In a powerful and deeply moving statement today, Robert Reich remembers the murder of Civil Rights workers James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Henry Schwerner on this date, July 21, in 1964. The three young men were helping register Black citizens of Mississippi to vote. With 40% of the state's population Black, only 7% of that Black population was registered to vote in 1964. The Klan murdered these young men.
"In Black people bullied by whites. In workers bullied on the job. In girls and women bullied by men. In the disabled or gay or poor or sick or immigrant bullied by employers, landlords, politicians, insurance companies.
I saw the powerful and the powerless, the exploiters and the exploited.
It seemed as if the world had changed, but I had changed. I had a different understanding of the meaning of justice."
Today in Labor History June 21, 1964: Civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner were disappeared near Philadelphia, Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan, who beat them to death with clubs and chains. Their mangled bodies were later found by federal agents.
Millions of our fellow Americans are essentially living as if they were walking dead. No, it’s not the premise of the latest AMC apocalypse drama or a summer blockbuster — it’s the harsh reality for too many individuals and communities. They lack health insurance and, as a result, go undiagnosed. Untreated conditions manifest as silent killers.
It was challenged in federal court by four states — #Louisiana, #Mississippi, #Montana & #Idaho. The preliminary #injunction applies in only those 4 states, though similar challenges are pending in other states. Thur’s order was the 1st ruling in any of the cases.
The injunction was issued by US District Judge Terry A. Doughty, chief of the Western Dist of LA, who wrote that protecting “biological males” as if they were female subverts the purpose of #TitleIX. #law#Identity#discrimination
Today in Labor History May 13, 2019: Unita Zelma Blackwell died. She was a civil rights activist and project director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She was also the first African-American woman to be elected mayor in Mississippi.
There are Primary Elections today in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island. Wisconsin also has primaries today along with ballot measures to vote on.
Arkansas and Mississippi voters have runoff elections today to decide a handful of legislative seats that were sent to runoffs after primaries held in March.
A fourth former #Mississippi law enforcement officer who pleaded guilty to torturing two Black men was sentenced to 40 years in prison Wednesday, as accounts of the horrifying brutality of a self-styled “Goon Squad” of deputies gripped a federal courtroom.
👋🏼 A third former #Mississippi sheriff’s deputy has each been sentenced for his part in the racist torture of two Black men by a group of white officers who called themselves the “Goon Squad.” Daniel Opdyke was sentenced Wednesday to 17.5 years in federal prison. https://apnews.com/article/94d9dcfa00e582b9d50a6eb7288b058b
4 other #sheriff’s deputies & a Richland #Police Dpt officer,all #White, also pleaded #guilty & are scheduled for sentencing this week. …Federal prosecutors said the #Mississippi officers — who called themselves the “Goon squad” — forced entry into a #Braxton, MS, home on Jan 24, 2023, w/o a warrant & #assaulted the 2 #Black victims, #MichaelCoreyJenkins & #EddieParker, w/a stun gun, sex toy & other objects.
The officers then subjected the victims to a “mock #execution,” which ended when #HunterElward mistakenly shot #MichaelCoreyJenkins in the mouth, lacerating his tongue & breaking his jaw, acc/to federal prosecutors. Though Jenkins was bleeding, the officers failed to provide medical aid & instead concocted a #coverup story that included planting a gun on Jenkins & destroying evidence….
Christian Dedmon, a fmr #RankinCounty#sheriff's dpy, was sentenced to 40 yrs [better] in prison for his role in torturing #MichaelCoreyJenkins & #EddieParker, & for a separate incident where he led the #torture of a White man [oh, that’s why 40], Alan Schmidt, in Dec 2022.
Dedmon, who did not look at Jenkins & Parker as he spoke, apologized & said he'd never forgive himself for the pain he caused.
We really need to stop buying into the argument that #ClimateActivists are "radical" or "destructive". The opposite is true: the nature of the protests have been peaceful and, on the whole, pretty tame.
The idea that, say, sitting on a road is "radical", "extreme" and "criminal" came from a bunch of #FossilFuel aligned think tanks, parroted by the media.
Reject them.
The framing needs to be: Fossil fuel companies are radical, extreme, criminal.
"The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will not hear #Mckesson v. Doe, [leaving] in place a lower court decision that effectively eliminated the right to organize a mass protest in the states of #Louisiana, #Mississippi, and #Texas.
Under that lower court decision, a protest organizer faces potentially ruinous financial consequences if a single attendee at a mass protest commits an illegal act."