Tidbits for December 27, 2010
1. Re: Book Highlights Kings Labor, Social Justice Work
2. Re: Americans, Our Work Is Cut Out For Us In 2011
3. EXCELLENT Swedish documentary (in English) on Wikileaks
4. Subject: Sins of omission


===
1.
Date:  	Mon, 27 Dec 2010 
From:  	Burt Cohen 
Re: Book Highlights Kings Labor, Social Justice Work

All this is true. The frozen image of King at the "I have a dream speech" is
electrifying, for sure, but to pigeonhole him to just civil rights is far
afield from what he was about. There are reasons why he had to be
assassinated. The economic structure he boldly was in the process of taking
on could simply not permit him to continue. He was too powerful. Add that to
his expressions of solidarity with the people of Vietnam and he knew his
days were numbered.
I don't usually take to conspiracies, but I highly recommend the documentary
"Who Killed Martin Luther King." There is a photograph of two white men
climbing down from a roof which had an easy clear shot of the balcony, as
the police run toward the crime scene.

See it.

Burt Cohen
New Castle, NH 

===
2.
Date:  	Sun, 26 Dec 2010 
From:  	EBowles
Re: Americans, Our Work Is Cut Out For Us In 2011

Portside, I feel strongly indebted to David A. Love,
executive editor of Black Commentator, for his
sensitive review of President Barack Obama, which
avoided the excesses we have come to expect from
progressives, moderates and conservatives, whites and
blacks.  As our first black president, Obama has been
assaulted on all fronts:  by the unrealistic  ownership
expectations of blacks who see him as "our president";
by the unconscious and conscious racism of whites who
want to take back "our country"; and by progressive
whites who expected total agreement as well as a
miracle from a "brilliant, articulate black man."   In
his  article,  "Americans, Our Work Is Cut Out for Us
in 2011,"  Love put the responsibility for the current
frightening condition of the U.S. where it legitimately
belongs -- on American history and culture and the
population as a whole.  It is now up to those who
supported Obama's vision to help him put the U.S. on
the right track.

Elinor Bowles
 
===
3. 
Date:  	Fri, 24 Dec 2010 
From:  	Kim Scipes 
Subject: EXCELLENT Swedish documentary (in English) on Wikileaks
Folks--

There's been a lot of attention paid to Julian Assange
and Wikileaks this last year, but it's been partial,
fragmentary, etc.  This is a one hour documentary from
Swedish TV (in English) that looks at it and what it's
done world wide--you will find it well worth your time!
 I just watched it and it is excellent.  This is
extremely well done....

Please pass on widely.  It will only be up until
January 16, 2011.

http://svtplay.se/v/2258254/dokument_inifran/wikirebels_-_the_documentary?cb,a1364145,1,f,-1/pb,a1364142,1,f,-1/pl,v,,2258261/sb,p103467,1,f,-1

Kim Scipes Chicago

===
4.
Date:  	Sun, 26 Dec 2010 
From:  	Martin Morand 
Subject:  	Sins of omission

"In 1955, when the CIO merged with the American
Federation of Labor to become the AFL-CIO, the more
racially conservative AFL dominated. It meant that
building unions and railroad workers in the AFL
continued excluding or segregating women and racial
minorities."

True, but...

I have not read Michael Honey's latest book.  I am
certain, based primarily on what else he has written,
particularly about Memphis and the civil rights/union
nexus in "Going Down Jericho Road", that he would not
have left this statement about 1955 stand unamended by
the events of the succeeding decade.

George Meany was, in my estimate, a mean old man (I
worked for him/AFL-CIO VERY briefly). But he, as much
as ANY individual, deserves credit for the civil rights
legislative ban on discrimination by employers And
Unions. Meany, and his Legislative Director, Andy
Beimiler, lobbied hard, and over strong push back by
the Kennedy brothers, for adding employment to the list
of prohibited behaviors.

That Meany prevailed upon LBJ on this matter, promising
to "keep his back", was particularly significant given
the long history of exclusion and segregation. That it
has received so little recognition is due in part to
Meany himself who did not tout this initiative, partly,
I believe, because he had caught such hell for his
endorsement of Brown v Board of Ed. That he undertook
to keep the promise made in the 1955 merger with CIO
was a major shift, given the strong propensity of the
Federation to Not interfere in the internal affairs of
its affiliates.

As Honey notes in his book about, "The Memphis Strike,
Martin Luther King's last Campaign" Meany transcended
his deep dislike for Jerry Wurf --   and his deeper
distrust of MLK whom he feared was, at a minimum, "soft
on Communism" -- to throw the weight of AFL-CIO behind
this strike of black garbage collectors. ANY success we
may have in fending off corporate fascism in the coming
years will depend to a great extent on the ability of
labor and civil rights/community groups to effectively
coalesce.

Martin Morand
212/866-2120 

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