Public Employee Press

Black History Month at DC 37
Union honors trailblazers
Union people get ready for election Day 2012

DC 37's 32nd annual salute to Black History honored trailblazers past and present, including activists Angela Davis and the late Fanny Lou Hamer, National Urban League President Marc Morial, the Tuskegee Airmen and Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

The Black History Committee's theme for the month highlighted the historic presidency of Barack Obama and kicked off the union's endorsement of his campaign for reelection on Nov. 6, said Committee Chair Deborah Pitts.

"The achievements we've gained came from masses rising up militantly for freedom," said Davis, guest speaker at SSEU Local 371's Feb. 3 Black History Month celebration. Davis said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement evolved into something larger, "a freedom movement that will rise against racism, sexism, homophobia and vulture capitalism. It laid the foundation for Obama's presidency and the Occupy Wall Street movement and rekindles a spirit of resistance that could not have happened under Bush."

"There is a great history in this country of unions fighting together with and supporting the civil rights movement," said former New Orleans Mayor Morial Feb. 9 at the Political Action Committee's event.

With a tribute to R&B legends Sam and Dave and Marvin Gaye, Local 2627 on Feb. 10 presented Cody Childs and his band, who electrified the audience with covers and observations about the racism and challenges of that era.

"Out of the Valley: Facing an Uphill Battle" was the theme of Local 1407's Feb. 13 program featuring guest speaker Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson. On Feb. 14, the Retirees Association marked the month with presentations on African American pioneers of the country's first two centuries by members Irene Jenkins, Eugene Bennett and Ana Gale.

Local 154 members watched "The Fannie Lou Hamer Story" Feb. 15, the story of the legendary Mississippi civil rights fighter, and heard from DC 37 Delegate Isaac Parsee, who worked with Ms. Hamer in the 1960s. When sharecropper Hamer registered to vote, she was arrested, beaten and jailed. A leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Hamer founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged the state's all-white delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention and ended up changing the rules of the party.

World-famous African percussionist Kimati Dinizulu played traditional African music for New York Public Library Guild Local 1930's Feb. 16 program. "During the Atlantic slave trade, there were always people who held on to various parts of our culture," Dinizulu said. "We had to adapt our culture, but the musical traditions survived."

Remember our history

On Feb. 21 Local 957 presented Pure Entertainment, a play and poetry written and directed by Francine Crawford.

Health Services Employees Local 768 saluted "Black Women's Contribution to the Labor Movement," paying homage to three DC 37 leaders - Executive Director Lillian Roberts, Local 957 President Walthene Primus, who chairs the AFSCME and DC 37 Women's Committees, and Local 420 President Carmen Charles, new head of the city chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women. Dr. Rosemari Mealy, assistant director of the DC 37 Education Fund, described women's contributions to the union movement since the 1970s. "Black scholars and authors have unearthed the stories of women of African descent whose activism and leadership was pivotal to the movement," Mealy said.

Local 372 brought the Rev. Zelda Washington and keynoter City Council member Charles Barron to the union Feb. 23. "Someone told Harriet Tubman the plantation is permanent . . . but it's gone," said Barron. "Remember that no form of oppression is permanent."

Hospital Employees Local 420's Feb. 24 celebration featured Olanike Alabi, the Democratic female district leader of Brooklyn's 57th Assembly District, and dancers from the Kecde! Children's Ensemble.

On Finale Night, Feb. 29, Local 1549 honored Tuskegee Airman Floyd Carter, one of the first African American military aviators who fought Jim Crow and pushed the U.S. Army toward desegregation during World War II. Carter, served as a lieutenant colonel in the Korean and Vietnam wars and a New York Police Dept. Detective in the Elite Intelligence unit, which protects dignitaries. The event also included City Council member Robert Jackson and City Comptroller John Liu.

"Black History Month is a time of reflection on the past, how far we have come," said Roberts. "The Republicans have targeted labor unions and blame us for the mess Wall Street created. This war against workers is the worst we've seen. But, as in the struggle for civil rights, we will fight back and win."