MAY 1 INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ DAY LABOUR DAY

Murphy Browne © April 30-2020

MAY 1 – INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ DAY

The first day of May is recognized as International Workers' Day. In many countries, the first day of May is also May Day, a time to celebrate with crowning of May Queens and plaiting of the Maypole. The day is also Labour Day in several countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe. International Workers’ Day is a celebration/recognition of the working classes that is promoted annually by the international labour movement. The efforts of labour activists ended child labour, established health benefits and provided aid to injured and retired workers.

In North America, the first workers who organized labour unions were skilled workers. These labour unions failed or refused to organize the less skilled; because many of the less skilled were racialized people, the early trade union movement was exclusively white and male. The whites-only, Order of United Machinists and Mechanical Engineers, founded on May 5, 1888, by railroad machinist, Thomas W. Talbot, in Atlanta, Georgia, was an example. Fourteen years later, in 1902, African Americans made up approximately 3% of the membership in American labour unions and most of those locals were segregated.

The history of organized labour in Canada is similar to America’s history. In her 2010 published book “North of the Color Line: Migration and Black Resistance in Canada, 1870-1955,” African American history professor Sarah-Jane Mathieu writes: “In April 1854, the Great Western Railway declared that it urgently needed eight hundred workers to guard its tracks against stray cattle and hog crossings. Its advertisement, strategically placed in Canada's most important black newspaper of the day, the Provincial Freeman, sought African Canadians for the task. Before the turn of the century, African Canadian men laid down tracks for the transcontinental railroad and worked as cooks and dining car attendants for the Grand Trunk Railway. Black railroaders became more prominent figures on Canadian rails by the 1870s when the Pullman Palace Car Company introduced sleeping car porters to Canada.” In “North of the Color Line,” Professor Mathieu examines the life of African Canadian railway workers and the African American and African Caribbean men who immigrated to Canada to work on the railway.

White men in Canada who worked for the railway companies protested the presence of racialized workers and insisted on a segregated workforce. The all-white male union, the Canadian Brotherhood of Railroad Employees (CBRE), refused to allow the sleeping-car porters to become members. In April 1917, the sleeping car porters began to organize their own union. The Order of Sleeping Car Porters (OSCP), was the first labour union in North America for African Canadian men. The OSCP was established in Winnipeg by porters John Arthur Robinson, J.W. Barber, B.F. Jones and P. White. The OSCP was not supported by the CBRE and faced several challenges. The CBRE negotiated contracts with employers on behalf of White union members. The OSCP had to overcome the white supremacist culture of the Canadian National Railway (CNR) management, which viewed African Canadian workers as a cheap and disposable pool of labour who did not deserve job protection. The persistence of the African Canadian workers ensured that by 1919, the OSCP successfully negotiated two contracts with the CNR. The contracts improved wages and job protections for all porters, regardless of race. The OSCP also criticized the hypocrisy of White unionists who talked about class solidarity while excluding African Canadian workers.

A collective bargaining agreement was not finalized until May 1945. This was a result of African Canadians organizing with the support of the US-based Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP) in 1939. Toronto born (November 18, 1918) Stanley G. Grizzle, was a sleeping car porter and an organizer with the BSPC. Grizzle, also a Civil Rights activist, was elected president of the Toronto division of the BSCP in 1946. Grizzle’s memoir, “My Name’s Not George: The Story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Canada, Personal Reminiscences of Stanley G. Grizzle,” was published in 1998. Grizzle recalled that many porters were “intelligent young Black men who had achieved a measure of education that should have guaranteed them a job befitting their academic achievements and in line with their training. But they were denied those opportunities by a racist society, and instead had to go into a line of work that forced them into that demeaning role of servant.”

During a time of prevailing White supremacist attitude which held that African Canadians were socially inferior to Whites and were meant to work in menial or subordinate positions, several African Canadian activists resisted. Stanley Grizzle was one of those activists. Grizzle also served in the Canadian military during WWII, was a candidate for political office and was appointed the first African Canadian citizenship judge. Grizzle transitioned to the ancestral realm on November 12, 2016.

Murphy Browne © April 30-2020

BRIXTON UPRISING APRIL (10-12) 1981

                                             

                                                       BRIXTON UPRISING APRIL 1981

Brixton Riots (April 10-12, 1981) The Brixton Riots of April 10-12, 1981, described as the first serious riots of the 20th century in England, were the first large scale racial confrontations between "black British youth" and white British police. The rioting was sparked by antagonism between the mostly British born descendants of the Windrush Generation and the white police. The 1981 Brixton riot, or Brixton uprising, was a confrontation between the Metropolitan Police and protesters in Brixton, South London, England, between 10 and 12 April 1981. 

The main riot on 11 April, dubbed "Bloody Saturday" by Time magazine, resulted in 279 injuries to police and 45 injuries to members of the public; over a hundred vehicles were burned, including 56 police vehicles; almost 150 buildings were damaged, with thirty burned. The Uprising was the reaction of the "Black British" youth to the "Sus law." There were 82 arrests. Reports suggested that up to 5,000 people were involved. 

Officers from other Metropolitan police districts and the Special Patrol Group were dispatched into Brixton, and within five days, 943 people were stopped and searched, and 82 arrested, through the heavy use of what was colloquially known as the "Sus law." The "Sus law" (which allowed police to arrest and secure convictions purely on suspicion of an impending illegality), were used disproportionately against "Black British" males (often involving the police flooding an area.) The "Sus law" was similar to the "stop and frisk" policy of New York police. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvY5qU7ayg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpypYcMe16I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvY5qU7ayg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpypYcMe16I

JUNE AND JENNIFER GIBBONS APRIL 11-1963

Murphy Browne © April 9-2020


JUNE AND JENNIFER GIBBONS APRIL 11-1963

On April 11, 1963, June Alison Gibbons and Jennifer Lorraine Gibbons were born at a Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) hospital in Aden, the capital of Yemen, in the Middle East. Yemen was under British rule until November 30-1967. The Gibbons twins were born in Yemen to African Barbadian parents Aubrey and Gloria Gibbons, who were living on the R.A.F base where Aubrey Gibbons worked. In late 1963, the family moved when Aubrey was stationed at Linton-on-Ouse, Yorkshire. Aubrey Gibbons, an R.A.F technician, was moved from base to base with his family. As the family was constantly moving to places where they were often the only racialized family in the neighbourhood, the twins were considered outsiders wherever they lived. The twins created their own language because of the ostracism and racist bullying they experienced as children. June would later explain that the language they created began as a game.

In 1971, when the twins were eight, Aubrey was posted to Chivenor, in Devon. In November 1998, as an adult, June spoke about the horrific racism to which she and Jennifer were subjected at their new school. “Eight or nine, we started suffering, and we stopped talking. People called us names—we were the only black girls in school. Terrible names. They pulled our hair.”  The girls were viciously and mercilessly taunted about their skin colour. No one seemed to understand what it was like for these two African Caribbean children to live in Wales, where they were constantly tormented and bullied because of the colour of their skin. It is not difficult to understand why these two little girls, isolated, shunned and tormented at school, clung to each other. Not difficult to understand why they created their own language and shut everyone else out of their world. June explained that their silence and secret language started as a game and by the time they realised they were trapped, they were unable to 'break out.'

In 1974, when the twins were eleven, Aubrey Gibbons was transferred to Haverfordwest, and the family moved to live on the local R.A.F. housing estate. The twins attended the Haverfordwest County Secondary School, where they were again subjected to rabid racism. It was at this time that they developed their special language. The school dealt with the racist bullying of the twins by giving the twins a “head-start” at the end of the school day so that they could run home and escape their persecutors. The racist White students suffered no consequences. The headmistress of the school blamed the twins for not being more sociable with their tormentors. June and Jennifer were failed by an uncaring White supremacist culture, society and system. Not surprising that in that uncaring White supremacist culture, society and system, the “Brixton Riots” happened in April 1981.

June and Jennifer Gibbons survived those torturous years of school while several White therapists attempted to communicate with them. An analysis of a recording of the twins’ language, found that their special language was a mixture of Barbadian Creole English and British slang. Nothing malevolent! Just two small girls with great creativity and imagination. Meanwhile they had to deal with being taunted by White students who would tell them to: “Go back to the jungle” and “learn to speak English.” When the girls were 14 years-old they were sent to separate boarding schools in an attempt to break their special bond. The girls were traumatized by the separation and became “catatonic.” After two years at boarding school they were reunited. At 16 years old, they were together again sharing a room and communicating with each other.

The girls spent their time expressing their creativity in writing. They wrote novels and plays, at least one of which they self-published. The two naïve young ladies became involved with bad company and altered their lives. It is reported that they were involved in a five-week spree of vandalism and arson. In May 1982, on the advice of their lawyers, they pleaded guilty at Swansea Crown Court and were sentenced to indefinite incarceration. As first-time offenders, June and Jennifer Gibbons were sent to Broadmoor, a British high-security psychiatric hospital. They became the youngest inmates at Broadmoor, locked up with criminals like serial killer “Yorkshire Ripper” Peter Sutcliffe and the infamous gangster/murderers Ronnie and Reggie Kray.

In a November 2000 interview, June said “Juvenile delinquents get two years in prison. We got 12 years of hell because we didn't speak. We lost hope, really. We were trapped. I wrote a letter to the Queen, asking her to get us out. But we were trapped.” In a 2016 interview their older sister Greta said: “They should never have been locked up in Broadmoor. I know they did wrong, but they didn’t kill anyone. It totally ruined their lives.” In 1993, doctors agreed to transfer them to Caswell Clinic, in Bridgend. Jennifer did not survive the transfer. The authorities said her heart was inflamed; at 29 years old, the twins were parted forever. Greta Gibbons said: “Jenny should never have died – she was only 29 years old and should not have been discharged if she was not fit enough. She should have been in hospital. If it had been me, I would have sued Broadmoor. I would not have let them get away with what they did. But it was my parents’ choice and they always said that it would not bring Jenny back.” It seems that not much has changed between the 1980s and the 21^st century. A 2003 review/study, found that “Black people are more likely than white people to be detained in psychiatric wards in the United Kingdom.”

When compared with two White girls who conspired to brutally murder the mother of one of them, the outcome was very different. In June 1954, in Christchurch, New Zealand, English teenager, Juliet Marion Hulme conspired with her friend Pauline Yvonne Parker, to murder Pauline’s mother. Juliet was being sent to live with a relative in South Africa and Pauline's mother refused to let her accompany Juliet. The two friends decided to murder Pauline's mother. They gleefully planned the murder, documenting their plans in a diary. Pauline and Juliet brutally bludgeoned Pauline’s mother with a brick inside a stocking. The prosecutor called it a "coldly, callously planned murder committed by two high intelligent and sane but precocious and dirty-minded little girls." Pauline and Juliet were sent to prison for 5 years. They were released with new identities on the condition that they never see each other again. Following her release from prison, Juliet returned to England and eventually moved to the United States.



Changing her name to Anne Perry, Juliet Marion Hulme became a successful author, ironically, writing murder mysteries, since 1978. Meanwhile, June Gibbons lives in obscurity, although there are plans to make a movie about the Gibbons twins. Hopefully the movie makers will at least pay June Gibbons for using her life story and try to do justice to the story they tell of her and her twin sister’s lives.

Murphy Browne © April 9-2020

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. APRIL 4-1968

Murphy Browne © April 2-2020

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. APRIL 4-1968

Well, I don't know what will happen now; we've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life - longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land. And so I'm happy tonight; I'm not worried about anything; I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Excerpt from the speech: "I've been to the mountaintop" and the last words spoken publicly by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on April 3, 1968

On Wednesday, April 3, 1968 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., gave his last speech. He spoke at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King was in Memphis to support a group of African American sanitation workers who had been forced to go on strike. The strike was sparked by an incident on February 1, 1968 when 36-year-old Echol Cole and 30- year-old Robert Walker, both African American sanitation workers in Memphis were crushed to death as they worked inside a sanitation truck. For years, African American sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee had complained about unsafe working conditions and poverty wages. At least three times — in 1963, 1964 and 1966 — they had faced retaliation from bosses while trying to unionize or planning to go on strike. The city’s racist policy forced African American sanitation workers into the backs of trucks in bad weather. White historian Taylor Branch in his 1988 published book “At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68.” Wrote “City rules barred shelter stops in residential neighborhoods — after citizen complaints about unsightly ‘picnics’ by the Negro sanitation workers.”

On February 1, 1968, an especially rainy Thursday afternoon, city sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker took shelter in the back of a garbage truck when it malfunctioned. In the driving rain, the two African American men’s only place to escape was to sit in the back of the garbage truck, just inches from the trash compactor. The city knew that the truck was in serious disrepair, but “black lives did not matter,” in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968. Thomas Oliver Jones, a sanitation worker turned union organizer, had filed a complaint with the city’s public works department, “asking that this particular truck no longer be used,” wrote White American historian Michael K. Honey in his 2007 published book “Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign.”  African American sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker were “somehow” pulled into the trash compactor, heads first. Pulling their mangled bodies from the vehicle was described as a “gruesome chore.”

White American author Taylor Branch in his 2007 published book “At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68” described the death of Cole and Walker: “It was a gruesome chore to retrieve the two crushed bodies from the garbage packer and pronounce them dead at John Gaston Hospital. Echol Cole and Robert Walker soon became the anonymous cause that diverted Martin Luther King to Memphis for his last march.” The deaths of Cole and Walker were just another “insult to injury” that the Memphis Department of Public Works had dealt to African American sanitation workers. Within the same week the Department sent a group of African American workers (who had turned up for work) home during a rainstorm refusing to pay them while White workers who did no work on that day received their salaries.

The African American workers met on Sunday night February 11, 1968 and went on strike Monday, February 12, 1968. The callous disregard displayed by the authorities in Memphis for the lives of the two African American sanitation workers, tragically killed, coupled with the latest blatant disrespect and disregard for the labour and lives of African Americans in their employ drove the estimated 1,300 African American employees of the city to go on strike. The deaths of Cole and Walker, were the last straw. On February 12, 1968, hundreds of sanitation workers failed to show up for work. They demanded a raise, better working conditions and union recognition. A few weeks later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis to support the 1,300 strikers.

The incident resulting in the death of Cole and Walker was the most egregious in a long line of abuse and neglect of African American workers by the Memphis Department of Public Works. The sanitation workers, led by African American sanitation worker Thomas Oliver (T.O.) Jones embarked on a strike that would bring Dr. King to Memphis. Jones was the leader of Local 1733 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Workers (AFSCME) and took a risk in calling the workers out on strike without support from his national office which was led by White men. The Mayor of the city of Memphis, Henry Loeb III an unabashed White supremacist, refused to negotiate with the striking workers, instead he threatened to permanently replace the strikers. In an effort to demoralise the striking workers, city police escorted garbage trucks with replacement strikebreaking workers in an effort to break the strike. While the workers were on strike city police attacked the workers and their supporters with clubs and mace (pepper spray.) The strike would eventually become more than a group of African American sanitation workers fighting for dignity and better pay on their job. By the time the strike ended on April 16, 1968 it would have become a rallying point for African Americans fighting for dignity and respect in Memphis, Tennessee.

The African American sanitation workers in Memphis with the support of the African American community in the city had been on strike for five weeks when Dr. King was invited to support them. Dr. King flew to Memphis and on Monday, March 18, he spoke at a rally attended by about 17,000 people where he advocated that a citywide march be held in support of the striking workers. Dr. King returned to Memphis on Thursday, March 28, to lead the protest march. The Memphis police department came out in a show of force and attacked the marchers with guns, batons, mace and tear gas. Surprisingly only one person was killed by police gunfire; unarmed 16-year-old African American Larry Payne was shot to death by police who also injured 60 people and arrested 280. The state legislature authorized a 7:00 p.m. curfew and 4,000 National Guardsmen moved through the city to curb the movements of African Americans.

Dr. King returned to Memphis on Wednesday, April 3 to address another rally planned to support the striking workers. That night (April 3, 1968) during his last speech at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ in Memphis, Tennessee Dr. King gave his final speech. During that speech he compared the lives of African Americans to those struggling to unionize. “Memphis Negroes are almost entirely a working people. 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.” The following day, April 4, 1968,  as Dr. King stood on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee he was shot and killed by a sniper. His assassin has never been verified; although White supremacist James Earl Ray was tried and found guilty of the assassination, there have always been doubts about who really assassinated Dr. King. Ironically the strike which was his last civil rights action ended 12 days after Dr. King was assassinated. On April 16, 1968 the sanitation workers reached an agreement with the city and the strike ended.

It has been 52 years since Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee and since he spoke these famous words: “And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land.” We have still not entered that “Promised Land” of which Dr. King dreamed where his four little children would live in a world “where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Admittedly those words are from another of Dr. King’s famous speeches; however, with the killing of African Americans by White police officers, not much has changed since Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. In this 21st century we must keep fighting the fight Dr. King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Dudley Laws, Charles Roach, Sherona Hall and countless others fought. Today, April 2, 2020, almost fifty-two years after the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a white supremacist, emboldened by a white supremacist culture, Bob Marley’s question “How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look?” is still not answered because not all our prophets who have been killed were physically assassinated, some have had their physical health affected to the point where they cannot survive, while others have suffered character assassination.

While there are some African Americans who are paid large sums of money to entertain, many, many more live in dire poverty at the mercy of a white supremacist culture. Even the entertainers who sometimes seem as though they are the chosen ones, are forced to live in a state of hypervigilance because the money they make does not protect them from a white supremacist culture in the 21^st century.

Murphy Browne © April 2-2020