labor day

  • A Love Letter to Black Women, Who Have Always Labored for Our Democracy

    A Love Letter to Black Women, Who Have Always Labored for Our Democracy

    My Fellow Black Women, It’s a new day. A Black, South Asian woman is the vice-presidential candidate on the 2020 Democratic ticket. It’s a historic moment. With the celebration, discussion and dissection of partisan politics, I reminisce on the countless strides made by the thousands of Black women who laid the groundwork for this moment.…

  • The Women of GirlTrek, in Their Literal Movement for Black Women, Radiate Collective Work and Responsibility

    The Kwanzaa principle for today, Dec. 28, is Ujima: Collective Work and Responsibility. Ujima means building and maintaining our community together and making our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems while solving them together. Vanessa Garrison and Morgan Dixon, the founders of GirlTrek, embody the principles of collective work and responsibility. Their eight-year-old outfit organizes black…

  • Watch: America’s Racist History of Labor

    News flash: The history of labor in America is racist AF. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 after a railroad strike led by the American Railway Union known as the Pullman Strike. This was a turning point in the labor movement, though it didn’t benefit all American workers. Black Pullman porters weren’t allowed…

  • The 10 Worst Co-Workers Ever

    It is Labor Day. Before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Labor Day was the only black holiday. I’m pretty sure it originated as the day when slaves commemorated the end of cookout season. I think that’s right. Or maybe it symbolized the beginning of HBCU homecoming season. Perhaps it was meant to be a day…

  • 5 Rules for Black Cookouts … and Life

    As one of the world’s leading cookoutologists (I would say I’m the leading authority, but my aunt Phyllis hasn’t officially retired), I feel it is my duty to keep you updated on the latest in cookout culture. (Always remember: White people barbecue, black people “cook out.”) Although many people think of cookouts as events or…

  • Dragon Con: Where Black Nerds Come Out to Play

    Most people spend their Labor Day weekend cooking, shopping or just getting the heck out of town. Other people spend Labor Day weekend cooking up plans for world domination, shopping for rare-action-figure collectibles and finding ways to fly to another galaxy. At least that’s the main explanation for most black folks who attended Dragon Con…

  • Making Democracy the Real Promise of Labor Day for All Workers

    Labor Day is not a day off. It is a day on. A day to focus our collective efforts on the American dream of a safe place to live, work and raise a family in dignity. The democratic dream of fair opportunity is the promise of America I dreamed of when I fled from oppression…

  • Donna Brazile: Stronger Together on Labor Day

    After serving in the military overseas, my father returned home and worked in construction to support our family. But when an accident with a construction crane left him with a severely injured back, it took him a year and a half to recover—without workers’ compensation. As one of his nine children, I remember how badly…

  • Things Your Bitch Ass Better Not Do At A Labor Day Cookout

    Labor Day is almost here. Which means the summer is officially over. Which sucks. Because it felt like we had three weeks of summer this year. Like, you remember how it took Meek Mill an entire month to write and release a wack diss track for Drake? That’s how long summer felt. The span of…

  • 10 Things I Learned From My Labor Day Spelunking Adventure

    I went spelunking on Labor Day with my wife and several others for a friend’s birthday. Here’s what I learned. 1. Fuck spelunking 2. No, seriously. Fuck spelunking. 3. I don’t think you understand. Take all the fucks in the world. The fucks you used to give about Ashanti. The fucks you give now about…