#naacp

Today in Labor History July 28, 1917: The Silent Parade took place in New York City, in protest against murders, lynchings, and other violence directed towards African Americans. Organizers set up the parade to protest the East Saint Louis race riots (May-July 1917), when whites murdered up to 200 African Americans, and caused 6,000 black residents to become homeless. While Woodrow Wilson was entering World War I to “make the world safe for democracy,” black Americans were asking when he’d do the same for them. The Silent March was organized by a coalition of groups, led by the new NAACP. Up to 15,000 participated. Organizers wanted president Wilson to enact anti-lynching legislation. He refused. Wilson appointed numerous racists to his cabinet and was an outspoken defender of segregation on “scientific” grounds. He was also fond of telling racist jokes. As an academic, prior to his political career, he was an apologist for slavery. And he used his authority to actively prevent admitting African Americans into Princeton as students or faculty. Ironically, one of the primary organizers of the Silent March, W.E.B. DuBois, had been an enthusiastic supporter of the Woodrow Wilson presidential candidacy, calling him a “liberal Southerner,” who would deal fairly with Negros. The East Saint Louis racist pogrom occurred during one of the largest migrations of black workers from the South to the North. Between 1910 and 1920, half a million African Americans migrated north to Chicago, Saint Louis, Detroit, Philadelphia, and other cities. In 1919, there were 38 different racist riots in the U.S., all directed against the black community. The massacre in East Saint Louis began in response to a strike by white employees of the Aluminum Ore Company, after the bosses hired black replacement workers, a common practice of the bosses to divide the working class and weaken unions. Additionally, many of the unions were overtly racist and excluded black workers, including the Aluminum Ore union. To make matters worse, employment agents were going to the South and recruiting African Americans under false pretenses, offering them stable jobs and housing when, in reality, they were being recruited to work as scabs. So, it is likely that many, if not most, of the workers didn’t even know they were being hired as scabs. Regardless, they wouldn’t have been allowed to join the union, either. Racism by unions and white workers was not inevitable in those days, and it was certainly counterproductive to the aims of working people of all backgrounds and identities. Consider that in 1920, in rural Mingo County, West Virginia, when the coal bosses brought in African American workers as scabs, the UMWA encouraged them to join the union and the strike, and achieved solidarity between white, native-born workers, African Americans from the South, and Italian immigrants. This is portrayed in John Sayles film, Matewan. And by 1916, thanks largely to the superb organizing of Ben Fletcher, all but two of Philadelphia’s docks were controlled by the IWW, uniting a workforce that was 33% Irish, 33% Polish & Lithuanian, and 33% African American. Fletcher also traveled up and down the east coast organizing dockers across race. At that time, roughly 10% of the IWW’s 1 million members were African American. Read my biography of Fletcher here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/ #workingclass #LaborHistory #africanamerican #racism #lynching #protest #riots #naacp #union #strike #scab #IWW #benfletcher #webdubois #BlackMastadon

Today in Labor and Writing History July 16, 1862: Ida B Wells was born, Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was most famous for her nation-wide anti-lynching campaign, launched after the murder of three black businessmen in Memphis, Tennessee. Wells was born into slavery, in Mississippi, and spent her lifetime fighting racism and prejudice. She worked as a journalist, where she documented lynchings. She also founded the NAACP. Her autobiography, “Crusade for Justice,” was published posthumously in 1970. #workingclass #LaborHistory #IdaBWells #slavery #lynching #naacp #racism #mississippi #BlackMastodon

CounterPunch.org | The Troubling Precedent of Federal Immunity for Corporate Pollution by Matt Sedlar AI generated summary, Read the full article for complete information. The article reports that the Department of Justice has asked a federal court to dismiss the NAACP’s lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI over its “Colossus” gas‑turbine plant, arguing that the turbines are essential for data centers that run the AI tool Grok—deemed critical to U.S. military operations in Iran—and that federal policy, national‑security interests, and the public‑interest outweigh local environmental concerns, even asserting that citizens lack standing to sue under the Clean Air Act. The case stems from complaints by residents of Memphis’s predominantly Black Boxtown neighborhood, who say the methane‑burning turbines emit nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and carbon monoxide linked to asthma, heart disease and cancer, with measured pollutant levels rising sharply after the plant’s installation. The DOJ’s stance mirrors a recent Supreme Court ruling in Plaquemines v. Chevron, which framed corporate environmental liabilities as federal matters when tied to government contracts, potentially granting corporations a special shield that weakens local regulatory power. The article warns that such precedents could erode community protections against corporate pollution unless state regulators or a more environmentally focused administration intervene. Read more: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/29/the-troubling-precedent-of-federal-immunity-for-corporate-pollution/ #ElonMusk #xAI #NAACP #EPA #environment

In the #AnguillaPrisonMassacre, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1947, a drunken warden in #Georgia used a submachine gun to kill eight #Black prisoners. Their "crime"? Refusing to dig ditches barefoot in snake-infested swamp land. The state covered it up but #NAACP revealed the facts.