Angela Davis made an honorary member of Local 10 in Juneteenth induction ceremony
On Juneteenth, ILWU Local 10 honored civil rights icon, scholar, activist, and public intellectual, Angela Davis by making her an honorary member of the local. Davis joins Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as an honorary member of Local 10 as well as performer Paul Robeson and illustrator Rockwell Kent who were both made honorary members of the ILWU during the 1943 International Convention.
Robeson was unanimously granted a lifetime honorary ILWU membership for his “steadfast devotion and service to the cause of democracy and to the economic and cultural advancement of all peoples.” He was especially honored for his support of sugar cane workers in Hawaii who were organizing and joining the ILWU to improve working conditions. Illustrator Rockwell Kent who was granted an honorary membership at the same time, illustrated the first issue of The Dispatcher in December 1942 and remained an ILWU supporter his entire life.
Juneteenth celebration
The induction ceremony for Angela Davis and Juneteenth celebration took place at the Local 10 hall. June 19th, also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day as well as Juneteenth, has been celebrated by African-Americans as a holiday since the late 1800s.
It commemorates the end of slavery in America and the ongoing struggle for Black freedom. This year’s celebration was especially sweet since Juneteenth was finally recognized as a federal holiday— the first national holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States.
Drill Team
The Local 10 Drill Team escorted Davis into the hall. The Drill Team then performed to the delight of the approximately 300 people in attendance. Local 10 President Trent Willis welcomed everyone to the event and acknowledged ILWU International President Willie Adams, International Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris and Coast Committeeman Cam Williams who were all in attendance. Local 10 Drill Team member Janice Smith kicked off the event with a stunning rendition of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
Protecting jobs at the Port of Oakland
Social justice attorney and ILWU Northern California District Council endorsed candidate for the 18th Assembly District, Janani Ramachandran, was one of several speakers at the event. Ramachandran praised the ILWU for being a “fierce fighter for justice” for decades and said she was honored to have the endorsement of the most social-justice-minded union in the country.
“Together we will protect the Port of Oakland, our jobs, our livelihoods, and our communities,” she said. “We will stand up to billionaire interests, sports stadiums, and condominiums because our jobs, our communities are at stake. We will not let them win.”
After Ramachandran spoke, Willis thanked Ramachandran for opposing the Howard Terminal baseball stadium and emphasized the threat the project poses to longshore jobs at the Port of Oakland.
“We have a real crisis at the Port of Oakland. Billionaire John Fisher wants to build a playground where we work. He wants to build condominiums where we work,” Willis said.
“If we allow condominiums to be built where we work, we won’t be working there long. We have to support the people who are running for state offices and city and county offices that have the same positions we have.”
Other speakers at the event included former ILWU International President Brian McWilliams, Local 10 members Vanetta Hamlin and Linda Adams, Bay Area Pensioners President Lawrence Thibeaux, and Local 10 pensioners Clarence Thomas and Jack Heyman.
Induction ceremony
When introducing Angela Davis, Willis recalled Davis’s speech during the 2020 Juneteenth rally and march at the Port of Oakland where she stated that if she had not chosen to become a college professor, she would have wanted to be a member of the ILWU. “I thought that was one of the greatest statements I’ve ever heard,” Willis said.
Davis thanked Local 10 for the honor and recounted her long historical connection to the ILWU, and the shared commitment to internationalism she shares with the local.
“I am deeply grateful for this opportunity to be inducted as an honorary member of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10,” Davis said. She recognized “the role that this union has played not only in upholding workers’ rights but in leading the struggle to combat racism and combat racial capitalism.” Davis said that she was particularly proud to be inducted on Juneteenth.
“It’s been one year since this great union led the major mobilization to protest the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and too many others on Juneteenth at the Port of Oakland. Local 10 has been at the forefront of radical unionism for my entire career. I learned from this union why workers are the very heart of revolutionary struggle,” Davis said.
“I cannot explain how inspired I am to be inducted into this great union that has embraced the internationalist causes that have been close to my heart from the Abraham Lincoln Brigades in the Spanish Civil War to solidarity with the Chilean people as they resisted fascism of the Pinochet regime to the fight to end South African Apartheid and the current fight to end Israeli Apartheid. I cannot tell you how privilege I feel to be made an honorary member of this local along with the great Martin Luther King. Let me end by saying as you all say, and we all must say, an injury to one is an injury to all.”
1972 resolution supporting Davis
The ILWU’s connection to Angela Davis dates back decades. At the 1971 ILWU General Convention, delegates passed a resolution urging full support for a fair trial for Davis and for her to be released on bail. Davis had been charged with murder because guns registered in her name were used in an armed takeover of a courtroom in Marin County, California, in which four people were killed. Davis was in jail for over a year before being granted bail in February of 1972. She was acquitted of all charges months later.
The Convention resolution on the Davis case linked her prosecution with the prosecution of other labor militants in American history including Tom Mooney and Harry Bridges. “Now there is a concentrated and relentless crusade to kill Angela Davis,” the resolution read. “Prejudice and frame-up is now employed to crush black militancy. The same device has always been used against labor when the powers of big business and government decide that organized workers are ‘getting out of line’ in their struggle for a better life. When President Nixon, Governor Reagan and the big money press incite the legal lynching of Angela Davis, experience and common sense tell us to beware. These are our enemies too and it could well be us next time around.”
