Today In Labor History June 29, 1941: Stokely Carmichael (1941-1998), founder of the U.S. civil rights group the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad. He was a key figure in the Black Power movement, becoming honorary Prime Minister of the Black Panther Party and, later, as the leader of the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party. The FBI attempted to destroy him through COINTELLPRO, and succeeded in convincing Huey Newton that he was a CIA agent. This, and the Panthers’ embracing of white activists into their movement, led him to distance himself from the Panthers. In 1968, he married the famous South African singer Miriam Makeba and moved to Africa, changing his name to Kwame Ture and campaigning internationally for revolutionary socialist pan-Africanism. #workingclass #LaborHistory #stokelycarmichael #blackpanthers #sncc #fbi #racism #CivilRights #cointellpro #africa #panafricanism #BlackMastadon

Today in Labor History June 26, 1975: Two FBI agents and one member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) were killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Undercover FBI agents framed AIM activist Leonard Peltier for the two FBI deaths. During the trial, some of the government’s own witnesses testified that Peltier wasn’t even present at the scene of the killings. Nevertheless, a judge him to two consecutive life terms. Peltier is still in prison and his health has been deteriorating. Peltier admitted to participating in the shoot-out in his memoir, “Prison Writings, My Life in the Sundance.” However, he denied killing the FBI agents. He became eligible for parole in 1993. Amnesty International, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama, all campaigned for his clemency. President Obama denied his request for clemency in 2017. #workingclass #LaborHistory #americanindianmovement #aim #leonardpeltier #FBI #prison #pineridge #politicalprisoner #indigenous #nativeamerican #memoir #books #author #writer @npub1wceq...lzu8

Today in Labor History June 17, 1876: U.S. army soldiers attacked an encampment of Lakota and Cheyenne in Rosebud, South Dakota. Led by Crazy Horse, the native warriors routed the Americans. The Cheyenne called it the Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother because the fight involved Buffalo Calf Road Woman, who courageously road out into the middle of the battle, grabbed her brother, and carried him to safety. The area had been promised to the tribes through treaties, signed after they had won previous battles. However, when gold was discovered in the Black Hills, the U.S. government wanted the land. Buffalo Calf Road Woman also fought at Little Bighorn, alongside her husband, Black Coyote. She was the one who struck the blow that knocked Custer off his horse, resulting in his death. #workingclass #LaborHistory #nativeamerican #indigenous #lakota #cheyenne #southdakota #crazyhorse #BuffaloCalfRoadWoman #littlebighorn #treaty

United Fruit, still at it after all these years: *Police murders of striking United Fruit workers at New Orleans port June 11, 1913 *CIA orchestrated coup in Guatemala, 1954, leading to decades of Genocide against Mayan people, all on behalf of United Fruit *Death squad murders in Columbia, on behalf of Chiquita (which used to be called United Fruit)

EarthRights International

Colombian victims win historic verdict over Chiquita: Jury finds banana company liable for financing death squads. | EarthRights International

After 17 years of litigation, a monumental win for victims of paramilitary violence in Colombia before a court in the United States. West Palm Beac...

#workingclass #LaborHistory #colombia #DeathSquads #union #strike #IWW #chiquita #unitedfruit #cia #police

Today in Labor History May 24, 1980: Hundreds were arrested in the occupation of Seabrook, New Hampshire, nuclear power plant construction site. The Clamshell Alliance was the main organizer. Founding members of the Clamshell Alliance include presidential candidate and left-green activist, Howie Hawkins, as well as journalist and anti-nukes activist Harvey Wasserman. Keith McHenry, cofounder of Food Not Bombs, also cut his activist teeth with the Clamshells. #activism #antinuke #FoodNotBombs #nuclearpower #clamshellalliance

Today in Labor History May 23, 2008: Labor folk singer and IWW member U. Utah Phillips (1935-2008) died. #workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #utahphillips #folkmusic

Today in Writing History May 22, 1927: Author Peter Matthiessen was born. Matthiessen was an environmental activist and a CIA officer who wrote short stories, novels and nonfiction. He’s the only writer to have won the National Book award in both nonfiction, for The Snow Leopard (1979), and in fiction, for Shadow Country (2008). His story Travelin’ Man was made into the film The Young One (1960) by Luis Bunuel. Perhaps his most famous book was, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse (1983), which tells the story of Leonard Peltier and the FBI’s war on the American Indian Movement. Peltier is still in prison (over 43 years so far) for a crime he most likely did not commit. The former governor of South Dakota, Bill Janklow, and David Price, an FBI agent who was at the Wounded Knee assault, both sued Viking Press for libel because of statements in the book. Both lawsuits threatened to undermine free speech and further stifle indigenous rights activism. Fortunately, both lawsuits were dismissed. #workingclass #LaborHistory #petermatthiessen #indigenous #LeonardPeltier #nativeamerican #aim #fbi #fiction #nonfiction #writer #author #cia #FreeSpeech #censorship @npub1wceq...lzu8