordan has been criticized for refusing to speak out on social issues.

But that silence ended July 25.

In a letter to ESPN's The Undefeated, the network's platform devoted to exploring sports, race and culture, the basketball great wrote, "As a proud American, a father who lost his own dad in a senseless act of violence, and a black man, I have been deeply troubled by the deaths of African Americans at the hands of law enforcement and angered by the cowardly and hateful targeting and killing of police officers. I grieve with the families who have lost loved ones, as I know their pain all too well."

In the letter, Jordan also announced two grants of $1 million each for the Justice Department and Motorola-funded Institute for Community-Police Relations and the historic NAACP Legal Defense Fund. (The Institute for Community-Police Relations includes at least a dozen present and former police officers on its executive board.) Jordan said he did so in order to "come together as Americans" and "achieve constructive change" in policing policies and practices "that will build trust and respect between communities and law enforcement."

"I was raised by parents who taught me to love and respect people regardless of their race or background, so I am saddened and frustrated by the divisive rhetoric and racial tensions that seem to be getting worse as of late. I know this country is better than that, and I can no longer stay silent. We need to find solutions that ensure people of color receive fair and equal treatment AND that police officers - who put their lives on the line every day to protect us all - are respected and supported," Jordan wrote.

Read the entire story at The Undefeated.

Earlier this month, four of the NBA's biggest stars, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade and LeBron James, opened the ESPYS (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) with a call to all athletes to speak out and be socially active.

"Generations ago, legends like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe and countless others, they set a model for what athletes should stand for," said Paul. "So we choose to follow in their footsteps."

However, it seems that at least one sports organization, the WNBA, did not like that message. On July 21, it fined three of its teams and its players for wearing clothing with slogans of support for Black Lives Matter. That same day, after a game between the New York Liberty and Indiana Fever, two of the teams fined, the players refused to answer any questions from the media except on the topic Black Lives Matter and the WNBA's crack down on the players. Liberty Forward Tina Charles, who was named the WNBA player of the month, said on her Instagram account, "Today, I decided to not be silent in the wake of the @wnba fines against @nyliberty, @indianafever & @phoenixmercury due to our support in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Seventy percent of the @wnba players are African-American women and as a league collectively impacted. My teammates and I will continue to use our platform and raise awareness for the #BlackLivesMatter movement until the @wnba gives its support as it does for Breast Cancer Awareness, Pride and other subject matters."

On July 26, the Democratic National Convention heard from the mothers of Sandra Bland, Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin, three young African Americans whose lives were wrongly cut short because of racism. The outrage at Martin's killing at the hands of George Zimmerman in 2013 helped to serve as a catalyst for the Movement for Black Lives.

Photo: Michael Jordan appears at the World Basketball Festival at EBC Rucker Park in New York City. (Ebc155/Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Progressive all-stars talk voting, future at Philly LGBT center

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 11:27:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - Progressive Democrats of America, an independent political organization celebrated its 12^th anniversary in a downtown LGBT Community Center here yesterday. A cavalcade of progressive all-stars made appearances throughout the day: Rep. Alan Grayson, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and Jim Hightower were among them.

PDA sees itself as having to hold a lot of discussions about tons of work that have to be done. Yesterday one of the hot topics was "down ballot revolutionaries" and how to utilize the energy that has been brought into politics by Bernie Sanders on the local level.

First to speak was Michael Lighty, political director of National Nurses United. Aside from his work with the union, he highlighted his role with Reclaim Chicago, a "people-led movement devoted to reclaiming our city, county and state governments from the grip of corporate interests.

"We find people who are angry," he said. "We take them from angry and disorganized to angry and organized. It's a block by block process to identify people door to door and identify their issues."

Among the endorsed candidates of Reclaim Chicago in the past few cycles were Kim Fox who defeated embroiled State's Attorney Anita Alvarez and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia who went on to get 40 percent of the vote against "one of the most machine Democrats you can imagine" Rahm Emmanuel, Chicago's mayor.

"If you can raise money, the DCCC will support you. For us, it's about if you can build your base then you're the candidate," said Lighty.

Mary Ellen Balchunis is one of the grassroots candidates who has proven she could build her base. She is running for Pennsylvania's 7^th Congressional District, a run preceded by hard work and failure.

"When I ran last cycle, they said you're not going to win so make good contacts. 2016, that's the year. So I was shocked when the DCCC ran a candidate against me," said Balchunis, "My opponent did six mailers and was on TV all the time."

Those contacts the party had told her to build on her first dry-run for Congress paid off.

"The DCCC united the party behind me because they thought I deserved it and earned it. I've been to the picnics; I've been to the dinners. I really helped the party and now they've helped me. I just got the endorsement from the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Democracy for America."

Both Lighty and Balchunis highlighted the need for perseverance. Balchunis, a political science professor, provided the statistic that most people who hold office have to run twice to get that all-important name recognition.

"President Clinton lost, Governor Rendell lost. At his inaugural he told his wife about how he was so depressed after losing and would never run again, but three landslides followed it. Persistence is the key to life," she told the attendees.

Radio host and liberal populist Jim Hightower, who was also in attendance, put it like nobody else could: "You're not going to win the first time out. The early bird might get the worm, but it's the second mouse who gets the cheese."

Hightower had served in the Texas Department of Agriculture as a raging liberal during the throes of the Reagan Revolution. He said he got there by being honest and standing for something.

"You've got to have a spine, mainly. You don't make progress by standing on guard, but by attacking and getting hammered yourself," said Hightower, "Offices are meant to be used, that chair isn't meant for you to sit in, but to use and to hurl at the bastards."

Whether or not the "down ballot revolutionaries" receive a boon from the energy of Bernie Sanders' insurgent campaign for President has yet to be seen. One thing is for sure - judging from that room: The confidence of progressives seems to be at an all time high going into November, 2016.

Photo: Patrick J. Foote/PW

Women of the DNC come together to elect Hillary Clinton

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 10:17:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

Hundreds of women took over the upper terrace of the Pennsylvania Convention Center on the second day of the Democratic National Convention here yesterday for the meeting of the Women's Caucus. With an opening music playlist filled with well known women empowerment songs such as "ROAR" by singer Katy Perry and "Just a Girl" by Gwen Stefani, and an initial rallying call to action by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the caucus was well under way. The theme was unity to elect Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to the White House in November.

In addition to Madeleine Albright guest speakers for the July 26th caucus meeting included Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Leader, Dona Brazile, newly placed interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Judy May Chu, D, Calif., (the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress), actor Eva Longoria, and Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union.

Albright's opening speech set the tone for the caucus as the former Secretary of State noted that we are living in an era where there is an increasing number of women heading nations and running governments across the globe. "Women have more experience running government than many people think," Albright stated. The former Secretary of State highlighted the fact that if Clinton was to win the White House she would do so on the 100th anniversary of the passing of the 19th amendment, which was an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that prohibited any citizen from being denied the right to vote based on sex. Albright finished by proclaiming to the crowd of mainly women participants, "We can make this [Hillary Clinton's presidency] happen. You can make it happen. We will do it together."

The first woman elected international president of SEIU, Mary Kay Henry, took to the stage highlighting the Fight for $15 and what Clinton's presidency could mean for working women in the nation. Henry said that it was a moment "to realize the fullness of our humanity." She highlighted the struggle of airport workers at the Philadelphia International Airport who have been fighting for a wage increase of $15 an hour, improved scheduling, clarity on sick pay and the ability to join a union. A victory by the workers was reached shortly before the DNC convened that resulted in the cancellation of the planned strike, but Henry noted there was much further to go.

The SEIU president noted the fact that there is an increasing number of women of color, particularly Black women and immigrant women, working service jobs and other jobs often associated with low income. Henry explained that "because of structural racism there has been work, such as childcare and other jobs associated with women workers, that has not been included in the middle class." She stated that Hillary Clinton pledged to change this. She finished her speech by engaging with the crowd to chant, "I believe that we will win."

Interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Donna Brazile, gave a lively speeech saying women leaders of the past have left marks that impact the present and will be felt in the future too. Brazile used a famous quote by the second First Lady of the United States, Abigail Adams, to highlight what she thought was a theme of this election. "Don't forget the ladies," Brazile remarked, repeating Adams' words to her husband, then-President John Adams. "Abigail, we heard you," Brazile went on, "and we'll never forget your words."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took to the stage addressing the need for equal pay, paid sick leave, affordable childcare, and a need for an increase in valuing women's contribution to the nation. "When women succeed America succeeds," Pelosi remarked. "A woman being elected to office is not just about that woman's achievement but what it means in the lives of the women in the nation," the House Minority leader said. Pelosi also stated that there is a need to decrease the role of money in elections and to increase civility, and a need to overturn Citizens United.

There was a short panel discussion addressing the glass ceiling when it comes to women succeeding in politics and entertainment. Moderated by actress Amber Tamblyn, the panel included Boston Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley, Colorado House Majority Leader Crisanta Duran and iconic African American actress Lynn Whitfield. "Stand in your truth," Pressley proclaimed to the crowd. "If not you, then who? Government is only effective with diversity of perspective, opinion and thought," the councilwoman finished to loud applause.

Actor Eva Longoria was one of the final speakers. She stated that women need to stop being treated like a special interest group given that they are "half of the population." Longoria said that there was nothing wrong with wanting to vote for Hillary Clinton because she was a woman. "Why is it that when white men vote for Trump or Bernie it's a called a movement, but when women vote for Hillary Clinton it's reduced to identity politics?" She went on to state that the U.S. is currently ranked 28th in the world on gender equality and that this was something that needed to change.

The caucus came to a close with chants and pledges to take to the streets to get out the vote for Hillary Clinton as Beyonce's "Who Run the World (Girls)" played in the background.

Photo: Group of young women from Feminist Majority petitioning at DNC. | Chauncey K. Robinson/PW

LGBT Caucus at DNC: SCOTUS is reason enough to beat Trump

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 09:42:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - Though there has been much media attention paid to dissent on the floor of the DNC, there was only unity on display at the LGBT Caucus meeting here Tuesday afternoon. Hearing from a number of federal, state, and party leaders, LGBTQ delegates expressed broad agreement with the necessity of defeating Donald Trump in November.

The twin realities that there are only two candidates in this race and that one of them will inevitably be the next president presented no moral dilemmas to this crowd. Electing Hillary Clinton and securing control of the Supreme Court were seen as central to protecting and advancing LGBTQ equality.

Trump will appoint a "militant homophobe" to SCOTUS

Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank said that LGBTQ Americans, by and large, are not buying Trump's promise to "protect the LGBTQ community" from "foreign" attacks. Frank responded to the GOP nominee, "We gays worry about a lot of things, but foreign invasion has never been high on that list."

Pointing to the extremely anti-LGBTQ elements in this year's Republican platform, Frank reminded the assembled delegates that other than telling gays to carry guns, "the Republican Party opposes every other form of protection for us."

If for no other reason, Frank said that the deadlocked Supreme Court provides enough incentive for the LGBT community and the broad progressive coalition to keep Trump out of the White House. With a 4-4 split court, the next president will appoint the justice(s) that will determine which way many important issues break.

Emphasizing the common ground shared by the full range of democratic and equality movements, he said, "The next president's choice of justice will set the direction on whether religion can be used as the grounds for denying people access to services, on whether women can access birth control, on whether we will stop big money in politics, and protect the Voting Rights Act." If Hillary Clinton loses, Frank warned, "We will all be in the minority."

Defeating Trump is a "moral imperative," Frank concluded. "Trump says he plans to appoint someone like Scalia, and there has never been a more militant homophobe on the Court."

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the first openly lesbian person elected to the Senate, joined in drawing attention to the need to defend gains already won. "From the Byrd Hate Crimes Law to the repeal of don't ask-don't tell, all the way up to the Supreme Court decision on the freedom to marry, we have traveled so far and have farther to go yet." She said that history has been made under the Obama Administration, and that it was "time to again make history" on election day.

Trans equality in the spotlight

The 28 transgender delegates in attendance - the highest number ever at a major party convention - brought a powerful educational component to the caucus meeting for their LGB brothers and sisters and allies. Congressman Mike Honda of California's 17^th District shared the story of his own learning process when he found out his granddaughter Malisa was transgender.

As an older Asian male, the first-born in his family, Honda said there was a cultural aspect for him to engage with as well when he first started to discover transgender issues. He brought a message for all those who are looking for ways to understand and appreciate the experience of transgender persons. In his calm and affirming style, Honda said, "The difficult part is learning to open up and let it go. Just let it happen." He told the caucus, "We all need to learn that this whole gender thing is not binary, but a beautiful gender spectrum."

Attacking the GOP's embrace of "conversion therapy," the debunked mental health pseudoscience of trying to switch a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, Honda warned Republicans, "Don't you come close to my granddaughter!"

Speaking directly to the transgender delegates, Honda thanked them "for being good teachers and good warriors for the rest of us coming along on these issues." He has endeared himself to the LGBTQ community with his firm public championing of equality. He serves as chair of the House LGBT Equality Caucus and was today presented the Jane Fee Award, named for the first transgender delegate elected to the DNC in 2000.

Grassroots trans activist Babs Siperstein, a delegate from New Jersey and policy director for the the Gender Rights Advocacy Association in her state, noted how far the trans community has come within the party in just a short time. "In 2004, we were not in the platform. The "T" in LGBT was silent," she said. "Now, in 2016, here we are with so many trans leaders elected to this convention and major allies standing together with us."

Babs is one of those leaders. She is the first transgender member of the Executive Committee of the DNC, appointed by Tim Kaine, now Clinton's running mate, when he was party chair.

"We know what the GOP is doing"

All the speakers and delegates pivoted their remarks to the immediate task of keeping Trump out of the White House and making gains against Republicans in every down-ticket race.

"The Republican platform clearly attacks the fundamentals of the LGBT community and our families," Evan Low, State Assembly member for California's 28th District said. "Picking Mike Pence as the vice presidential candidate is a clear example of how they view the LGBT community. As Governor, he supported institutional discrimination towards members of our community. It's shameful."

Closing the meeting of the Caucus, Oregon State Representative Tina Kotek, the first lesbian House speaker in the United States, warned LGBTQ people not to be tricked by Trump and the GOP. "Just last week, Trump said he's going to be good on your issues, but don't believe him. Neither Trump nor the GOP has our backs. We know what they are doing in statehouses across the country and what they plan if they win the White House."

Kotek said electing allied politicians is important, but she told the LGBTQ delegates that it is time for more of them to put themselves forward as leaders. "It is time for more of us to start thinking about becoming elected officials as well."

Photo: Trans delegates to the DNC present Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) the Jane Fee Award on Tuesday July 26, 2016 in Philadelphia. | Chauncey Robinson / PW

Democratic National Convention delegates chant “Black lives matter”

Wed, 27 Jul 2016 09:14:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

PHILADELPHIA - Delegates at the Democratic National Convention tonight expressed love and sympathy for nine black women whose children were murder victims, some who died at the hands of police and others who died as the result of racist violence. The delegates also expressed support for law enforcement officers across the nation.

Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland who was found dead in a jail cell after being stopped for a minor traffic offence, told the delegates that "one year ago yesterday I lived through the worst nightmare anyone can imagine. I watched as my daughter was lowered into the ground in a coffin.

"I am here with Hillary Clinton," she said "because she knows that when a young black life is cut short, it's a personal loss, but it's also a national loss. It's a loss that diminishes all of us."

Reed-Veal and the other eight women are calling themselves "Mothers of the Movement."

Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, who was killed by a racist in Florida, said, "I am an unwilling member of this club of broken-hearted women, but I am here because Hillary Clinton has plans that would stop this club from growing."

She and the other women listed gun control and better training for police as two of the most important elements of a plan to stop the killing of unarmed black men and women.

The delegates got on their feet and chanted over and over again, "Black lives matter ... black lives matter." (story continues after video)

Moreover, they cheered when former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said "It's not enough to praise police as heroes after they've been killed. We must give them praise when they are still alive. And we must give them the training and equipment they need.

Pittsburg Police Chief Cameron McLay said that giving more support to police is not "inconsistent with police treating with respect community members who they are sworn to protect and serve."

He said that many of society's problems are "laid at the feet of police:" absence of job opportunities, lack of available health care and lack of mental health care.

He said to meet these societal problems "We know a smarter way of policing. We know a better way of policing. We simply have to roll up our sleeves, be willing to adapt the way that we deliver police services and be willing to change."

"The majority of police officers are good people doing a good job," said Lucia McBath, whose son, Jordan Davis, was killed "because he was African American and playing music in his car."

She said that from the day Jordan was born, she worried that he would be killed on the streets. "I told him he would meet people who do not value his life.

"Hillary Clinton, she said, "is not afraid to say "Black lives matter."

"She doesn't build walls around her heart," McBath said, "She not only listened to our problems, but invited us to become part of the solution."

Former Attorney General Holder suggested that finding real solutions will take greater control of communities by people who live in the communities and fundamental criminal justice reform. He pointed out that one out of every three black men are incarcerated at some time during their lives and that men of color receive 20 percent longer sentences for the same crimes as their white counterparts.

Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother, said that although she does not like being in the spotlight, she wants to use it to shine the light on current tensions between police and communities and on solutions such as those listed by Holder and Police Chief McLay.

In introducing the Mothers of the Movement, Tony Goldwyn, an actor who founded the Innocence Project to aid wrongly jailed people, said "[These women] have turned their pain into power and their outrage into action. They understand that we much reach out to each other because of our diversity."

Goldwyn said that Clinton claims that "we can't hide from the hard truths" and she will help America "name them, own them and then change them."

Photo: Sybrina Fulton, Geneva Reed-Veal, Lucy McBath, Gwen Carr, Cleopatra Pendleton, Maria Hamilton, Lezley McSpadden and Wanda Johnson from Mothers of the Movement speak during the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia | J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Watch: First Lady Michelle Obama delivers must-see DNC speech

Tue, 26 Jul 2016 15:21:00 +0000

This article is part of a series on the Democratic National Convention.

First Lady Michelle Obama delivered such a powerful speech at the Democratic National Convention July 25 in Philadelphia that it caused aftershocks for hours on social media. Calls for Obama to run for office echoed throughout millions of Facebook and Twitter timelines.

It was a speech that delivered an eloquent and profound truth about the stakes of the presidential outcome. "In this election, and every election, it is about who will have the power to shape our children for the next four to eight years of their lives, and I am here tonight because in this election there is only one person I trust with that responsibility, only one person who I believe is truly qualified to be president of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton," Obama said to deafening cheers and chants of "We love you."

Obama expertly painted a contemporary and historic American portrait that recognized the nation's beauty, hope, unity, struggle and progress embedded in the national identity. Mentioning protesters and police in Dallas "who all desperately want to keep our children safe," people lining up to donate blood in Orlando "because it could have been their son, their daughter in that club," and the service of leaders like vice presidential pick Tim Kaine "who show our kids what decency and devotion look like" and Clinton who "has the guts and the grace to keep coming back and putting those cracks in that highest and hardest glass ceiling until she finally breaks through, lifting all of us along with her."

"That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves."

Without airbrushing out any brutal or ugly truths of today and yesterday, Obama gave a forthright appeal to our better angels by telling how she and President Barack Obama explain to their daughters how to respond to the nonstop and toxic attacks on the president and others.

"We challenge them to ignore those who challenge their father's citizenship or faith. How we insist that the hateful language from public figures on television does not represent the true nature of this country. How we explain when someone is cruel or act like a bully, you don't stoop to that level," Obama said. "No, our motto is: When they go low, we go high."

It is a speech that should not be missed.

Photo: First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 25. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)