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canderson · Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 23

Actively read pp. 252-270 in your books. Respond thoughtfully on our forum. Only posts that contain thoughtful questions will be counted.

Consider this quesiton to get you started: Did the equality movements in the 1960s impact the Labor movement? In what ways?

canderson · Joined: 07 Apr 2010 Posts: 23

I never realized the 60s were such a good time for unions. Reading this over, it seems like one minority-formed union after another was springing up, helping the community and resisting unfair treatment by employers and the government.
Anyway, to answer the question; yes, I think it had a huge impact on unions. Workers who had remained oppressed throughout the other union booms (I'm thinking agricultural workers) finally organized. Groups of the population who had felt perpetually downtrodden began to organize. The fact that not all the budding organizations we read about were unions doesn't really matter when you consider the atmosphere that this empowerment must have created. Public employees striking -- that takes some guts. Clearly, this was a time when people felt unafraid to be openly radical and unapologetic for their beliefs and themselves: that kind of initiative benefitted unions.

My question: in the reading it was mentioned that prisoners' groups like the California Prisoners Union spoke out for the "convicted class". The Black Panthers and other groups, during this time, were trying to bring attention to the fact that minority groups were unfairly over-represented in jail populations nationwide. Currently, the situation is much the same, although prison conditions are arguably not as horrible. (Aside: I went to a leadership conference at a public school in Dorchester last year, and I still remember when the coordinator asked people in the audience to raise their hands if they had a family member or friend in jail. Our of a group of 400 mostly black teenagers, about 350 raised their hands. This is Boston, so the historical racism might play into those numbers, but I'm sure it's still true across America... ).
So anyway; do you think the issue of "the convicted class" needs to be addressed? How has it changed since the days of the Black Panthers?

eraskin · Joined: 11 May 2010 Posts: 15

Corinna that’s a really interesting question. I was actually talking to my brother the other day who just finished a class about the anthropology of prison. I absolutely think the convicted class is still a problem in modern America, and absolutely needs to be addressed. I guess in many ways, I think the best way to solve this problem is to get rid of the whole concept of prison in general-replacing it with a system that helps it’s inmates instead of punishes them-although, I understand that’s a little unrealistic at this point in time. So, there is the problem of the mistreatment of the prisoners themselves, but what about the communities they come from? It’s not just the prisoner who goes to prison, but it’s the families that grow up with a single parent and with one income. Prisons almost create a whole new class construct!

During the 60’s there appeared to be many blatantly racist organizations supporting white supremacy, for example: ROAR (Restore Our Alienated Rights). Do you think the people who supported this group feared the integration of classrooms, or also a mix of classes?

lilycp · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 20

The combination of these two movements is very interesting because it would seem from our reading that social justice and community service suddenly become a much bigger part of unionizing or maybe even the other way around. The unions were no longer organized for the purpose of striking but also there to set up extensive support networks for each other. The institution of successful programs like free breakfasts and daycare centers gave off the message to me that this was a time where the idea that “if you want something done right you’ve got to do it your self” was very true.
The group of people organizing was also different from the pervious mass unionizing movements we’ve read about. A new demographic of union members took the stage for this round of the labor movement. Minorities and women seemed to be the base of all the success. People such as Jessie Lopez de la Cruz and Joyce Miller were the ones making changes not the blue to white collar men of the AFL-CIO.

Question: what impact did the service project carried out by groups like the Young Lords and the Black Panthers have on the success (or failure) of the 60’s labor movement?

rzayas · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 14

Ziz you bring up an interesting point, because I know for kids under 18 who get convicted of certain things, sometimes they have the ability to go to a halfway house instead of get sent to juvy. Which seems like such a better way of punishing them, because they're not locked up behind bars.

In response to Ziz's question, the people who supported ROAR were defidently living in fear of integration in the classroom. They were trying to protect the 'vanishing rights of white citizens' and the best way to start that was to cut off the educational rights of other races. For the part of the question that address's class; the fear of mixed classes is a very important concept. I did my project on Lucy Parson's who believed that race issues were a result of class injustices. The ROAR supporters weren't only trying to segregate the classroom; they were also trying to keep classes separated as well, and the best way they thought to do so was by separating classes with difference races.

Question: What direct connections can you make between racism, classism, and sexism in modern day work places? Like for instance, do women of color tend to have certain jobs in certain places? Or another example would be, are their different classes all working within the same field and does that connect to race or sex?

jpark · Joined: 07 May 2010 Posts: 17

I enjoyed reading this chapter because from what we have read in the past, I felt that there were a lot of sexism and racism going on in the society. Immigrants, blacks, and Asians were not welcomed in some of the unions, but this chapter provided information of minorities creating their own group to fight back racial segregation. Some of the examples can be The Black Panther Party, Young Lords Party, El Comite and much more. By joining these groups, individuals were able to gain somewhat of freedom and power through cooperation and sharing common values and identity. Now I am answering the question above: During the 60’s there appeared to be many blatantly racist organizations supporting white supremacy, for example: ROAR (Restore Our Alienated Rights). Do you think the people who supported this group feared the integration of classrooms, or also a mix of classes?
I believe people who supported this group definitely feared the integration of classrooms because they did not want other people with different backgrounds to be mixed with white students. They believed that white people deserve the best of everything and therefore should not be “interfere” with people who have different race. People who supported such group feared that they would be in a same social class as other people w/ different racial groups.
Now my question is from what we have learned so far, can you give an example of another incident where group of people tried to block or stop other people from doing something in order to make them have lower social standing?

Maxwell A · Joined: 10 May 2010 Posts: 19

The social movements of the 1960s did seem to have a major influence on the labor movement in the period. The civil rights movement did have effects on the leadership and actions of unions. When I was in New York last fall, I learned that 1199, which had previously had jewish leadership was taken over by Latino unions. The leadership and composition of the union had changed. The strategy and tactics of the unions changed. Rather than just working to improve wages and benefits, the unions started taking on social issues such as protest against the vietnam war.

What I did not see in the chapter was the relationship between the poor in their advocates in community organizing. The poor (and their advocates) and the middle class in unions like the autoworkers likely had very different interests. Community organizers were pushing to help the poor but some of the most successful unions may have had little incentive to help them. The poor were not supported by the majority of the labor movement. The war on poverty sought to improve their lives, but did not seem to guarantee them jobs with a decent wage.

My question is which unions were most successful in recruiting new members? Was it unions that embraced the changing diversity of America or those that tried to protect the jobs of workers that they already represented? There is also a question about the effectiveness of new union tactics borrowed from community activism. Were these new tactics more or less effective in organizing workers than earlier ones?

jcho · Joined: 20 Nov 2009 Posts: 22

I also thought this reading was enjoyable since it seemed quite different from the other chapters we've read. The major problem of discrimination was brought to the attention of the public (or at least now something was being done). The issues regarding race and sex was "solved" through parties such as the Black Panther Party. These parties affected the labor movement as well. The gain of "freedom" and the people with common identities forming bonds created more opinions on the idea of "worker's rights". Many immigrants now didn't have to pick a union or the other due to their "requirements" but could now group together with their fellow people.
Answering the question of the opinions on the mixed classes, I also agree that they definitely feared this idea. It is interesting to see how much of the labor movement, although seems like an act for the poor, is set up to only help the few working class (what are the unemployed poor people supposed to do? They obviously had no unions for the poor, since who would they rebel against?). The white working class were the subject during most of the labor movement.

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