Union Leaders, Activists Convene At Labor Conference In Detroit

By Mahalieka Muhammad | Last updated: Sep 6, 2016 - 11:24:55 AM

DETROIT—The A. Philip Randolph Institute recently held its 47th National Education Conference and Youth Conference at the Detroit Marriott Renaissance Hotel. Nearly 500 labor and civil rights activists, including a delegation of youth from around the country attended this year’s event.

The Institute is the Senior Constituency Group of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) with branches all over the country. Clayola Brown has served as the group’s first female president since in 2004. Her commitment to labor rights also earned her roles within the NAACP, on the United Nations Advisory Council, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Women, Inc.

This year’s theme, “The Power of Unity... All Workers Matter” echoed throughout the Aug. 24-28 conference. Ms. Brown was able to bring many noted union members, activists, political leaders, and entertainers to the table to discuss the powerful impact unity from Black people could have on the upcoming 2016 election.

“This conference is to inform and train delegates on the important issue directly impacting the Black community, said Ms. Brown. “We plan to explore the current 2016 elections and its potential impact on communities as well to address health, economic and social justice issues,” she added.

A. Philip Randolph was a champion of the civil rights movement working on behalf of the dispossessed Black, Brown and poor Whites. He helped win the fight to ban discrimination in the armed forces, for Black workers rights in labor and founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first Black union chartered in the AFL.

The 2016 conference opened with a Town Hall Meeting themed “Labor Creating Change with the Ballot” with moderator Joe “Black Eagle” Madison, a civil rights activist and Sirius XM talk show host. Panelists included Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition, Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Attorney Benjamin Crump, past president of the National Black Lawyers Association, Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the Advancement Project, Rev. Jesse Jackson, president and founder of Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Tim Hardaway, businessman, retired NBA player and current assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons.

“In Virginia, it’s known that one in five African American men cannot vote because of felon disenfranchisement,” said Ms. Brown to begin the panel discussion. Due to the war on drugs there are communities that have “no political voice” and cannot vote. It was her efforts, working with Governor Terry McAuliffe (D-Va.), that lead to an executive order immediately reinstating 206,000 ex-felons voting rights in April of this year.

Republicans sued and the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled the governor could only restore voting rights on a case-by-case basis which resulted in only 13,000 rights being restored to date.

Terrance Hamilton of the A. Philip Randolph Institute branch in Seattle, Wash. and director of TDH & KT video told The Final Call about his desire to break the cycle of imprisonment within his family. He shared how two of his older brothers are serving life and his third is serving eight years for a crime he says he didn’t commit. Incarceration in his family motivated Mr. Hamilton to change his life and break the vicious cycle for his younger siblings and peers.

Mr. Hamilton works with various organizations, offers a GED program and works with at-risk youth and youth detention centers in Tacoma, Wash. “We already know what the consequences of crime does,” he explained. He wants young people to think strongly about “the outcomes of success.”

Rev. Jackson addressed the importance of registering people considered functionally illiterate 18-year-old high school students to vote, stating, “If you don’t vote because they don’t let you vote, it’s equal to not voting.” He told participants “not voting is not sound strategy.”

During the town hall both attorneys Crump and Arnwine shared their perspective on the perceived threat of Black youth in the eyes of a White power structure.

“This is why Tamir Rice is dead. They see our children and they see grownups. They see our children and they see threats. There’s always this desire to find the African Americans who are insubordinate to Whites and to hold them accountable and to put down the rebellious ones,” said Atty. Arnwine.

Va. Gov. Terry McAuliffe

Benjamin Crump sounded a roll call of names of some of the Black men, women and children that have died at the hands of police or while in police custody including, Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Alicia Thomas, Philando Castile, Eric Gardner and others. “I submit to you that it is worse that they are killing us in the courtroom,” said Atty. Crump.

“One out of three Black people are going to spend at least nine months in jail” because we keep electing “judges and the prosecutors, who have all the power over and over again.”

Also in attendance for the conference were local Detroit leaders, Rev. Wendell Anthony, pastor of Fellowship Chapel, Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, Judge Deborah Thomas, Wayne County 3rd Circuit Court and Robert Dunlap, Chief of Jails and Courts, Wayne County.

Actor and activist Danny Glover flew in from Chile and spoke about how power always tries to diminish the capacity of people fighting for change. Actress and activist Erika Alexander, commentator Jeff Johnson, as well as national and regional union caucuses discussed the importance of the power of women in politics, legislative agendas, community partnerships, the impact of social media, civil engagement, the commission on racial and economic justice and other topics.

Also present was the Honorable Marilyn Mosby, State Attorney for Baltimore, speaking at the special Saturday morning plenary session. She asked the audience a very serious question: “Other than expressing our outrage, what are we doing as Black people? What are we doing about the systemic economic, political, social inequality that we as Black people are experiencing in this country?”

“We can’t continue to march and protest and think that it will get better on its own. It’s time for us to truly understand the power of our unity,” she added.

Annie Stabler of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (UAW Local 469) which represents over 600 union members and who has been in the civil rights movement and with the Institute for 30 years says she felt it was important to attend the conference.

“It’s just not about voting, it’s about talking about the community as a whole, providing health care services, food banks and shelter for the homeless,” said Ms. Stabler. She also shared words of guidance to youth in attendance by telling them to “get an education that’s number one, but when you get an education and you get somewhere in life, get a good job, don’t forget where you came from and who got you there.”

The conference ended with a closing session, awards ceremony and gala.

The Final Call