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Why the Labor Movement Must Join the Anti-Racist Struggle To Make Black Lives Matter
There's so much goodness in this article that I couldn't decide on which excerpts to share in DU. Be sure to read it in full:
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/19038/unions-labor-black-lives-matter-anti-racist-racial-justice
Why the Labor Movement Must Join the Anti-Racist Struggle To Make Black Lives Matter
ANDREW TILLETT-SAKS
APR 6, 2016
(In These Times) American unions appear on their deathbed. The percentage of workers in unions is at its lowest point in 75 years, corporate politicians have spread union-busting right-to-work laws to more than half the states in the union and labor’s traditional strongholds (from manufacturing to the public sector) are rapidly being eroded. But an opportunity for labor to reverse its fortunes looms large in the Black Lives Matter movement, the largest wave of anti-racist struggle in recent memory.
If American labor is going to reverse its declining fortunes, it must begin with attacking American racism.
Racism is the lynchpin that holds corporate America together—as well as the shoals upon which American labor has sunk for centuries. Racism in America—past and present, from the colonial to the Trump era—divides workers so to prevent an effective united front. The American labor movement must seize the opportunity presented by the current upsurge and put its institutional support behind the anti-racist movement. It is more than a moral matter. Organized Labor’s very existence depends on it—no American worker movement will succeed so long as racism remains rampant in America.
Activists in the labor movement must recognize that the question of which must take priority, anti-racist or labor struggle, is a false one. The two are inextricably intertwined and mutually dependent. The labor movement will never succeed without fighting and eradicating racism. Likewise, we cannot eliminate racism without eliminating the material inequality upon which it feeds. Racism is not a mere idea floating in the cultural clouds; it is an ideology rooted in and dependent on material inequality along racial lines. In the question of ending racism and economic inequality in America it is not one or the other, but both or none.
If American labor is going to reverse its declining fortunes, it must begin with attacking American racism.
Racism is the lynchpin that holds corporate America together—as well as the shoals upon which American labor has sunk for centuries. Racism in America—past and present, from the colonial to the Trump era—divides workers so to prevent an effective united front. The American labor movement must seize the opportunity presented by the current upsurge and put its institutional support behind the anti-racist movement. It is more than a moral matter. Organized Labor’s very existence depends on it—no American worker movement will succeed so long as racism remains rampant in America.
Activists in the labor movement must recognize that the question of which must take priority, anti-racist or labor struggle, is a false one. The two are inextricably intertwined and mutually dependent. The labor movement will never succeed without fighting and eradicating racism. Likewise, we cannot eliminate racism without eliminating the material inequality upon which it feeds. Racism is not a mere idea floating in the cultural clouds; it is an ideology rooted in and dependent on material inequality along racial lines. In the question of ending racism and economic inequality in America it is not one or the other, but both or none.
snip
But overcoming that racism is not impossible. This is where the opportunity presented by a rising anti-racist movement comes in. The Black Lives Matter movement is waging war on American racism. Unions can help. Primarily, unions can mobilize their still-sizable membership of 16 million workers for anti-racist struggles. Where there is anti-police brutality, anti-mass incarceration, anti-ICE or any anti-racist protest, unions should turn out their members and lend their heft to the cause. Serious turnout from labor unions would be a serious jolt for the Black Lives Matter movement—and could help transform unions’ members, too.
Second, unions have an unparalleled ability to reach white workers for anti-racist political education. Beyond the sheer number of white workers in unions’ ranks, there is no better context than labor struggle to convince workers from different backgrounds of their common bonds.
Unions should directly engage their white members through education on the anti-worker function of racism. Union leaders will meet internal resistance to committing time and resources to anti-racist struggle, but internal battles on this issue are necessary and will lead to the tough conversations members need to have.
But the crux is that unions must mobilize all of their resources and energy in the anti-racist struggle. It can’t just be a symbolic bit. Unions cannot understand anti-racism as merely solidarity work; anti-racism must be understood as a union issue itself.
Second, unions have an unparalleled ability to reach white workers for anti-racist political education. Beyond the sheer number of white workers in unions’ ranks, there is no better context than labor struggle to convince workers from different backgrounds of their common bonds.
Unions should directly engage their white members through education on the anti-worker function of racism. Union leaders will meet internal resistance to committing time and resources to anti-racist struggle, but internal battles on this issue are necessary and will lead to the tough conversations members need to have.
But the crux is that unions must mobilize all of their resources and energy in the anti-racist struggle. It can’t just be a symbolic bit. Unions cannot understand anti-racism as merely solidarity work; anti-racism must be understood as a union issue itself.
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