Today in Labor History December 17, 1951: American Civil Rights Congress (CRC) delivered their "We Charge Genocide" paper to the UN. They accused the U.S. government of genocide based on the UN Genocide Convention, citing many instances of lynching, legal discrimination, disenfranchisement of blacks in the South, police brutality and systematic inequalities in health and quality of life. The U.S. government and press accused the CRC of promoting Communism. The State Department forced CRC secretary William L. Patterson to surrender his passport after presenting the petition to the UN.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #genocide #racism #civilrights #un #discrimination #lynching #murder #communism #policebrutality #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History December 11, 1917: Thirteen black soldiers were hanged for alleged participation in the Houston Mutiny. The cause of the mutiny, according to The Crisis Magazine, was the habitual brutality of white police officers toward black residents. The mutiny started on August 23, 1917, when a cop dragged an African American woman from her home and arrested her for drunkenness. A black soldier asked what was going on and was beaten and arrested, too. When Cpl. Charles Baltimore, an MP, found out, he went to the police station to investigate. He was beaten, too, then shot at as they chased him away. Rumors reached the military base that the cops had killed Baltimore and that a white mob was approaching. So, soldiers armed themselves and marched into town. A riot ensued in which 16 whites died, including 5 cops. 4 black soldiers also died. The army held three courts-martial in the wake of the mutiny. They found 110 African American soldiers guilty. 19 were executed in total, 13 on December 11. 63 more received life sentences in federal prison. No white civilians were brought to trial.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mutiny #racism #Riot #courtmartial #prison #hanging #lynching #police #policebrutality #policemurder #injustice #civilrights #texas #houston #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History November 22, 1919: The Bogalusa labor massacre occurred in Louisiana, when a posse of company thugs and white vigilantes, working for the Great Southern Lumber Company, attacked a group of white and black lumber workers and carpenters. The attack occurred after Sol Dacus, head of the newly formed union of Black Loggers, narrowly escaped a lynching by white vigilantes hired by local business owners. He was being escorted by two white union carpenters, armed with shotguns to protect him. While many white union men in the south embraced Jim Crow, the loggers and carpenters showed class solidarity and risked their lives for each other.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #racism #jimcrow #vigilantes #lynching #union
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Today in Labor History November 11, 1919: Armed "patriots" from the American Legion attacked and destroyed the IWW labor hall in Centralia, Washington, killing five. They then kidnapped, tortured, castrated and lynched Wesley Everest, a WWI veteran and an IWW organizer. No one was ever prosecuted for Everest’s murder, but 6 Wobblies (IWW members) were convicted of killing an American Legion and spent the next 15 years in prison, as a result.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #wwi #antiwar #lynching #murder #prison #washington

Today in Labor History November 1, 1985: Timothy Charles Lee, a 23-year-old gay, African-American and indigenous man, fell asleep on a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train and awoke in Concord, California. 11 hours later, he was found lynched, hanging from a tree near the Concord BART station. Local law enforcement closed the case quickly, ruling his death a suicide. Even at the time, the ruling was considered a travesty by activists. For example, Lee’s supposed suicide note misspelled his own name, and those of his siblings. One neighbor reported hearing screams coming from the park where Lee’s body was found. She ran outside to see what was happening, and saw a person in uniform (possibly a cop) who was collaborating with the perpetrators. The uniformed person turned around and started chasing her and she fled the scene. She later received threatening phone calls. The Concord police had a reputation of being infiltrated with racists and klansmen. There had been a 1977 article in the Contra Costa Times about the KKK recruiting police officers for its local branch. A 415-page FBI file later reported that two men wearing white KKK robes had been arrested 12 hours before Lee’s body was found, after stabbing two young black men just a few miles away from where Lee was lynched. Relatives are currently petitioning California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, to reopen the case.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #racism #kkk #lynching #police #homophobia #lgbtq

Today in Labor History October 26, 1892: Ida B. Wells published “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases,” which led to threats against her life, and the burning down of her newspaper’s headquarters in Memphis. Wells, who was born into slavery, was a journalist, educator, feminist, and early Civil Rights leader who helped found the NAACP.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #idabwells #racism #blacklivesmatter #blm #lynching #journalism #feminism #civilrights #BlackMastodon #naacp #writer #books #author @bookstadon