• George Floyd murder launches national action
• COVID-19 death toll in U.S. claims over 100,000 lives
• Trump threatens to block voting & deploy military
International Officers & Executive Board take action
Black Lives Matter: Thousands of Bay Area activists participated in a car-caravan protest on May 31 that went by
the Port of Oakland to protest the police killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police. The killing has sparked ongoing
protest in over 140 cities affecting every state in the union. Photo by Brooke Anderson
Americans were already reeling in late May from the COVID-19 pandemic that claimed its 100,000th victim – the highest death toll in the world – and pushed over 40 million out of work – made worse by a chaotic, bungled federal response.
The pandemic was still raging out of control on May 25 when a group of four Minneapolis Police officers were caught on a cell phone video brutally murdering George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man who suffered a painful horrifying death that lasted almost nine minutes. The incident triggered nationwide protests that were continuing as The Dispatcher went to press.
“America is facing our largest and most challenging crisis in decades,” said ILWU International President Willie Adams. “Our response must be thoughtful, determined and guided by our union’s principles of justice and racial equality,” he said.
Strongly-worded response
The ILWU responded immediately to Mr. Floyd’s murder with a strongly-worded letter sent by President Adams on behalf of ILWU members to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, State Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo.
The letter called for the police officers responsible to be charged and tried for murder, noting that the ILWU, “…has a rich history of fighting for racial and social justice. We cannot sit back and watch the same scene unfold time and time again.”
(See the full text of President Adams’ letter here.)
The ILWU followed-up with a letter sent to Mr. Floyd’s family, conveying condolences on behalf of the union’s membership and expressing solidarity with the suffering and hardship inflicted on the family and the nation.
“The ILWU has a long and proud history of fighting for racial and social justice and our union stands in solidarity with you today. We will continue to fight for a world in which black and brown people do not have to live in fear. We will continue to fight for a world where everyone can live with dignity and respect. We will continue to demand justice for Brother Floyd.”
(See the complete letter to Mr. Floyd’s family here.)
Movement for Black Lives
Protesters across the country responded to Mr. Floyd’s murder, including ILWU members and leaders, who participated in predominantly peaceful demonstrations. Many of these actions were organized by the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), a growing national network led mostly by young people of color.
Military against protesters
President Trump chose to ignore the vast majority of peaceful protesters and focus instead on the tiny number of violent actors, in order to justify a broad new “law and order” campaign to violently suppress peaceful demonstrators.
The President also threatened to send U.S. armed forces into America’s cities and towns. In Washington, DC, the President’s team sent dozens of armored vehicles onto city streets, put military helicopters into the air with instructions to intimidate protesters and readied thousands of troops to march on protesters with bayonets fixed on automatic weapons.
Voter suppression
Political analysts said President Trump was involving the military and smearing peaceful protesters in order to gain votes for his troubled re-election campaign. The President seemed to confirm his political motives by also launching a campaign to block states from encouraging voters to cast ballots by mail – now a practical necessity because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump threatened to withhold funds from states who encourage vote-by-mail, falsely claiming that mail ballots are somehow more likely to be fraudulent. In fact, voting-by-mail has long been used successfully in dozens of states, with no evidence that it is in any way associated with fraud.
Military leaders draw the line
Trump, who dodged the draft with five deferments because of “bone spurs,” surrounded himself with military brass from the beginning of his term, calling them, “my generals.” Some of those, including General Mattis who served as Trump’s Defense Secretary, are now criticizing the President as a danger to the nation.
ILWU leaders take action
On May 11, the ILWU International Executive Board (IEB) held a special meeting – on Zoom video because of the COVID-19 pandemic – to address the nation’s political circumstances and choose the best candidate to help working families and union members in the November Presidential election. After a brief discussion, Board members voted overwhelmingly to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden for President. Three Board members voted against the endorsement.
Statement of Policy adopted
A Statement of Policy concerning the Presidential election was adopted by the Executive Board. It began by outlining the challenges facing American workers and the need for new leadership in the White House:
“As the nation faces the weight of an ongoing pandemic, the corrosion of labor law, environmental protection, budget cuts in education, public services, growing tolerance of racism and gender prejudice, the collapse of the health care system, and ongoing economic recession, there has never been a more urgent time to defeat Donald Trump than in this presidential election. Vice President Joe Biden is the only candidate for the task of uniting Americans and other candidates. He has a solid record of supporting working families and their interests. We are confident the Vice President will support sensible tax policies (rather than tax cuts for the one-percenters); public education (rather than charter schools and vouchers); expanded health care coverage; reform of our labor laws, fairer trade agreements, and reasonable immigration policies.
“Over the past several months, Vice President Biden has demonstrated a remarkable ability to campaign and activate voters. His campaign, once thought to be moderate, stormed back to build an insurmountable lead in the Democratic Party forcing the other candidates to drop out in unity and endorse him for President. His electability is critical if we are to have any hope of removing the current occupant of the White House. Simply said, we need a candidate who can beat Donald Trump in November and Vice President Joe Biden is that candidate at this time in U.S. history.”
See the complete Statement of Policy here.
Other IEB action taken on May 11 Local 142 member Denise Sherman was sworn-in by President Adams as a new member of the International Executive Board for Hawaii.
It was also announced that the August IEB meeting in Canada has been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The next International Executive Board meeting will be held on June 18-19, again using Zoom internet video because of COVID-19 restrictions.