Local 19 members celebrate Juneteenth to protect the port & save the historic home of Frank Jenkins

Members of ILWU Local 19 celebrated Juneteenth by organizing two events. The first was held on the Seattle waterfront at Terminal 46. The terminal is in danger of losing cargo-handling space to a planned expansion of the adjacent Coast Guard base. The event began at 9 a.m. with a motorcade starting at the Local 19 hall to the Terminal 46 main truck entrance.

At the event, Local 19 Education Committee presented a 6-panel poster display that featured historic articles from the Dispatcher covering the Cold- War era conflict between the union and federal government over The Magnuson Act. This port security legislation was enacted in 1950 and empowered the U.S. Coast Guard to screen maritime workers in the Puget Sound for communist ties and deny union workers the ability to freely access the docks and vessels. The Magnuson Act was seen by the ILWU as a way to weaken militant unions including the LWU and the Marine Cooks and Stewards Union.

The Port Security Program on the disproportionately affected black dockworkers and seamen. Black members of the ILWU constituted two-thirds of longshore workers denied Coast Guard passes in the Puget Sound despite the fact that they comprised a minority of the union’s membership. The Marine Cooks and Stewards Union also had a disproportionate number of Black members screened off of ships along with the entirety of their elected leadership. The Supreme Court eventually ruled the law unconstitutional in 1968.

Local 19 President Rich Austin, Jr. spoke at the event. He stressed the importance of stepping up the fight against racism and discrimination.

“The past year has shown us that the struggle against racism in this country is as important as it has ever been. The struggle for equality is not over until the people who have been marginalized tell us it is over. Racism and discrimination have no place amongst the working class,” Austin said.

The afternoon event was held outside the former house of Local 19 icon Frank Jenkins. Jenkins was a prominent Black & Filipino longshore worker, leader, and founding member of Local 19 who was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the longshore contract and for being an important labor and civil rights leader in the Pacific Northwest. The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington participated in and contributed significantly to the afternoon event.

Jenkins himself ran afoul of the Port Security Program when he had his Coast Guard permit was pulled in 1955 after he testified on behalf of Harry Bridges during his deportation trial. His Coast Guard pass was eventually reinstated after Jenkins fought the ban in court.

The goal of the demonstration was to raise awareness about the historic nature of Jenkins’ former home at 1419 24th Ave E in the Central District or Historic Africatown Seattle—a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood near the waterfront that is now proposed to be demolished in order to build small efficiency units. A progressive local Seattle blog and social media project called Vanishing Seattle made Local 19 members aware of the pending demolition of Jenkins former home.