Justifiable fury at the loss of innocent lives in Gaza shouldn’t lead to the destruction of millions of innocent lives here at home.
by Harold Meyerson
October 31, 2024
 
With polls showing that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are running even in nearly every swing state, this election will turn on the decisions of very small subsets of voters. One of those subsets surely isn’t contemplating voting for Trump, but may end up electing him anyway.
I refer to those voters so understandably appalled by Israel’s war on Gaza and the toll it’s taken in innocent lives that they may not vote, or vote for Jill Stein, as a way of protesting the Biden administration’s continued provision of arms for Netanyahu’s war, and Harris’s refusal to cleanly break with that policy.
It’s by no means clear how not voting for Harris will stop Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the attendant slaughter of innocent lives. It is perfectly clear, however, that it will imperil millions of innocent lives right here in the USA should it lead to a Trump victory.
 
I refer to the immigrants among us whose forced deportation is the fundamental plank in Trump’s platform, the one issue he stresses in every one of his otherwise disjointed speeches, the sine qua non of his pledge to make America great again. To accomplish that deportation, he’s made clear he’d order the National Guard to sweep through immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, and might well order the Army to clear out areas like the Bronx, East Los Angeles, and Chicago’s West Side as well.
 
The government’s count of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. is roughly 11 million, but Trump and JD Vance routinely inflate that number to 20 million or more. And even in the very, very, very unlikely event that deportations are confined just to the truly undocumented, they would still separate immigrant parents from citizen children, and banish Dreamers—undocumented immigrants brought here as children by their parents—to countries that are utterly alien to them. At minimum, the process will destroy hundreds of thousands of families and devastate entire communities. The toll in innocent lives—not killed, but effectively crippled—will be huge.
 
And this is the most predictable consequence of a Trump victory. His demonization of immigrants is the central message of his campaign, and a campaign (inevitably entailing some violence) to deport them follows as the night the day.
I don’t doubt that those campaigns will meet serious resistance in our cities, as those opposed to them will take to the streets in very large numbers. I also don’t doubt that the ranks of those demonstrators will include some of those whose opposition to the U.S. military aid that has enabled Israel’s war on Palestinians impelled them not to vote for Kamala. After all, if they’ve refused to vote for Harris due to their revulsion and rage at the loss of innocent lives, the assault on immigrants will likely lead them to feel comparable revulsion and rage.
 
It’s by no means clear, however, that those imperiled immigrants will welcome those Harris-abstainers to the ranks of their supporters. They may reason—actually, they almost surely will reason—that progressives who didn’t vote for Harris didn’t think that the innocent lives of the immigrants among them mattered very much. Some of them might even conclude that those Harris-refuseniks didn’t give a flying fuck about them.
This is something that voters infuriated by U.S. Gaza policy and still wrestling with how to vote might want to think about.
 
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2024-10-31-refusing-vote-for-harris-mass-immigrant-deportations/

Also listen to an update to Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny.
 
Update audio
https://snyder.substack.com/p/on-tyranny-right-now-audio      
 

https://snyder.substack.com/p/on-tyranny-right-now-audio


https://snyder.substack.com/p/on-tyranny-right-now-audio



​

​ 
Sanders 10/29/2024
 
I understand that there are millions of Americans who disagree with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the terrible war in Gaza. I am one of them.
While Israel had a right to defend itself against the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of October 7th, which killed 1200 innocent people and took 250 hostages, it did not have the right to wage an all out war against the entire Palestinian people.
It did not have the right to kill 42,000 Palestinians, two- thirds of whom were children, women and the elderly, or injure over 100,000 people in Gaza. It did not have the right to destroy Gaza's infrastructure and housing and health care systems. It did not have the right to bomb every one of Gaza's 12 universities. It did not have the right to block humanitarian aid, causing massive malnutrition in children and, in fact, starvation.
 

 Francesca D'Annunzio
October 21, 2024
Texas Observer

The Lone Star State is home to millions of undocumented residents and members of mixed-status families critical to the state’s economic success, yet Texas leaders are cheering on Trump anyway.

 “This article was originally published by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative news outlet and magazine. Sign up for their weekly newsletter, or follow them on Facebook and X.”
 
Former President and current presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised, if elected, to implement the “largest deportation in the history of our country.” If such an operation were carried out, a second Trump regime could target around 11 million undocumented people in the United States. Trump’s running mate, vice presidential candidate JD Vance, has suggested starting with 1 million deportations a year—a figure that dwarfs the total reached in any year of Trump’s presidency or that of Barack Obama. The proposal has become a rallying cry for Trump’s base, with supporters brandishing matching signs at rallies reading “Mass Deportations Now.” 
Texas is home to some 1.6 million undocumented immigrants—second in the United States only to California—and another roughly 1.4 million U.S. citizens in the state live with at least one undocumented family member, per studies in recent years. Unauthorized workers form the backbone of crucial sectors; in the construction industry, up to 50 percent of laborers building the state are undocumented, according to a 2013 survey by the advocacy organization Workers Defense Project. All this means Texas would be uniquely disrupted by Trump’s plans, with the tearing apart of mixed-status families placing a possibly massive burden on the state’s meager social services systems, and the exiling of a chunk of its workforce imperiling the economic development and affordability known as the so-called Texas Miracle.
Yet Texas’ statewide Republican leaders are full-throated backers of a Trump return to the White House, leaving dissenters within the immigrant and business community and Democratic Party to advocate for millions of Texas families, workers, and consumers.

Trump has said that his deportation scheme would follow the “Eisenhower model”—an apparent reference to the 1950s immigration raid and roundup deportation program “Operation Wetback,” named after a racist slur. The raids, which lasted around a year, rounded up hundreds of thousands of Mexicans—including Mexican Americans—who were rounded up by truck, train, boat, and plane and deported. Around two decades prior, up to 2 million were deported, again including U.S. citizens, in a yearslong effort known as “Mexican Repatriation.” 
In an email to the Texas Observer, Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro said Trump’s proposal was also a threat to Latino U.S. citizens. “The last time the United States launched a mass deportation effort … U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent were rounded up and sent to Mexico—a place that many had never been before. The mass deportations that Trump is proposing would be devastating for our economy and dangerous for American Latinos.” 
Stan Marek, CEO and owner of the Houston-based construction enterprise Marek Family of Companies and a cofounder of Texans for Sensible Immigration Policy, told the Observer that mass deportations would exacerbate an existing construction labor shortage. Plus, he added, there is no easy, reliable way for employers to verify someone’s immigration status—and there has not been any significant immigration reform or citizenship pathway created for undocumented people since Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
Marek, a lifelong moderate Republican, instead proposes a mass work authorization plan to protect immigrant workers from the possibility of employer exploitation, increase the labor force, and ensure workers can pass background checks and pay federal income taxes.
“There hasn’t been any way for a worker, a blue-collar worker, to come into this country and get a job legally since 1986,” Marek said, referring to the Immigration Reform and Control Act. (Some short-term temporary and seasonal work visas for blue-collar workers do exist.) Now, Marek said, we have a situation where we have millions of undocumented in this country, “and now we’re totally dependent on it because we need them.” 
Beyond construction, heavily undocumented workforces labor in agriculture, food processing, house cleaning, and other industries. “Immigrants exist across our economic spectrum. They’re everywhere. They’re us,” said Jaime Puente, director of economic opportunity at the progressive think tank Every Texan. “When we talk about eliminating them from our society, it’s like not just talking about cutting off a finger. We’re talking about cutting off entire legs from the thigh down.”
Nationwide, the shock would be on par with the Great Recession of 2008, according to economic projectionsfrom the American Immigration Council. And, despite claims of politicians like Trump and Vance, “Mass deportations are not going to lead to more Americans getting jobs,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. “There’s no evidence for that whatsoever.”
In a recent X post, Trump announced more details of his envisioned machine for deportations and targeting transnational crime: He wants to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—the same law that formed the basis of the executive order that put Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II. 
The likely scale would be much more massive than the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, when approximately 112,000 people were displaced, said Reichlin-Melnick. And some civil liberties may have to head for the chopping block to achieve Trump’s goals.
Presently, Reichlin-Melnick explained, the United States does not have a system designed to find undocumented individuals who are not already on the government’s radar. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) does not know the identities and addresses of the majority of undocumented people. In order to carry out a mass deportation operation, agents would need to go out into communities around the country to find people—who are not already on their radar—and round them up. 
“You create a surveillance society in order to root out millions of people, because there’s really no other way to do it,” he said. “Creating an apparatus to hunt down and identify millions of undocumented immigrants would require turning the United States into a police state.”
ICE raids impact more than just immigrant families, according to Caitlin Patler, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley focused on the detentions and deportation pipeline. These operations are “traumatizing for entire communities, whether somebody’s directly impacted or not,” she said. “Your kid would go to school and next to them there would be an empty desk.”
Raids also negatively impact the health of children whose families have been targeted for detention or deportation. Patler said even unborn children have been impacted, and her work has found the following outcomes: children having trouble sleeping, trouble eating, crying uncontrollably, and “clinging to their remaining parent, refusing to leave the house because they’re so scared that the other parent will disappear or be taken from them in the same way that the first parent was,” she said. “You can see a very clear pattern of worsening health among people exposed to the deportation and detention systems.”
The fear of a raid, detention, or deportation also pushes immigrant and mixed-status families to avoid interacting with law enforcement. University of Colorado Denver professor Chloe East said that creates problems for police, who rely on community members for tips and interviews when solving crimes.
Economically, however, there is one sector that would likely flourish under a mass deportation regime: the prison industry. Texas is already home to some of the nation’s largest immigration detention centers, many of which are operated by private, for-profit companies. 
If deportations increase, the feds would likely build or lease even more space for the detainees. Because Trump has proposed mobilizing troops for immigration enforcement, mass military camps also aren’t out of the question, said Bob Libal, an Austin-based consultant at Human Rights Watch who has worked on immigrant detention issues for years.
“I thought the idea of favorably talking about Japanese internment was over in this country,” Libal said. “And yet—here we have people talking about the utilization of mass deportations in a positive light. And frankly, that should terrify everyone living in Texas, whether you’re an immigrant or not.”
Francesca D'Annunzio is a Roy W. Howard investigative reporting fellow at the Texas Observer.D’Annunzio has reported on topics ranging from deportations in the Dominican Republic, Christian nationalism, US-Mexico border colonias, right-wing sheriffs, to zoning and housing policy in Texas. Her work has been published or syndicated in The Guardian US, The Dallas Morning News, Religion News Service, The Global Investigative Journalism Network, The Texas Standard, and The Arizona Republic, among others. She received her master’s in investigative journalism from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and is an alumna of the Arabic Flagship and Humanities programs at The University of Texas at Austin. She is proficient in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Arabic.
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Henry Wallace. Vice President of the U.S.  1941-1945
​
The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way,” Wallace wrote in his landmark essay “The Danger of American Fascism,” published in The New York Times Magazine on April 9, 1944.
Wallace’s thoughts and words are even more relevant today than they were then. Here are additional excerpts:
A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.…
The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.…
It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us.…
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism.… They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interests.…
Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.…
Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself….
Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.
Wallace saw the connection between Hitler’s preachments about racial “purity” and the language of Southern segregationists who spoke of a master race. “Those who fan the fires of racial clashes for the purpose of making political capital here at home are taking the first step toward Nazism,” he warned. And “the second step toward fascism is the destruction of labor unions.”
To avert the rise of American fascism, Wallace argued that America must champion “the democracy of the common man,” embracing “not just the Bill of Rights but also economic democracy, ethnic democracy, educational democracy, and democracy in the treatment of the sexes.”

Detroit, MI – New polling of UAW members and member households across key battleground states demonstrates strong support for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, with Harris’ lead over Trump surging in the last month. 

The poll, conducted among union members in key swing states—Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada—shows Harris leading Trump by 22 points. These results underscore the impact of the UAW’s most ambitious political program in decades, which has engaged 293,000 active and retired members, as well as their families, in battleground states. 
The union’s comprehensive outreach program, aimed at connecting with every member, has been crucial in building support for Harris. In addition to a robust phone, text and mail program, UAW members are engaging in conversations at worksites and within their communities. In Michigan, they have participated in an intensive door-to-door campaign, reaching over 200,000 union households so far. 
Among members who reported hearing from the UAW about the presidential election, Harris’ lead over Trump grows to 29 points. These numbers highlight the effectiveness of the union's aggressive strategy to inform members about the candidates' positions on key economic issues, including protecting overtime pay, overhauling harmful trade deals, preventing offshoring, expanding retirement security, and taking on corporate greed. 
Polling data also show significant movement among key demographics. Among white UAW members without a college degree—a group that has leaned towards Trump in recent elections—Harris now holds a five-point lead. 
"When members hear directly from other members about what’s at stake and which candidate will have their backs, we’re able to break through," said UAW President Shawn Fain. "By engaging our members and highlighting the issues that matter – their paychecks, their families, and their futures -- the union makes a real difference.” 
Fain added, “The candidates’ track records speak for themselves. Harris has been in our corner in tough fights. Trump’s been a scab who passed NAFTA 2.0 and wants to bust unions. When you break it down like that and reach members in one-on-one conversations, the choice for president becomes clear.” 
Additional Poll Findings: 

• Harris’ lead expands to 29 points among those who say they have been contacted by the union.
• Michigan UAW members favor Harris by a 20-point margin, with 54% supporting her compared to 34% for Trump.
• Support among non-college-educated men—a key demographic—shows a 14-point margin in favor of Harris.
• UAW members support U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin by an 18-point margin.

The poll results make clear that the UAW's broad engagement program is not only resonating with members but also translating into increased support for Harris in states that could determine the outcome of the election. By focusing on face-to-face communication, worksite outreach, and personalized engagement, the UAW is driving a significant shift in voter sentiment, positioning the union as a powerful electoral force. In 2020, the UAW’s membership accounted for 9.2% of Biden-Harris' votes and 84% of their margin of victory in Michigan alone. 
The UAW’s plan to win stems from the vision that launched 2023’s Stand Up strike and movement. By putting out the facts, uniting the working class, and letting members lead the way, the UAW’s “Stand Up, Speak Up, Show Up” campaign has mobilized a mass campaign to defeat corporate greed at the ballot box. 

 American Friends Service Committee
 
As we face anti-immigrant rhetoric from politicians and the media, here are five tips you can use to talk about immigration and build support for welcoming communities.
 
At AFSC,[ American Friends Service Committee]  we welcome all people no matter where they were born, or when or how they choose to migrate. We know that immigrants make our communities stronger, and we value the many contributions of immigrant leaders and organizers. 
We also know that as soon as we turn on the news in the U.S. today, we will be bombarded with anti-immigrant messages. And in this election season, the national conversation about immigration has only gotten worse.
Fortunately, the majority of people in the U.S.—74%—actually do want an immigration system that welcomes people and treats them with dignity. And there are effective messages we can use to break through the noise and vitriol of this moment. 
Whether you’re having dinner with family who disagree on politics or responding to a friend on social media, here are five tips to change someone’s mind about immigration in the U.S. These tips are the results of research from AFSC and others, such as the ACLU, Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, and The Opportunity Agenda.
1. Always start with shared values. 
Whenever you start a conversation on a touchy subject, lead with something you and your listener both value. That creates space in their minds for open conversation. 
For example, start with a message like “Everyone deserves a chance to build a good life for themselves and their families.” That helps frame a conversation on immigration with people who may never have met anyone from outside the U.S. but who share widely held values like freedom and opportunity. 
2. Focus on our shared humanity and the diverse contributions that we all make to our communities. 
We are all human. We all contribute to our communities. We all love our friends and family. And we all make mistakes. Talking about each other as full, complicated, messy humans—including immigrants—humanizes people and cuts through the demonizing rhetoric we see in the media.
Many times, pro-immigrant conversations focus on the economic contributions that immigrants make to communities. It’s important to go beyond these messages to talk about the kinds of contributions we all make to our communities. We’re not just workers but also neighbors, friends, family members, and more. This kind of messaging helps humanize everyone’s complexities and contributions, including immigrants.
3. Address listeners’ fears indirectly. 
It’s important to acknowledge people’s fears, which can be exacerbated by misinformation in the media. Some of these fears have nothing to do with immigrants.  
But we can also provide accurate information and real stories of immigrants that can help people work through those fears. AFSC is just one of many organizations that welcomes newcomers, supports immigrants as they pursue efforts toward residency and citizenship, and advocates to keep families together. You can indirectly address people’s fears by describing some of these efforts.
4. Model the change you want to see. 
Telling stories about your personal growth or how you have changed your own mind gives your listener permission to be open-minded. It also serves as a roadmap for how to grow, too.
Try sharing a story from your own life about meeting someone from another country and getting to know them as a full person, quirks and all. Show how you interacted with each other in some way. That might include helping each other at work or volunteering together in your community. Talk about how you grew or evolved in your own thinking as a result.
5. If your listener isn’t listening, talk past them to the people who are. 
Even if someone doesn’t agree with you right away, it doesn’t mean you haven’t planted a seed in their mind—or in the minds of other listeners.
To cut through the noise this election season, tell a story that starts with a shared value, focus on our shared humanity, calm someone’s fears, and, ultimately, show how you have grown.
Want to learn more about how to talk about immigration? Watch our webinar on how to have "hard conversations" about immigration from our recent webinar series.
 
American Friends Service Committee
October 18, 2024. 

https://afsc.org/news/how-talk-about-immigration-election-season?
 
For more information see.Carnegie Foundation.
https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/15-myths-about-immigration-debunked/        2021.
 
Adopted. 2023. DSA Policy on Immigration and Immigrant Workers.
2023 convention.
https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/call-to-the-convention-defend-immigrants-rights
 
 
Our North Star  building a united front is here;
 North Star: Defeat MAGA/Fight for Democracy Action Opportunities
List of opportunities:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing
 
 

In the swing state of Nevada, the Harris campaign needs the Vegas hotel union’s ‘army’ to overcome Donald Trump.
BY HAROLD MEYERSON
 
OCTOBER 21, 2024
 
LAS VEGAS – When we met in his office at the sprawling and somewhat ramshackle Las Vegas headquarters of Culinary Union Local 226 last Monday, a day when the New York Times averages of the polls in the seven swing states had Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in Nevada by less than 1 percent, Ted Pappageorge wasn’t buying it.
Expand
 
“We don’t really believe the polls,” said Pappageorge, who’s the secretary-treasurer of Culinary, as the local is commonly called. “Trump’s people generally under-poll, and if we had an election today, I think Trump wins.”
 
“But it’s not today,” he continued. “We’ve got three weeks to go and the Culinary army is out there, going to knock on hundreds of thousands of doors and talk to hundreds of thousands of people.”
In the context of actually existing American politics, the designation of his canvassers as an army is not an overstatement. With 60,000 members—the vast majority of them housekeepers and the wait and kitchen staffers at Las Vegas’s mega-hotel/casinos—Culinary may well be the largest local union of any kind in the United States. For several decades, hundreds of its members have taken an election leave from their jobs to knock on the doors of local registered voters and engage them in discussions of the candidates. It’s a full-time job. For a few, it lasts the better part of an election year; for some, it runs from summer to Election Day; and for the rest of the 400-plus who walk the precincts, it’s a monthlong gig for seven days a week.
In the pandemic year of 2020, when candidates and parties and outside groups and even other unions all eschewed canvassing, Culinary—almost all of whose members were jobless as the hotel/casinos had shuttered their doors—fielded canvassers who still went out in force, masked with special gear devised by epidemiologists. By Election Day, they’d contacted fully half of Nevada’s Black and Latino voters, and one-third of the state’s Asian voters, too.
 
UNITE HERE, Culinary’s national union, canvassed in three states in 2020: Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Joe Biden won them all, which produced the margin of victory in the Electoral College.
The day after I met with Pappageorge, Culinary’s 425 full-time canvassers packed themselves into a hall for a rally as they embarked on the final three weeks of the campaign. They heard from leaders of some far-flung UNITE HERE locals (New Orleans, Anchorage), who’d come to Vegas to help out; in turn, those visitors called out some other UNITE HERE members who’d arrived from non-swing states to help push Nevada into Harris’s column.
Once again this year, Nevada is one of three swing states where UNITE HERE locals are mounting efforts almost comparable to Culinary’s. More than 400 UNITE HERE members are now canvassing in Pennsylvania (most in Philadelphia, some in Harrisburg) and Arizona (most in Phoenix, some in Tucson). In those states, though, a higher share of the full-time canvassers come from out of state than in Nevada, where Culinary has numbers that the other states can’t match. The Philly canvassers are a mix of locals and members from New York, Baltimore, Washington, and Atlantic City; those in Arizona include Angelenos, San Diegans, and sundry Texans.
All told, UNITE HERE now has roughly 1,500 full-time precinct walkers in those three swing states, a figure that will rise to 2,000 by the campaign’s final week. By the metric of person-hours worked, its operations in those three states are the largest of any kind those states will see. The union also is fielding smaller operations in seven other states, focusing on races like Sen. Sherrod Brown’s very tight battle for re-election in Ohio, and swing House districts in California and New York.
That said, the work of the precinct walker ain’t what it used to be.

Knocking on Doors 
 A report in response to our Web meeting. See post below.
​
Mijente PAC has about 75 people knocking on Latino doors full-time in Georgia, following a "civic engagement" non-partisan door-knocking educational campaign about elections and their importance since January carried out by non-profit GLAHR. which is formally not involved in Mijente PAC's anti-Trump campaign, although most of the people Mijente has hired are local GLAHR activists.
 
I believe there is a similar mijente Latino campaign in North Carolina. in addition to the one Duane mentioned in Arizona. The one in Georgia is perhaps the strongest because of GLAHR's community roots (we're celebrating a quarter century of organizing this year).

And because similar Georgia campaigns in 2020 and 2022 were decisive in Biden's razor-thin electoral college victory in GA and his preserving a Democrat majority in  the Senate in 2022. 

Georgia has an immigrant Latino population that overwhelmingly arrived since 1990,and especially in the construction boom for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics which continued for years afterwards., The 2010 census surprisingly showed that HALF of GA Latinos were U,S.-born -- and their median age was 11.  

And this has to do with the central lesson I learned in my two decades at CNN, as the lead producer in the Spanish-language operation for pre-election polls and especially election night exit polls. Elections in the United States are NOT decided by who "the people" vote for, but by which people vote. 
 
Jose Perez.
 
 

 
North Star Webinar. ( and a meeting)
The Case for Engaging in the Immigration Battle and contributing to the Fight Against Trump and MAGA Republicans.
 
The Border, Immigration, Dog Whistle Politics and Political Reality.
Videos, updates from the border, and strategy.
Sunday, October 20, 2024.    2 PM Pacific.  5 PM Eastern.
Presented by North Star Caucus.
 
Speaking. Oct 20,2024.   Via video recording.
Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Ian Haney-Lopez.
Host;
Duane Campbell.  DSA. Over 50 years in the immigration struggles.
Also speaking. Participants/Dialogue 
Members of the North Star community.
 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84624125150?pwd=9dm2OaZaBOm68ikY8XgfK60QGHIM6J.1
 
Meeting ID: 846 2412 5150
Passcode: 000357
 
Community members may request participation link here. [email protected]
 

In the most consequential election in our lives, I’m happy to report that we spent last week on the campaign trail working hard for Kamala and progressive candidates. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we were in Texas, on Thursday and Friday we were in Nevada, and on Saturday and Sunday we were in Michigan. We spent a lot of time traveling on planes and cars - but it was worth it. We drew large and enthusiastic turnouts, are reaching undecided voters and are expanding our grassroots movement.
Texas
In my view, Texas has huge political potential, and there are some great people in the state who are working hard to turn it progressive. And let’s be clear. If that happens it will transform politics in America.
In San Antonio we had a great event with Congressman Greg Casar - one of the outstanding young progressives in Congress. We were joined by an old friend of mine, Congressman Lloyd Doggett.
At the University of Texas, Austin we were joined by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who, as usual, did a great job in firing up the standing room only crowd. Beto O’Rourke who, 6 years ago, came within 2 points of defeating Senator Ted Cruz, also spoke. And by the way, Beto is now heading up a very strong and effective voter registration campaign which could make all the difference in Texas.
While we were in Austin I joined Congressman Casar and members of the Austin City Council in addressing a rally in support of workers at a local Hyatt hotel who are facing strong and illegal opposition from the corporation as they attempt to form a union. I had the opportunity to chat with two very brave workers there who were fired for their union activities.
At the University of Texas at Austin with Beto, Lloyd, Greg and Alexandria
In East Austin, Texas with Hyatt hotel trade unionists
 
Nevada
In Las Vegas we had a great town meeting with Congressman Steven Horsford. Hundreds of people came out to discuss housing policy — an issue that’s on the minds of Nevadans as they face the greatest shortage of affordable housing for low-income earners in the country. We also discussed health care, prescription drugs and the war in Gaza.
On Friday morning Congressman Ro Khana and I joined a room full of Harris- Walz volunteers. They understand, as I hope all of us do, that in the next month we’ve got to knock on doors, make phone calls, and talk to our friends and neighbors about how we can increase the voter turnout and defeat Trump.
In Las Vegas, Nevada at a community town meeting
Michigan
The last state on this trip was Michigan, where we held events in Warren, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, and East Lansing. The polls suggest that Michigan is up for grabs and could well decide who becomes the next president.
We started off in Warren, where I was joined by UAW president Shawn Fain for a rally against corporate greed. Shawn is one of the leading progressive trade union leaders in America and has not only helped win an excellent contract for his members, but is inspiring workers all across the country to stand up and fight for their rights.
I then traveled to Saginaw, where a large crowd joined me in demanding that we have a government and an economy that works for all, not just the people on top and wealthy campaign contributors.
Finally, on Sunday, we held two more town halls with the Harris-Walz campaign in Grand Rapids and East Lansing. The turn outs were great and people are fired up. Our trip ended with me joining a picket line in Detroit with Teamster workers who are on strike against Marathon Oil.
At a town hall in Saginaw, Michigan
With UAW president Shawn Fain in Warren, Michigan
In the last month of this campaign all of us have got to do everything possible to see that Donald Trump is defeated and Kamala is elected. We cannot have in the White House someone like Trump who is a pathological liar, someone who is undermining American democracy, someone who thinks that climate change is a “hoax” and someone who believes that women do not have the right to control their own bodies. We also have to fight hard to see that Democrats control the House and the Senate.
Later this week, I will be hitting the campaign trail again. If we’re in your community, please join us. If not, join us online when we livestream.
In solidarity,
Bernie
 
For how you can be involved, see the two posts below.
 

​The Border, Immigration, Dog Whistle Politics and Political Reality.
Videos, updates from the border, and strategy.
Plus, Break out rooms to promote open discussion/dialogue. 
 
Sunday, October 20, 2024.    2 PM Pacific.  5 PM Eastern. 
Presented by North Star Caucus.
Via video recording.
Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Ian Haney-Lopez.
Speaking; 
Host; Duane Campbell.  DSA. Over 50 years in the immigration struggles. 
Also speaking. NS Participants/Dialogue  
Members of the North Star community. 
 
Community members; Request participation link  here. [email protected]
 
 [email protected]

The Battle Ahead: Latino Civil Rights vs. Project 2025
Prepared by Adriana Varea, Ari Kittrie, and Joaquin Macias, LULAC Policy and Legislation Fellows

Introduction

The 2025 Mandate for Leadership, The Conservative Promise, more publicly recognized as “Project 2025” is a roadmap for the first 180 days in office for a conservative presidency. It was drafted by The Heritage Foundation, which is a right-leaning, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. charged with crafting policies that align with the Republican party. The Heritage Foundation gave the first Mandate for Leadership to Reagan to “repair the executive branch” after Jimmy Carter’s presidency.
Former President Trump has recently distanced himself from Project 2025 by tweeting:
“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” (@realDonaldTrump)
However, this was refuted by a 2022 statement from former President Trump:
“[The Heritage Foundation] is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.” (Bennen, 2024)
Additionally, several authors, editors, and contributors of Project 2025 have previously worked for the Trump administration. Roughly 64% of policy recommendations from the 2016 Mandate for Leadership were either implemented or taken into consideration by the Trump Administration in 2017 (The Heritage Foundation).
In this article, we will outline ten specific ways in which Project 2025 disproportionately negatively impacts Latino civil rights.
1. Establish a Unitary Executive Branch

2. Mass Deportations

“Prioritizing border security and immigration enforcement, including detention and deportation, is critical if we are to regain control of the border.” (Project 2025, pg. 135)
Project 2025 plans to repeal parts of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to allow for the large-scale use of detention facilities to mass incarcerate migrants. It also will change Title 8 of U.S. Code § 1226 to require mandatory detention for unauthorized migrants caught within the U.S. interior (pg. 150). To compound this, Project 2025 will also increase Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) capabilities by removing all sensitive zones where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating, allowing for raids in schools, churches, and businesses (pg. 142).
Project 2025 calls to authorize state and local law enforcement to participate in immigration and border security actions (pg. 150). Through deputizing local law enforcement, there will be a lack of oversight and accountability, allowing for abuses of the system that would disproportionately hurt the Latino community. Additionally, Latinos would have a more difficult time receiving impartial hearings and legal representation, especially because detainees are not entitled to public defenders as criminal defendants are. To compound upon this, the Supreme Court Case Loper Bright Entreprises vs. Raimondo, which repealed the Chevron Deference, has the potential to take immigration hearings away from the United States Immigration and Citizenship Services and shift them to the local courts. These local courts notoriously have long backlogs and a limited understanding of immigration policies and laws, which would force Latinos to have long and unjust trials.
3. Cutting Off Legal Immigration

“Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration benefit.” (pg. 144) “If CISOMB continues as a DHS component, a policy should be issued that prohibits CISOMB from assisting illegal aliens to obtain benefits. Currently, approximately 15 percent–20 percent of CISOMB’s workload consists of helping DACA applicants obtain and renew benefits, including work authorization. This is not the role of an ombudsman.” (Project 2025, pg. 166)
Project 2025 proposes to cut down on legal immigration by limiting interim immigration into the United States. For example, it calls for an increase in visa application fees. It plans to limit the issuance of H-2A and H2-B visas for seasonal agricultural workers, as well as the complete elimination of T and U visas meant to protect trafficking or crime victims who are actively cooperating with law enforcement as a witness (pg. 612, 141). Project 2025 calls to remove and deport all Temporary Status designations for migrants whose home countries are considered unsafe to live in (pg. 145). Finally, Project 2025 will phase out DACA for the over 500,000 recipients by eliminating staff time for reviewing and processing renewal applications which will make it very hard for DACA recipients to renew their status given the proposed lack of staff present to do so (pg.145).
 
And More 
Project 2025 
https://lulac.org/project_2025/
 
We will have a North Star webinar on this topic on Oct.20, 2024. Watch this site for details.
and on our Electoral Fight Back site below. 
 
 Our building a united front is here;
 North Star: Defeat MAGA/Fight for Democracy Action Opportunities
List of opportunities:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing

Our strategy is here.  https://www.dsanorthstar.org/our-strategy.html
 
DSA and the broader Left must join forces to confront the international rise of authoritarianism. Together we should work to build a center-left coalition in defense of democracy. DSA must jettison a growing tendency towards a  “go it alone” approach that devalues coalition work and glosses over the importance – indeed, the necessity – of a center-left coalition to defend democracy from neo-fascism.
  Our building a united front is here;
 North Star: Defeat MAGA/Fight for Democracy Action Opportunities
List of opportunities:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing
 
 We have a new addition. 
 
Volunteer opportunities around the nation. 
***
KAMALA  HARRIS/TIM WALZ CAMPAIGN
on-going volunteer opportunities
kamalaharris.org 
https://txt.democrats.org/c7b4 
 
 

​Bill Fletcher Jr. 
Excerpts from a longer piece,,

Which brings us to the Cornel West campaign and other third-party bids during the 2024 election cycle. What is the essence of such ventures?
If one is interested in building a struggle for power, one does not begin by running a presidential campaign, and certainly not a campaign with no organized base and no possibility of victory. If, however, one is concerned more with asserting one’s beliefs and expressing one’s frustration and antipathy toward the existing system, one can view a campaign for the presidency as an ongoing platform to both hear oneself talk, and to try to captivate and entertain an audience. Such politics become, not the politics inherent in a struggle for power, but the politics of self-expression. The objective becomes expressing one’s views, anger, etc., rather than seeking to achieve anything. In effect, it becomes the politics of defeat, in that one has no plan, knows one cannot win, and therefore cries out in hopelessness.
The West campaign and other third parties will virulently object. They will assert they are taking a stand against the two-party system of the capitalist class, against imperialism, against the criminality of the US support for Israeli genocide. And they will be correct! They are. Yet, they have neither plan nor sufficient organization to transform their assertions into political power. Thus, they can only rely on magical thinking in the hopes—and this is a best-case scenario—that their plea to the masses will resonate and result in a great wave of revulsion against the system, thrusting them into office…alone. 

…. 
The political moment
Leaving aside, for a moment, that minor parties in the USA have rarely been successful due to the undemocratic nature of the US electoral system, the actions of the Cornel West campaign and other third parties would be comical if less were at stake. And there have been times when comedians have run for president to make a satirical statement, such as Pat Paulsen.
Current third-party candidacies, including West and Jill Stein, either ignore or deny the dangers inherent in the current moment. West, for instance, acknowledges the dangers of a Trump victory but asserts, in part due to the Israeli genocide in Gaza, that there was no difference between Trump and Biden and, apparently, no difference between Trump and Harris. Stein’s views carry on from the historic and, unfortunately, dogmatic stand of the Green Party on the need for formal political independence from the two-party system.
None of them are coming to grips with the dangers on the horizon. There is nothing, for instance, on the Harris side that is comparable to the plans of the MAGA movement such as Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s hatched idea for a rightwing authoritarian overhaul of the US government. There is nothing comparable on the Harris side to proposals such as the American Legislative Exchange Council’s ongoing work to advance a Constitutional Convention to alter the US Constitution in favor of business and the Christian Right. Nothing.
One cannot conclude ignorance on the part of any of these campaigns. One cannot imagine that any of these campaigns believe that progressive politics and policies will survive a second Trump presidency. Or perhaps they do? As many of us have heard over the months, there are those who believe that Trump will not be so bad and, yes, there will be suffering, but we will come through it.
 
Read the entire piece.
 
https://liberationroad.substack.com/p/the-cornel-west-campaign-third-parties?
 

Statement by National DSA
Solidarity with Springfield’s Haitian Community: DSA’s Statement on Anti-Immigrant Violence
September 17, 2024
DSA condemns in the strongest possible terms the hateful lies promoted by Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and other Republican officials targeting Haitian immigrant communities in Springfield, Ohio. These lies have led to ongoing school and hospital closures over bomb threats, smashed windows, acid thrown on cars, death threats, and the canceling of beloved local cultural events due to safety concerns. The goal is clear: Trump’s lies intend to incite violence and harassment against working-class immigrant communities, not just in Springfield, but toward Black people living all over the country. In the lead up to their second term, he’s touting plans to launch mass deportations targeting millions. The far-right wants to divide and conquer the working class by using xenophobia and racism to pit workers against one another in a race to the bottom. 
 
Democrats, including presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have enabled this rhetoric by remaining silent about the attacks on Springfield, while also affirming her plans to expand border policing. This is nothing less than appeasement to growing fascist anti-immigrant rhetoric.
 
The Presidential debate last Tuesday made clear that Trump’s hateful Project 2025 agenda would be catastrophic for the working class, both at home and abroad. Opposing the far right, as represented by the Republican Party under Trump’s neo-fascist leadership, is a necessity for the working class and for our movement.
 
The truth is that working people everywhere have a common humanity and shared struggle against the exploitative capitalist economic system, which is the real root cause of the increasing precarity and insecurity in our society. DSA is fighting for a world where all people live together in peace, regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin. Immigrants are welcome here. People everywhere are hurting, struggling to pay bills, buy groceries, and live beyond paycheck to paycheck. But this is not because of the immigrants who are living in this country: our suffering is due to the insatiable greed of the billionaire class.
We will stand against anti-immigrant hate anywhere and everywhere it appears, and we continue to fight against the greed of billionaires like Donald Trump and the lies they tell to keep us from achieving working class solidarity.
----------          --------------            -----------
National DSA has made the statement above.  Most of the statement is a good statement of the situation and policy. https://www.dsausa.org/statements/solidarity-with-springfields-haitian-community/
 
The following part of the statement is in error.
 
Democrats, including presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have enabled this rhetoric by remaining silent about the attacks on Springfield, while also affirming her plans to expand border policing. This is nothing less than appeasement to growing fascist anti-immigrant rhetoric.
See here for the errors.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/us/politics/harris-trump-haitian-migrants-pets.html
 
This  unfortunate view is also in error.
This is nothing less than appeasement to growing fascist anti-immigrant rhetoric.
 
We propose that DSA members unite with others on the left in a popular front  to participate in the effort to defeat the growing anti fascist movement as advanced by the Republican – MAGA movement and the  2024 effort to elect Donald Trump as President .
 
Here are ways you can join with other North Star members in building our electoral effort.

** North Star: Defeat MAGA/Fight for Democracy Action Opportunities
opportunities:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing
 
 

Trump’s claims about immigrants "pouring into our country" from prisons and mental institutions, as well as his baseless accusations of widespread "migrant crime"1, are not only false but dangerous. ​

​LULAC Response to Presidential Debate on September 10
Washington, D.C. — Last night’s debate highlighted the need for both candidates to focus on the issues that matter most to Americans, not on falsehoods, distractions, and hysteria.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) strongly condemns the xenophobic and inflammatory comments made by former President Donald Trump during last night's debate. His rhetoric on immigration not only misrepresents the facts but also promotes fear and division, unfairly targeting immigrant communities, particularly Latinos.
We are encouraged by Vice President Harris’s commitment to delivering bipartisan immigration reform in Congress, which would uphold our nation’s dedication to addressing the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, tackle the root causes of displacement abroad, and strengthen our homeland security. We urge Vice President Harris to maintain her commitment to the critical goal of creating a more fair and humanitarian immigration system.
LULAC remains committed to advocating for the rights of all Latinos and immigrants, and we will continue to stand against divisive rhetoric that seeks to undermine the progress we have made. We urge the American public to reject hate and instead focus on the positive role that Latinos and immigrants play in building a stronger and more united nation.
Donald Trump’s Xenophobic Comments on Immigration
Trump’s claims about immigrants "pouring into our country" from prisons and mental institutions, as well as his baseless accusations of widespread "migrant crime"1, are not only false but dangerous. These comments are rooted in fearmongering and are designed to vilify immigrants as threats to American society. Such rhetoric only serves to harm the Latino community, a vital part of the fabric of the United States.
Let’s be clear: Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric is not just inflammatory—it’s dangerous. It incites division and violence, and it ignores the tremendous contributions that immigrants, particularly Latinos, make to this country every day.
One of the most egregious examples is Trump’s false and outrageous claim that immigrants are “eating pets” in American towns. This statement has no foundation in truth. Not only is it completely baseless, but it also serves as a reprehensible attempt to dehumanize immigrants by spreading ridiculous and harmful lies. Fact-checkers have already debunked this claim, and it is nothing more than an insult to the hard-working immigrant communities who contribute so much to this country2.

As the election gets closer you are again invited to join us in engaging and organizing North Star members and allies into campaigns to defeat Maga /Authoritarian efforts and to Fight for Democracy  by participating in the campaigns  to defeat the Trump/Vance ticket, to elect Kamala Harris as President and to win a majority in the House and the Senate. 
To organize our work, we have created a platform, a google docs site to learn from each other and share activist opportunities including Block and Build, battleground states and districts, left coalition efforts and more. The google site is for the recording of opportunities for political participation; phone banks, canvasing, donations, union contacts, links to important documents (such as Project 2025).  The categories on the site were determined by a poll of North Star members.
 Please continue also  to announce your relevant activities and urge electoral participation on the list serve.
 
Here is the link to the Google site.
 
Organizing North Star members
 
If you have items, events, projects that you recommend for posting go here.
 
Recommend add items
 
We hope you will participate. Please go to the site and see the opportunities to engage and participate.  If you know of campaigns to defeat fascism and elect a progressive majority, use the link above to share your information.  For example, there may be a critical swing district race you are working in. Please share the contact information and how to get involved. 
 
Our immediate tasks.
 At this time, key primary steps are to unite with others and build the campaigns to defeat the Trump/MAGA/ anti democratic forces.
  Defeating MAGA candidates up and down the ballot in November.
 
Supporting the re-election of members of the Squad.

Powering Cori Bush to victory, winning a Ceasefire, and ending US complicity with Israels long war against the Palestinian people.

 Beating back the current wave of misogynist and anti-immigrant demagogy and laying the basis for serious positive reform under a new administration.
 
All are invited to participate. Thank you for your participation.  
The NS  Steering Committee

​ Peter Dreier,
When Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee, he was there supporting African American sanitation workers whose picket signs relayed a simple, but profound, message: "I Am A Man."
Today we view King as something of a saint, his birthday a national holiday, and his name adorning schools and street signs. But in his day, the establishment considered King a dangerous troublemaker. He was harassed by the FBI and vilified in the media. He began his activism in Montgomery, Alabama, as a crusader against the nation's racial caste system, but the struggle for civil rights radicalized him into a fighter for broader economic and social justice.
This Labor Day, labor unions are on the upsurge. In the past year, workers at Starbucks, Amazon, REI, Apple, and Trader Joe’s and many other companies have been organizing to gain a voice and a collective bargaining contract at their workplaces. Earlier this year, workers at Volkswagen’s 4,300-employee factory in Chattanooga voted 73% to 27% for the United Auto Workers, an historic victory in an historically anti-union Southern state. The United Auto Workers won a pathbreaking contract earlier this year, and President Joe Biden joined their picket line – the first president ever to do so.  More than 40,000 hotel workers in the Los Angeles area won an historic contract this year after a months-long strike, and more hotel workers are currently on strike in Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, and other cities.  In addition, actors, school teachers, nurses, screenwriters, and graduate students have recently won contracts to improve working conditions.
More than at any time in memory, the Democratic Party convention offered union leaders prime-time speaking moments, while elected officials spoke enthusiastically about creating  “good union jobs” and passing legislation to penalize corporations that engage in union-busting.  According to a new Gallup poll, 70% of Americans have favorable views toward unions  -- higher than at any time since the mid-1960s, when they began asking the question.
But every day should be Labor Day – a celebration of the people who do the work that makes our economy and society operate.
Dr. King understood that. “All labor has dignity,” he said. He was committed to building bridges between the civil rights and labor movements.
Invited to address the AFL-CIO's annual convention in 1961, King observed:
"Our needs are identical with labor's needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old-age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children, and respect in the community. That is why Negroes support labor's demands and fight laws which curb labor. That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth."
He added:
"The labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who today attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them."
Several major unions reciprocated King's support. When he was jailed in Birmingham for participating in civil disobedience, it was Walter Reuther, the charismatic leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, who paid his bail.
Several major unions, especially the UAW and the International Ladies Garment Workers, had donated money to civil rights groups, supported the sit-ins and freedom rides, and helped organize the massive 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
We often forget that its official name was the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and that its manifesto called on Congress not only to pass a civil rights bill but also "a national minimum wage act that will give all Americans a decent standard of living." The manifesto pointed out that "anything less than $2.00 an hour fails to do this."
In 1963, the minimum wage was $1.25 -- the equivalent of $12.81  in today's dollars. A $2 minimum wage in 1963 would be $20.49 an hour today.
In the 1960s, the sit-ins (a tactic adopted from workers' sit-down strikes in the 1930s), Freedom Rides, mass marches, and voter registration drives eventually led Congress to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
King was proud of the civil rights movement's success in winning the passage of those important laws. But he realized that neither law did much to provide better jobs or housing for the large numbers of low-income African Americans in the cities and rural areas. He recognized the limits of breaking down legal segregation.
"What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?" King asked.
King observed: "Negroes are not the only poor in the nation. There are nearly twice as many white poor as Negro, and therefore the struggle against poverty is not involved solely with color or racial discrimination but with elementary economic justice." To achieve economic justice, King said, "there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God's children."
"There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American whether he [or she] is a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid, or day laborer," said King.
In a speech to the Illinois AFL-CIO in 1965, King said:
"The two most dynamic movements that reshaped the nation during the past three decades are the labor and civil rights movements. Our combined strength is potentially enormous. We have not used a fraction of it for our own good or for the needs of society as a whole. If we make the war on poverty a total war; if we seek higher standards for all workers for an enriched life, we have the ability to accomplish it, and our nation has the ability to provide it. If our two movements unite their social pioneering initiative, thirty years from now people will look back on this day and honor those who had the vision to see the full possibilities of modern society and the courage to fight for their realization. On that day, the brotherhood of man, undergirded by economic security, will be a thrilling and creative reality."
King warned about the "gulf between the haves and the have-nots" and insisted that America needed a "better distribution of wealth."
Thus, it was not surprising that Memphis' civil rights and union leaders invited King to their city to help draw national attention to the garbage strike.
The strike began over the mistreatment of 22 sewer workers who reported for work on January 31, 1968, and were sent home when it began raining. White employees were not sent home. When the rain stopped after an hour or so, they continued to work and were paid for the full day, while the black workers lost a day's pay. The next day, two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a malfunctioning city garbage truck.
These two incidents epitomized the workers' long-standing grievances. Forty percent of the workers qualified for welfare to supplement their poverty-level salaries. They had almost no health care benefits, pensions, or vacations. They worked in filthy conditions, and lacked basic amenities like a place to eat and shower. They were required to haul leaky garbage tubs that spilled maggots and debris on them. White supervisors called them "boy" and arbitrarily sent them home without pay for minor infractions that they overlooked when white workers did the same thing. The workers asked Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb and the City Council to improve their working conditions, but they refused to do so.
On February 12, 1,300 black sanitation workers walked off their jobs, demanding that the city recognize their union (the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME) and negotiate to resolve their grievances. They also demanded a pay increase to $2.35 an hour, overtime pay, and merit promotions without regard to race.
For the next several months, city officials refused to negotiate with the union. In private, Mayor Loeb reportedly told associates, "I'll never be known as the mayor who signed a contract with a Negro union."
The city used non-union workers and supervisors to pick up garbage downtown, from hospitals, and in residential areas. Even so, thousands of tons of garbage piled up. Community support for the strikers grew steadily. The NAACP endorsed the strike and sponsored all-night vigils and pickets at City Hall. On February 23, 1,500 people -- strikers and their supporters -- packed City Hall chambers, but the all-white City Council voted to back the mayor's refusal to recognize the union.
Local ministers (led by Rev. James Lawson, who died in June at 95)) formed a citywide group to support the strikers. They called on their congregants to participate in rallies and marches, donate to the strike fund, and boycott downtown stores in order to get business leaders to pressure city officials to negotiate with the union. On Sunday, March 3, an eight-hour gospel singing marathon at Mason Temple raised money for strikers. The next day, the beginning of the fourth week of the strike, 500 white labor unionists from Memphis and other Tennessee cities joined black ministers and sanitation workers in their daily downtown march.
reposted from Portside. ​https://portside.org/2024-09-02/labor-day-remember-mlks-last-campaign-was-workers-rights
portside.org/2024-09-02/labor-day-remember-mlks-last-campaign-was-workers-rights​

Bernie Sander
Public approval of labor unions, at 70%, is higher today than it has been in decades. Over the last year major unions like the UAW have won some highly publicized strikes, while many other unions have negotiated trail-blazing contracts for their members. Young people at Starbucks and on college campuses are now more involved in labor organizing than ever before. And, for the first time in American history, a president of the United States, Joe Biden, walked a picket line with striking workers.
It is not an accident as to why we are now seeing more militancy and growth in the labor movement. The working people of our country are increasingly aware of the unprecedented level of corporate greed and power we are now experiencing, and the outrageous level of income and wealth inequality that exists. They understand that never before in American history have so few had so much, while so many continue to struggle. And they are fighting back. They know that workers in unions can negotiate contracts that give them better wages, working conditions and benefits than non-union workers. They appreciate that when you’re in a union you have some power against the arbitrary decisions corporate bosses. 
Working people today are more than aware that, over the last 50 years, there has been a massive transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%. They are disgusted that, despite huge increases in worker productivity, real inflation-accounted for wages for the average American worker are lower now than they were over 50 years ago as 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They are insulted that CEOs of major corporations make almost 350 times as much as their average employee. They are concerned that the American dream is ending and that their kids may have an even lower standard of living than they do. And they worry that with the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence and robotics, they have no power as to what will happen to their jobs as the economy undergoes major transformations.
The average American worker also understands that his/her political power has been significantly diminished as billionaires pour huge amounts of money into both political parties as they undermine our democracy. It is no great secret as to who now has the clout in Congress. It is the billionaires, the corporate CEOs, the campaign donors and their well-connected lobbyists.

​
Purchase affordable magnetic Harris/Walz bumper stickers (2 for $5) and give them to other volunteers.
Purchase Harris/Walz window decals for car/home and give them to other volunteers. 

Purchase affordable magnetic Harris/Walz bumper stickers (2 for $5) and give them to other volunteers.
Purchase Harris/Walz window decals for car/home and give them to other volunteers. 

TREATING MIGRANTS AS THE ENEMY PROVIDES NO VISION ..
 
David Bacon.
 
...In that bill, President Joe Biden agreed that he would close the border to asylum applicants if their number rose beyond 5,000 per day, while making it much harder to gain legal status for those even allowed to apply. Biden said he would cut short the time for screening asylum applicants by asylum officers, which would make winning permission to stay much more difficult.
 
To keep people imprisoned while their cases are in process, instead of releasing them, Biden proposed an additional $3 billion for more detention centers, a euphemism for immigrant prisons. There are already over 200, according to the group Freedom for Immigrants. Under a law signed by President Obama, Congress required that 34,000 detention beds be filled every night. At the end of 2023, those beds held 36,263 people, and another 194,427 were in “Alternatives to Detention,” which required wearing the hated ankle bracelets that bar travel for more than a few blocks. Over 90 percent of these jails are run for profit by private companies like the Geo Group, (formerly the Pinkerton Detective Agency).
 
These proposals respond to a media-driven frenzy that constantly refers to an immigration “crisis” and calls the border “broken.” That media coverage, and the response by centrist Democrats and Republicans, treats migrants as criminals, as an enemy. Political operatives in Washington then take polls, announce that the public wants draconian enforcement, and advise candidates that going against this tide will lead to election losses.
 
Yet this accepted political “wisdom” in Washington is not actually based on facts.
 
Let’s Look at the Numbers
 
Department of Homeland Security statistics show that over the decades the number of people crossing the border, and subject to deportation, rises and falls, while displacement and forced migration remain constant. In 2022, about 1.1 million people were expelled after trying to cross, and another 350,000 deported. In 1992, about 1.2 million were stopped at the border and 1.1 million deported. Over a million people were deported in 1954 during the infamous “Operation Wetback.” Arrests at the border have totaled over a million in 29 of the last 46 years....
 
Criminalizing the Undocumented
 
Should Trump win election in November, he promises to reinstitute the notorious family separation policy. Children who survive the crossing might easily be lost, as so many were, in the huge detention system. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) wants to reintroduce the “Remain in Mexico” policy, under which people wanting asylum were not allowed to enter the United States at all, to file their applications. The Mexican government was forced to set up detention centers just south of the border to house them while they waited.
 
Trump and other Republicans would imprison all migrants who face a court proceeding that allows them to apply to stay or stop a deportation. Pending cases now number in the millions, because the immigration court system is starved for the resources for processing them.
 
Texas Governor Abbott has pushed through a law that makes being undocumented a state crime. Republicans in Congress last year proposed to build more border walls, create barriers to asylum, force the firing of millions of undocumented workers, and permit children to be held in detention prisons with their parents. Centrist Democrats are very willing to agree to modified proposals like these.
 
No money, running from something or someone, trying to keep a family together and give it a future, or just needing a job at whatever wage—these are the commonalities of the thousands who arrive at the U.S. border every year. Winning public understanding of immigration is the only way to decisively defeat this anti-immigrant hysteria, rather than caving into its illogic, and to the media frenzy and the onslaught of Republicans and MAGA acolytes.
 
Roots of Migration
 
President Obama made some acknowledgement of the poverty and violence that impels people to come but drew the line at recognizing this migration’s historical roots, much less any culpability on the part of the U.S. government. President Biden sent Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic candidate for president, to Central America in his first year in office with a similar message—don’t come.
 
So far, the new presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has not taken a different direction. In Arizona she gave a speech recommitting to the Biden-brokered compromise and criticizing Trump for killing it. In a new TV ad, she promised to hire thousands of additional border patrol agents. The three enforcement arms of the Department of Homeland Security—the Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement today account for 52,300 officers, making it the largest law enforcement agency in the country.  The numbers mushroomed by 22,000 in the past 20 years; the Border Patrol alone tripled from 2,700 to 8,200.
  
Survival in Venezuela became impossible for many as its economy suffered body blows from U.S. political intervention and economic sanctions. If the United States moves further to increase sanctions in response to the recent elections, it will produce even more migration.
 
These interventions produce migrants and then criminalize them. In 2023, the Border Patrol took 334,914 Venezuelans into custody, along with 163,701 Haitians. And while promoting military intervention in Haiti and regime change in Venezuela, the Biden administration put people on deportation flights back home, in the hope that this would discourage others from starting the journey north.
 
The disconnect is obvious to anyone born south of the Mexican border. Sergio Sosa, a Guatemalan exile who heads the Heartland Workers Center in Omaha, observes: “People from Europe and the U.S. crossed borders to come to us, and took over our land and economy. Migration is a form of fighting back. We’re in our situation, not because we decided to be, but because we’re in the U.S.’s backyard.”  While President Clinton was the author of many anti-immigrant measures, he did recognize this historic truth, and apologized to the Guatemalan people for the U.S. support of the military dictatorships that massacred thousands.
 
The Democrats have to tell people the truth, and political campaigns are the times when this is most important. Agreeing with Trump that immigrants are the enemy to be detained at the border, and then only disagreeing on the numbers and methods, contradicts any commitment to a fact-based policy, while making immigrant communities scapegoats.
  
An Alternative Approach
 
The goal of these marchers is to win support for a bill that could make a profound difference in the lives of millions of people. Today, anyone who entered the United States without a visa before January 1, 1972, can apply for legal permanent residence. From 2015 to 2019, however, only 305 people received legal status this way because over 90 percent of undocumented immigrants came after that date. As the years go by, ever fewer numbers qualify.
 
Known as the Registry Bill, HR 1511 would allow anyone in the country for seven years to apply for legal status. Emma Delgado, a leader of Mujeres Unidas y Activas (United and Active Women) in San Francisco says, “I haven’t seen my children in many years because there is currently no way for me to apply for legal residency.” She called the family separation produced by current immigration law “immoral.”
 
Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigration Reform in Los Angeles, challenges the idea that Democrats can’t campaign for it during an election year, and that a Republican majority in the House dooms it. “Think of all the millions of U.S. citizens who have immigrant parents,” she urges, “and how many have had their fathers or mothers deported. All over the country. Immigrant workers are a big part of the workforce. They’re all part of a base that can force change. We can’t depend on political winds or what people tell us is possible.”
 
No matter how many walls and migrant prisons the government builds, people will come. Over the years they will become part of communities here, and with progressive immigration policies, eventually voting citizens. Democrats need a long-term vision that sees the future in organizing and defending them, in turning those old anti-immigrant arguments around, rather than reinforcing them.
 
By David Bacon,
 
Full piece: 
https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2024/08/treating-migrants-as-enemy-provides-no.htm ldavidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2024/08/treating-migrants-as-enemy-provides-no.html

Today, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is proud to officially launch our 2024 Program: Workers Deserve More, our vision for a different kind of world, one that works for working people everywhere, not billionaires, weapons manufacturers, and the capitalist class. We know that building the world workers’ deserve goes way beyond the ballot box. 
In the 2024 elections, Americans will often have to choose between far-right fascist Republicans and corporate Democrats. In both cases, workers lose, and our politicians will remain controlled by their corporate donors, not the ordinary people who voted for them. Under this status quo, inequality will continue to worsen, corporations will continue to sell war and wreak havoc on the environment, and the worst impacts of these crises will be felt by the poor, by people of color, and by working people generally. We, the working class, deserve more. 
That’s why DSA is presenting a bold alternative. In our 2024 program, “Workers Deserve More,” we hope to bring together millions of people throughout the U.S. to fight for a true democracy where working people have control over their own lives, their government, and the economy. We deserve more, and we have to fight like hell to make that vision a reality. Read DSA’s 2024 Program: Workers Deserve More

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By Mike Dover 
The Nation recently published an article by Kareem Elrefai titled AOC’s DNC Speech Was a Betrayal of the Gaza Movement. Written by a DSA member, it calls for another opinion from a DSA member. 
According to the article and the transcript,  Congresswoman Alexandre Ocasio-Cortez said about Vice President Kamala Harris: "And she is working tirelessly. To secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing hostages home."
This response will focus on the issue of what was the most progressive and realistic thing that could be said in a plenary speech at the Democratic National Convention, and still produce unity and inspiration to defeat Trump/Vance and the MAGA movement. 
Part of the specific criticism given by criticism by Elrefai regarding the Gaza was: "But Ocasio-Cortez’s statement was simply not true. There have been no indications that Harris is playing a central role in any ceasefire negotiations. And there is mounting evidence that those negotiations are more fantasy than reality." 
Harris not being involved directly in the negotiations may be true. But given her role as Vice President, it is unfair to target her for staying loyal to the President. On July 25, she did make what Politico called a forceful case for a ceasefire, although the article pointed out she did not diverge from Biden’s position except in tone. But since when is the US role in proposing and passing United Nations Security Council 2735 a fantasy? 
Either side could now take the first step and actually implement Phase one's temporary cease fire. Either side could immediately cease bombing and/or rocket attacks, at least, while negotiating the details of a hostage/prisoner exchange. Phase one calls for Israel’s withdrawal from all major population center. Phase Two calls for negotiations over a permanent ceasefire. Why not ceasefire now and cross that Phase Two bridge when we get there? 
There was other criticism made: “She could have called for an arms embargo against Israel. And even if she felt she couldn’t take such a bold step, she didn’t have to help Harris push a narrative that is not true. She could have done what Bernie Sanders did in his speech on Tuesday night, when he said, “We must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages, and demand an immediate ceasefire.” 
This practically admits that it was not feasible to call for an arms embargo. At a time when Israel is any day expecting massive guided-missile attacks from Iran and/or Hezbollah? That is a non-starter if Harris/Walz wish to beat Trump. A temporary arms embargo for offensive weapons might be called for, but a permanent one would just embolden Iran and Hezbollah and Hamas and its allies, to think that there is a military solution to the conflict. 
As to the criticism that AOC did not go as far as Senator Bernie Sanders, that is just not true. First, Sanders was given just over 12 minutes. AOC’s speech was prime time and only 7 minutes. According to the transcript, on Gaza, Bernie said this: “We must end this horrific war in Gaza, bring home the hostages and demand an immediate ceasefire.” He said nearly the same thing as AOC!
 
One might imagine there could be other criticisms. Should have said "permanent" ceasefire? Should she have said not only "hostages" but hostages and prisoners? 
This would be irresponsible given there were still reports of a possible ceasefire implementation.  If she had more time— and she did not—she could have said "to secure the immediate implementation by Israel and Hamas of the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution, which the Harris Biden administration helped formulate and is tirelessly working to implement."
It seems to me that instead of attacking AOC from the left, those on the democratic left should recognize the political realities within which she operated, instead of criticizing one of our most outspoken allies. When Rep. Ilhan Omar was criticized for her comments at the Convention, AOC responded in defense of her. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has a long and principled record of progressive statements and action on US policy in the Middle East. Let’s find a way to build unity this fall and block the attack on democracy by Trump/Vance and the MAGA forces.  
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(Mike Dover has been a DSA member since 1992 and is a longstanding peace and solidarity and radical social work activist)