Today in Labor History October 15, 1966: The Black Panther Party was created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, in Oakland, California. One of their early core practices was open-carry armed citizen’s patrols monitoring abusive police behavior. They also implemented free breakfast programs and community health clinics, and advocated for revolutionary class struggle. The FBI sabotaged the Panthers through its COINTELPRO and participated in the assassination of Panthers, like Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. In 1969, the Panthers officially declared sexism to be counterrevolutionary and ordered its male members to treat women as equals. In 1970, Huey Newton expressed support for the Women’s Liberation Movement, and the LGBTQ Liberation Movement which, he correctly noted, were subject to much of the same police brutality as were African Americans. #workingclass #LaborHistory #BlackPanthers #marxism #Revolutionary #fbi #cointellpro #policebrutality #police #policemurder #blm #BlackMastadon

From Workingclass History On this day, 14 October 1977, anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant was "pied" in the face by Thom Higgins, a gay rights activist. Bryant, who was already well-known as a singer, led Save Our Children, a homophobic campaigning group which successfully overturned legal protections for LGBT+ people in Dade County, Florida. Bryant had declared about homosexuality: "I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before." After being pied, Bryant burst into tears and began praying. Bryant was also brand ambassador for Florida orange juice, which then became subjected to a mass boycott campaign. Gay bars replaced screwdrivers (vodka and orange juice cocktails) with "Anita Bryants" – made with vodka and apple juice, with the profits donated to the campaign. Bryant's lucrative orange contract subsequently lapsed and her marriage failed, which caused her to be ostracised by some Christian fundamentalists who did not approve of her divorce. Later in life, Bryant's homophobic views softened, and she stated she was "more inclined to say live and let live". In 1998, Dade County reintroduced legal protections for LGBT+ people, and efforts by Christian groups to overturn them failed. This is one of hundreds of stories featured in our book, Be Gay, Do Crime: Everyday Acts of Queer Resistance and Rebellion, available here with global shipping:

Working Class History | Shop

Be Gay, Do Crime: Everyday Acts of Queer Resistance and Rebellion

Be Gay, Do Crime: Everyday Acts of Queer Resistance and Rebellion, edited by Zane McNeill, Blu Buchanan and Riley Clare Valentine, is the second bo...

Moshik Temkin: "My best prediction is the Democrats will win back power in 2026 and 2028 and will then keep almost all of the authoritarian/militarized stuff that they are denouncing about Trump , all in the name of “bipartisanship” and will then hand power right back to Republicans." Hard to argue with this... Me: Dems were fine with the war on terror and perpetuated it. Same with the surveillance state that escalated after 911. Even the Trump 1.0 tax cuts for the rich (and tax increases for the masses) continued under Biden. And they certainly had no problem with genocide.

Israel continues bombing Gaza, despite the "ceasefire." Eventually Hamas will fire back, as they always do, and they will be blamed for breaking the "ceasefire." Trump's "peace" is nothing more than a continuation of the genocide and another fake end to a war that he is taking credit for.

Yahoo News

Report: Four killed in Israeli drone strike in Gaza despite ceasefire

Four people were killed on Tuesday in an Israeli drone attack east of Gaza City despite the recently agreed ceasefire, the Palestinian news agency ...

Or it’s like a person who earns $50,000 in a year complaining about paying $50 in taxes.

Strike early, strike often Throw the bosses off your back!

Today in History October 14, 1994: Three terrorists, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, won the Nobel Peace Prize, once again proving the Tom Lehrer quote that the prize has made political satire obsolete. #workingclass #LaborHistory #israel #palestine #nobelprize #terrorism #arafat #plo #rabin #peres

Today in Labor History October 14, 1979 The first National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights draws approximately 100,000 people. #workingclass #LaborHistory #lgbtq #march #washington #gay #lesbian