UAW, Rainbow PUSH Launch Campaign for Jobs, Justice and Peace

[NNN0LHI]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/07/12/uaw-rainbow-push-launch-campaign-for-jobs-justice-and-peace/

by James Parks, Jul 12, 2010


The UAW is joining with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in a new campaign to refocus our national priorities on jobs, justice and peace.

During a press conference today in Detroit, UAW President Bob King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow PUSH, said the campaign will call on our national leaders to rebuild America through new industrial and trade policies that create jobs, encourage manufacturing in America and put workers first.

“The number one focus of our national leaders should be putting Americans back to work,” King said.

No group has suffered more from America’s economic meltdown than working men and women. We need industrial and trade policies that work to keep jobs and manufacturing in the U.S.

The campaign will begin with a march in Detroit on Aug. 28 to commemorate the “Freedom Walk,” when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a march by 125,000 people through the streets of Motown in the summer of 1963. It was during this march that Dr. King first delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, just a couple of months prior to the historic March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.

[Radical Activist]

1. Great. Green jobs are the top priority.

Building fuel efficient cars, updating the grid, renewable energy, efficiency projects, solar and wind manufacturing plants. That's the best solution anyone has right now.

[me b zola]

2. Recommended

This is a natural coalition whose roots go way back. :thumbsup:

[divideandconquer]

3. Walter Reuther bailed Martin Luther King out of jail

“My favorite story about King and Reuther,”Bluestone said, “happened after the march on Washington in ‘63. Reuther was giving his speech at the foot of the Washington Monument; he was the only white person who spoke that day. I was backstage when I overheard a conversation between two black women who were active in the movement. One said to the other, ‘Who’s that white guy?’ The other one said, “Don’t you know who that is? That’s Walter Reuther. He’s as good a man as Martin Luther King.”
Bluestone said, “later at the hotel, when I told Reuther what I had overheard, he was so overwhelmed he got a little teary eyed.”

Reuther marched alongside King many times during the ‘60s, including the march in Birmingham, Ala., where police used dogs, fire hoses and other inhumane tactics before beating and arresting many of the marchers. King was among the religious leaders arrested that day. King’s stay in the Birmingham jail sparked national attention and brought him support from around the world. Yet, it was his friend, Walter Reuther, who bailed King out of jail.

According to Nathan Head of the UAW Civil Rights Department, “The UAW donated thousands of dollars during the ‘60s in support of the civil rights movement and some of that money was used to bail civil rights activists out of jail. Of course, Head said, “in those days they needed cash. They couldn’t just transfer funds. So people had to hand deliver the money. It was Joe Rauh from the UAW’s General Council and Horace Sheffield Jr. who had been appointed by Reuther to act as liaison who used to carry thousands of dollars south and bail people out of jail.”
<http://www.uaw897.com/Front%20Page/feb08/mlk_marching.html>

[me b zola]

9. Thank you for that

The coalition goes back even further, to the early 20th century.

[socialist_n_TN]

4. I would LOVE to see more of this type of

coalitions of true left organizations getting together. We HAVE to support each other. Plus we make more noise that way.

[reggie the dog]

5. excellent

[LiberalEsto]

6. The NAACP plans a march on DC on Oct. 2

Maybe these folks should work together.

[Luminous Animal]

8. When I get home from work, I'm going to see if I can register on the blog

and post a comment about that.

[Luminous Animal]

10. I just posted a comment on the AFL-CIO blog asking if they plan on joining

the NAACP's October 2nd March on Washington. Apparently, they only review the posts a couple of times a day so I don't even know if it will show up.

It would be great, though, if they joined forces.

Any MoveOn members here? Maybe we should pressure MoveOn to join either or both actions.

[Omaha Steve]

7. K&R!

[unkachuck]

11. kick....n/t