labor day
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…