It
always used to bother me at work that every Black History Month which was well
celebrated in the public sector workplace was never about the incredible
contribution black workers, black labor, made to the history of the US in the
face of the most brutal oppression. It was usually about black artists,
inventors, famous people etc. These should be celebrated of course. And if
Martin Luther King or especially Malcolm X were prominent, it was as carnival
figures devoid of politics. So I wrote this piece 15 years ago and handed
it out, left it on the tables etc. I did that every year in a very diverse blue
collar work environment. After I retired I used to send it out to lists I
was on and I don't do it any more as I thought I probably would write it
differently. But on re-reading it I wouldn't change much, it still reflects my
views in general. As we haven't had anything up for BHM this will
suffice. There is a part two I'll put up later. Richard Mellor
Black History
Month
 |
| 8Memphis sanitation strike 1969. MLK was murdered while supporting this strike |
Of course, Martin Luther King and
Malcolm X stand out as two of the giants of American history in general and African
American history in particular. These
two individuals arose during a period of social upheaval in this country, a
time when the very foundation of an inherently savage and racist state was
threatened by a mass movement of a huge segment of the population. Both these individuals were, in their
different ways, voices of this movement.
Both very political people, hounded by the FBI and the state and
eventually, as many believe including this writer, murdered by it; in Malcom
X's case with the apparent cooperation of now Nation of Islam leader, Louis
Farrakhan. Malcolm X and Dr. King, due
to their popularity among the black population, as well as the white, have been
reluctantly accepted and given holidays etc. to commemorate their names. Their political development, what they
actually stood for, particularly in the case of Malcolm X, has been
sanitized.
It is impossible in such a short
space to give an historical account of the role of African Americans in the
Labor and working class movement. But
two recent figures, one unknown to many and one well known, must also stand
out. E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks. E.D. Nixon was in the Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters AFL-CIO and through his Union activism had learned many
organizational skills which he used as president of the Montgomery, Alabama
NAACP. Rosa Parks, was secretary of this
chapter and eventually ended up working as Nixon's secretary. It was Brother
Nixon who made bond for Rosa Parks when she was arrested for refusing to give
up her seat on the bus to a white man.
It was E.D. Nixon, trade unionist and member of the Sleeping Car Porters
Union that decided that Rosa Parks' case was the perfect case for a boycott of
the Montgomery buses. This was the spark
that in many ways is seen as the beginning of the civil rights movement that
changed U.S. society and the world forever.
Despite views to the contrary,
Rosa Parks was not this meek lady who just happened to be too tired to get up
out of her seat one day. Her life in the
South had prepared her many times for moments like these and as she said,
"I had almost a life history of being rebellious about being mistreated
because of my color." E. D. Nixon
made another historic decision that was to influence history and the life of
one individual in particular. While listening to a guest speaker for the NAACP
at the state teachers college he commented to his friend after the speech that,
"...you know, that guy made a heck of a speech." That "guy " was Martin Luther
King, and it was Nixon who recommended King for the presidency of the
Montgomery Improvement Association responsible for running the boycott.
The history of African American
workers in the struggle for equality for all people is impressive. Many were often forced at gun-point to cross picket
lines by agents of the employers or the police who were representing the
employers. This was done by the employers to increase racial tension and
division among the white and black workers, as they do today but much more
subtly. Black workers often found
themselves with nowhere to go as they were abused by the employers and excluded
from the Unions on the basis of their color. From the Colored National labor
Union of the 1870's to the present day, African American workers organizations
have fought for equality for all workers.
The struggle against segregated unions was something all workers should
thank them for as we have all benefited from it.
It is no accident that perhaps
the greatest American leader of the modern era, Malcolm X was assassinated at a
period in his life when he spoke for unity across color lines as opposed to a
period when he supported segregation and made viscous attacks on white people
in general with no class distinctions but solely along racial lines. Though
hated by the establishment in his early years, the role he was playing of
dividing workers along color lines was much more acceptable than his calls for
unity toward the end of his life as his thinking changed and he took a more
class approach to politics.
When both he and Martin Luther
King moved closer to the Trade Union movement (King was killed while supporting
an AFSCME Picket line and Malcolm X was speaking more often at Union functions)
they became a bigger threat. After all, these were the organizations of predominantly
white workers. Support from liberal
middle class whites was one thing, but white workers looking to black leaders,
particularly ones who attacked the system itself, was unacceptable. The failure of the Labor leadership to combat
racism correctly is exemplified by their failure to win Malcolm X. I believe he
was at one time in the UAW, and had the Unions fought racism in an aggressive
and militant way he would undoubtedly have been attracted to them. Instead, the Nation of Islam despite its
sectarian and non-class approach, but vocal attacks on racism, offered him what
appeared to be a legitimate explanation of the horror and history that was his
life and the life of many of his people here in the U.S.
Malcolm X clearly had a global
view before his death. He formed the
Organization for Afro American Unity and said in Feb. 1967:
"Any kind of movement for
freedom of Black people based solely within the confines of America is
absolutely doomed to fail. So one of the
first steps by those of us in the Organization of Afro American Unity was to
come up with a program that would make our grievances international and make
the world see that our problem was no longer a Negro problem or an American
problem but a human problem. A problem
for humanity. And a problem which should be attacked by all elements of
humanity."
And on many of the mainstream
Black leaders of the time who, like many today have found comfortable niches
for themselves in the system, cozying up to rich whites with power or like
those that kiss up to the white employers while attacking white workers, he said:
"And these hand-picked
Negroes were given big positions and then they were used to open up their
mouths and tell the world, "Look at how much progress we're making."
He should say, look at how much progress he is making. For while these hand-picked Negroes were
eating high on the hog, rubbing elbows with white folk, sitting in Washington,
D.C., the masses of black people in this country continued to live in the slum
and in the ghetto. The masses of Black
people in this country remain unemployed and the masses of Black people in this
country continue to go to the worst schools and get the worst education."
Malcolm X was assassinated as he
was developing his thinking more and more along lines that included all workers
in the struggle for justice. Had he not been cut down so early in life, it is
quite possible that so many of us would have come to love and respect him as
the great individual that he was and it is entirely possible he could have
influenced greatly, the direction of the Labor movement for the better.
Of course, US capitalism has thrived on racism and
oppression. It's in the nature of the system. And part of this is to seek to
repress every aspect of culture that is not under big business’ control,
including that culture that comes from the experience of black Americans. This
also means trying to belittle the role that black people in general and as
individuals have played in this country. It's important to counter this subtle
(and sometimes not so subtle) racist propaganda. However, we should never lose
sight of the fact that the other side of the equation is that all oppressed
people -- that is, all working class people -- have more in common than any
workers do with any capitalists. And just as white capitalists try to bind
white workers to them, try to convince them they are on the same side because
they are white skinned, so do the black capitalists with regard to black
workers-- the better to exploit us all.
For more reading on the History
of African Americans and the labor movement
see, Philip Foner,
"Organized Labor and the Black Worker".
Indignant heart by Charles Denby
Negroes with Guns by Robert F Williams
And on the civil rights movement,
the excellent, "My Soul is Rested"
Interviews with many of the participants by Howell Raines.
Richard Mellor
South Area Service Center
2-5-01
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