Like “Orange is the New Black”? The real-life story of the prison is Families for Justice as Healing! Read more here:http://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/untold-real-life-story-behind-prison-orange-new-black/
This quote is from a very reflective article written by the Florence Johnston Collective as their May Day 2014 Statement.
“May Day is not a day for politicians to give speeches about reforms and compromises. It is not about searching for a kinder gentler capitalism, or a more diverse ruling class. In a world without commons it is a day of loss. And this loss calls not for mourning, but for action. It is only through struggling together as a class that this loss can be redeemed, towards a future of the commons reborn.”
The Florence Johnston Collective
Please read the full article. It is very moving, tells us all what we should know, and reminds us how things were and should be before the dirty, rotten system of Capitalism reared its ugly head devouring all that it could in its path. Many thanks to the Florence Johnston Collective for the issue of this May Day statement and to Comrade Abbey Locano for posting it on our facebook page. Please readers share this statement and if you are in NYC marching on May Day check out the collective and thank them for this May Day Statement.
Open Letter to the South
Langston Hughes
White workers of the South
Miners,
Farmers,
Mechanics,
Mill Hands,
Shop girls,
Railway men,
Servants,
Tobacco workers,
Sharecroppers,
GREETINGS!
I am the black worker,
Listen:
That the land might be ours,
And the mines and the factories and the office towers
At Harlan, Richmond, Gastonia, Atlanta, New Orleans;
That the plants and the roads and the tools of power
Be ours:
Let us forget what Booker T. said,
“Separate as the fingers.”
Let us become instead, you and I,
One single hand
That can united rise
To smash the old dead dogmas of the past-
To kill the lies of color
That keep the rich enthroned
And drive us to the time-clock and the plow
Helpless, stupid, scattered, and alone-as now-
Race against race,
Because one is black,
Another white of face.
Let us new lessons learn,
All workers,
New life-ways make,
One union form:
Until the future burns out
Every past mistake
Let us together, say:
“You are my brother, black or white,
You my sister-now-today!”
For me, no more, the great migration to the North.
Instead: migration into force and power-
Tuskegee with a new flag on the tower!
on every lynching tree, a poster crying FREE
Because, O poor white workers,
You have linked your hands with me.
We did not know that we were brothers.
Now we know!
out of that brotherhood
Let power grow!
We did not know
That we were strong.
Now we see
In union lies our strength.
Let unions be
The force that breaks the time-clock,
Smashes misery,
Takes land,
Takes factories,
Takes office towers,
Takes tools and banks and mines.
Railroads, ships and dams,
Until the forces of the world
Are ours!
White worker,
Here is my hand.
Today,
We’re Man to Man.
In today from Keldog Applessuce
As we raise our fists in the air in support of Jane Doe, the 16 year old black transgender women let us pause and remember that this trouble with DCF is not new at all. We thank David Samuel’s of the Community Party here in Hartford for bringing this to white radicals attention on the Justice for Jane Facebook page and for also questioning many peoples non responses to the Community Parties efforts to pass the Trayvon Martin Bill here in Ct. See our notes for more details. (1) Let us emphasize that these readings are just a small selection of Comrade Lewis’s writings. Comrade Lewis’s work can be found on his blog, DCF Plantation
Note from Furbirdsqueerly’s editor.
Gee, I don’t really remember when we first met Comrade Cornell Lewis but I think it was around the time we all went down to some redneck town in Connecticut where a black child had been beaten while he waited for the school bus. We were standing there on some sort of a green and the red neckness could be felt as some would say you could slice it with a knife. Man you could feel that hard cold red neck hateful stare, the kind that goes right through a person. Frank O’ Gorman must have grown eyes in the back of his head that day as he quickly turned around and said rather loudly, “Hey what are you doing?” A white creep was creeping up on Cornell and who knows what he was up to but stopped in his tracks when Cornell and I turned around and joined Frank in blocking his advance. Comrade Lewis was able to take down the man and his advances. We say Comrade as Cornell has been just that a comrade to our queer community of folks and we likewise to him. Over the years this blog has been honored to publish written works by Cornell about DCF and the racism that is prevalent towards workers of color working on what Cornell dubs The Plantation. We thought that it is very appropriate that we point our readers to some of these essays so they can become more familiar with DCF and its workings.
Cornell writes of his blog: (more…)
Here are some of the first press reports from today’s rallies:
Liberation News: http://www.pslweb.org/liberationnews/news/rallies-demand-justice-for.html
WNPR: http://wnpr.org/post/rallies-held-connecticut-and-new-york-city-jane-doe (some good photos)
Check out video coverage of yesterday here: http://wtnh.com/2014/04/25/supporters-jailed-transgender-teen-protest/
Excellent article from the New Haven Beat: Isolated But Not Cut Off. Justice for Jane Campaign Rallies for Transgender Youth.
Many thanks to Peter Goselin for sending us this important interview.
Justice for Jane: An Interview with Justic for Jane Rally Organizers and Supporters Al Ricco and I V Staklo who discuss the two protests that are being held today Friday April 25 in Hartford Ct. and In New York City. We thank Al, IV and everyone who has work to organize this rally.
Check out the interview HERE.
Check this out.
“Commissioner Katz, I am troubled with the negative and demeaning aspects of your description of Ms. Doe. It is almost as though you blame her for being a victim, and blame her for DCF’s inability to find appropriate services and an appropriate placement for her, even though, by your own report, she has been known to DCF since at least age 12. I do not detect hope, or compassion, or any positive regard for Ms. Doe in your descriptions.”
furbirdsqueerly 