This week we're having an organizing meeting to organize for next weeks meeting on fighting racism, asses our work on campus this quarter and continue planning for next quarter's activism on campus and off...
Agenda:
1. Assessment of campus activism this quarter -- our Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx series and last weekend's Case for Socialist Revolution Teach-In -- and discussion of what's next for on campus and city-wide off campus work this winter.
2. Committee breakouts (campus and community) to brainstorm and plan for upcoming work
Next Week: 12/8
From Jim Crow to Jaun Crow a Marxist Case for Fighting Racism
Handcuffed and pinned to the ground, Oscar Grant, an unarmed young Black man, was shot to death by an Oakland police officer Johannes Mehserle on New Year's Day of 2009. Even though the murder was recorded by an onlooker’s cellophane, at his November, 2010 sentencing Mehserle only received a two year jail sentence that will likely be reduced to just 72 days with time served.
The attack on immigrant communities continue to mount as raids and deportations have accelerated passed the levels even under George W. Bush. Anti-immigrant bashing has been most visible with Arizona’s “Juan Crow” laws—like the racial profiling HB 1070 and AZ's banning of ethnic studies programs from the public schools.
While the media hailed the election of Barak Obama as signaling a “post-racial” era in the U.S., people of color are facing jobless rates at twice the level of whites. Meanwhile, we have seen Obama distance himself from any explicit fight against racism while simultaneously witnessing Tea Party right-wingers launch racist attacks against Muslims, immigrants, and African Americans.
It’s time to organize a fight against racism.
Socialists have been at the front of some of the most important struggles against racism in US history—from the Communist Party in the 1930s to the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and 70s. With the economy in crisis, the relationship between race and class is increasing visible and new possibilities exist to rebuild a class struggle for racial justice.
Join the international Socialist Organization to discuss the history of racism in America and develop strategies for fighting against it today.
