Oakland 1946 - an exciting political theater project

http://www.oakland1946.blogspot.com/

http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_11164601

Facing Poverty at UC

Service workers at the University of California plan to go on strike next week for a contract with decent wages. A friend of a friend made this video, interviewing UC workers about what they and their families go through day to day.

Where will you be the first of May?

Join Jobs with Justice and El Comite Pro-Reforma Migratoria Y Justicia Social for the 2008 Immigrant Rights March and Rally!

Date: May 1st
Time: 4:30pm
Location: Beginning at St. Mary’s 611 20th Ave South, Seattle

This year’s theme is “We are not illegal, we are not undocumented, we are workers.”

History:
May 1st has many histories of celebration around the world, currently; it’s globally celebrated as International Workers’ Day. Seattle has a rich history of marching for immigrant/worker rights on May 1st. In 2006 the first massive immigrant rights march took place in Seattle. It created history by mobilizing approximately 60,000 people in protest of House Resolution 4437, debated in Congress, which would have instantly criminalized all undocumented persons, as well as persons who offered them humanitarian aid. Last year, despite the federal government’s harassment of immigrants, thousands of immigrants and allies came out in support and to protest the draconian policies the federal government is enforcing. El Comite, Jobs with Justice and many other community, labor, faith and student groups continue to fight for immigrant/worker justice.

[The text above copied from Jobs with Justice, wsjwj.org. For information in Spanish, click the headline to go to the Comité website.]

FedUp with FedEx

FedEx is aggressively violating its employees' rights to form a union, firing and harassing those who support the idea. Please click the box above to send FedEx a message, and pledge not to use FedEx services this holiday season. (Both UPS and US Postal Service employees have union contracts and are companies more deserving of your business.)

How do grocery store CEO salaries compare with workers' salaries?

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfQ_667f6z0 for a visual comparison of what they make in the Puget Sound region.

Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project

A note from a friend ...

As Project Coordinator for the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, I'd like to bring your attention to a research report recently posted on our web site by an undergraduate at the University of Washington, Jennifer Taylor.

Jennifer did outstanding work looking into the history of the 1965 police shooting of Robert Reese, an unarmed African American, that touched off a direct action campaign of "freedom patrols" that operated as "walking civilian review boards." We recently posted her full research paper about this campaign, along with some scans of associated newspaper articles, here: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/freedom_patrols.htm

Our web site also features video clips from oral history interviews with two different civil rights leaders-- Bishop John H. Adams, and Judge Charles V. Johnson-- who discuss their leadership of the Freedom Patrols. You can find their interviews (and many more) here: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/interviews.htm

In addition, you can find a number of other outstanding undergraduate student papers about campaigns for racial justice in Seattle, including one that was reprinted in ColorsNW this past February for Black History Month, here: http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/research_reports.htm

We will be putting much more online in the next couple months, including papers about the Black Student Union, the Christian Friends for Racial Equality, the origins of the internment redress movement in Seattle, desegregation campaigns at Boeing, and new interviews about the local Chicano/a movement and urban Indian movement during the 1970s. Stay tuned,

Trevor Griffey