Sun
Oct 12 2008
11:04 pm
Best stump speech of the year: Rich Trumka on racism
By: Bbeanster

I walked a picket line with my daddy when I was 10 years old, and the old-timey labor movement -- the guys who bled and died to bring us the 40-hour work week and healthcare benefits -- are dear to my heart.

So I found this as powerful as anything I've seen this election season.

Apologies if you've already seen this; please take a few minutes and watch it if you haven't. Mother Jones and Joe Hill would be proud of Rich Trumka. Powerful stuff from a guy who started his working life as a coal miner. This is politics done right.

(link...)

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Hammersmith's picture

If I were a miner...

Submitted by Hammersmith on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 11:26am.

I would find Mr. Trumka as presumptuous as those outsiders who applaud his speech. This reverse-race card pitch deserves short shrift, those who make it and those who support it.

sugarfatpie's picture

This is a hugely important speech

Submitted by sugarfatpie on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 11:48am.

It takes racism head on.
And DAYUM he is FIRED UP!

Only a true outsider would fail to see the importance of what he is saying.
I had a friend who worked in a steel mill growing up. He described the way management pitted blacks against hispanics and whites against both. They did this by segregating job-classes according to race. They did this to make union organizing harder.

Obama's candidacy is extremely relevant to the labor movement on a number of levels, one of which is its implicit challenge to the racism that management has historically used to divide working people.

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

rikki's picture

If you were a miner, you

Submitted by rikki on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 12:26pm.

If you were a miner, you would be desperate to end the decades of economic anarchy Republicans have used to erode your wages, benefits and safety.

Hammersmith's picture

If you are...

Submitted by Hammersmith on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 2:24pm.

talking about the last five decades or so, the parties have pretty much split the presidency and the Democrats have controlled Congress most of that time. I would appreciate your point of view more if you were willing to acknowlege that any economic anarchy is the work of both parties. But instead, you seize on the hardships of miners for petty partisan advantage.

rikki's picture

I would appreciate your

Submitted by rikki on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 3:24pm.

I would appreciate your point of view more if you were willing to acknowlege that any economic anarchy is the work of both parties.

You want me to lie to appease you? Blow it out your ass.

It's hilarious watching conservatives trying to pass themselves off as champions of the working class. You barely even know where to begin. All you can offer is vague condemnations of people you barely know.

What are you going to do to help coal miners?

smalc's picture

I was in eastern KY on

Submitted by smalc on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 4:16pm.

I was in eastern KY on Saturday. I saw several vehicles with UMW and Obama stickers.

Of course I also saw a group set up in front of a shopping center encouraging people to vote for the "babe".

R. Neal's picture

Hell yeah, great

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 12:31pm.

Hell yeah, great speech.

Reminds me a little of remarks by Harold Woods, AFL-CIO member and husband of Knox Dem chair Sylvia Woods, at a TN delegation breakfast in Denver:

(link...)

Hammersmith's picture

Pompous liberals...

Submitted by Hammersmith on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 1:23pm.

piling on working class whites, the few that are left.

sugarfatpie's picture

So what do you do for a living?

Submitted by sugarfatpie on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 1:25pm.

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

Bbeanster's picture

Hell YES, we're angry

Submitted by Bbeanster on Mon, 2008/10/13 - 5:00pm.

Another teriffic Trumka speech.

(link...)

This guy's my hero.

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