“Our brother killed our sister’s son and we do not have to wait for the judgment of prosecutors or courts to tell us how terrible this is.” -- Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President Many in the Labor Movement Are Learning How Critically Important It Is to Talk About Racial Justice: in Our Society And Inside our Movement Richard Trumka, the President of the AFL-CIO, recently delivered a very powerful speech in St. Louis about race. He addressed the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, in ways that brought the issue home inside the labor movement. He called it a tragedy that has ripped at the heart of the collective union family. “Union members’ lives have been profoundly damaged in ways that cannot be fixed,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka during remarks delivered at the union’s Missouri chapter convention in St. Louis. “Lesley McSpadden, Michael Brown’s mother, who works in a grocery store is our sister, an AFL-CIO union member. And Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Michael Brown is a union member too, and he is our brother. Our brother killed our sister’s son and we do not have to wait for the judgment of prosecutors or courts to tell us how terrible this is.” See the video of his complete remarks at this link: youtube/watch?v=ny8loBhqmhc Read the MSNBC story about Trumka’s speech here: msnbc/msnbc/afl-cio-president-michael-brown-family Kudos to President Trumka and union leaders everywhere who are taking the initial leadership steps to change the culture inside unions that have often left them ill-equipped to engage and address critical feedback on issues of race. “Brothers and sisters, I know there are no easy answers here … But we must use the occasion of the tragic death of Michael Brown … and its aftermath here in St. Louis … to begin a serious … and open-ended conversation … about what we can do … about what we should do. That conversation needs to be about racism...” #DismantleRacism (We’re talking about systemic, structural racism here! Join the conversation!)
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 20:37:29 +0000
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