Happy Black History Month! To start the celebration, please enjoy this video of our SEIU ULTCW members, leaders, and families taking part in this years Kingdom Day Parade in Los Angeles! Let us continue to advance together on our Drive to Dignity Campaign. Let us celebrate this month and what it represents, by continuing to fight for all those who call California home! Renowned abolitionist and suffragist, Sojourner Truth, poignantly remarked, Truth is powerful and it prevails. Legendary abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, famously proclaimed, If there is no struggle, there is no progress. These sentiments, and the accomplishments of their speakers, were present in 1925 when history professor, Carter G. Woodson, made the case for spotlighting the contributions of black Americans, each February (the month of Frederick Douglass birth). The son of a former slave, Professor Woodson observed that African Americans were “overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them.” He brought the first national Negro History Week into being in 1926, when Jim Crow laws, and every form of discrimination and segregation, including the denial of marriage, voting, and property rights on the basis of race, remained legal. The Supreme Court had not yet overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, and the practice of lynching persisted. Like Professor Woodson, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had faith in the capacity of all people to embrace diversity, and form bonds of common humanity. Dr. King unflinchingly posited, I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.... I believe that unarmed Truth and unconditional Love will have the final word. Our union is strong because its members are from every background and walk of life. We are not SEIU ULTCW, without our African American, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latino, and African founders, members, and leaders, just as the United States could not exist without the Diaspora. February serves as a reminder of this fact, Whether we are black or not; whether our family tree has deep roots in this country, or we are recent arrivals, Black History Month is our month. As Dr. King poetically and accurately articulated, We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:46:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015