Describing racism as an "evil" that damages working families and the labor movement, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, earlier this month, spoke at the United Steelworkers convention and called for support for Barack Obama.
"There's not a single good reason for any worker, especially any union member to vote against Barack Obama," Trumka stated. "There's only one really bad reason to vote against Barack Obama, and that's because he's not white."
At the mention of the sensitive and difficult subject of racism and the election, the steelworkers rose to their feet to praise Trumka for taking it head on.
Trumka recalled having a conversation with a Democratic Party worker during the primary and listening to a laundry list of reasons that person wouldn't support Obama. They were all divisive and inaccurate, he recounted.
The Democratic worker, Trumka said, wouldn't vote for him because he is a Muslim. In response, Trumka told the person, "Actually, he's Christian like you and I, but so what if he's Muslim?"
Without batting an eye the person added that Obama doesn't like to wear flag pins on his lapel. Trumka again responded that neither of them were wearing one at the moment either, but Obama does in fact wear one often.
Trumka went on to remind the person that Obama thinks "it takes more than wearing a flag pin to be patriotic."
But the tone of the conversation got quiet and the person admitted that they could not trust Obama because he is Black. Trumka said, "Look around this town. There's no jobs here. Our kids are moving away because there's no future here. And here's a man, Barack Obama, who's going to fight for people like us, and you want to tell me that you won't vote for him because of the color of his skin? Are you out of your ever-loving mind?" Trumka wondered.
The crowd of steelworkers roared its approval.
Trumka continued that racism has to be taken head on. "Those of us who know better can't afford to sit silently by or look the other way while it's happening."
"There's no evil that has inflicted more pain and more suffering than racism," Trumka continued. "It's something that we in the labor movement have a very, very special responsibility to challenge."
Workers have long been forced to deal with companies and bosses who use racism to divide them, Trumka said. "We've seen how companies set worker against worker. They throw white workers a few crumbs. They discriminate against Black and Latino workers. And we all end up losing."
But the story doesn't have to end there, he continued. When workers have joined together in unions they have fought and overcome the influence of racism. "When we have the courage, the good sense, the trade union values to cross the color line, to stand together arms locked, no one can keep us down," Trumka thundered.
He went on to recall the history of the CIO and the founders of the Steelworkers union who fought discrimination and lynching. These unions were founded on the idea that all workers regardless of race need to be organized.
The way to speak to workers who may be inclined to vote based on race, Trumka pointed out, is to talk about the issues:
"If they care about holding onto their jobs, if they care about health care, if they care about pensions and their homes, if they care about creating good jobs with clean energy, child care, pay equity for women workers, there's only one candidate on the ballot this fall who is on their side. Only one candidate who is going to stand up for their families. Only one candidate who has earned their vote. And that candidate is Barack Obama. And come November, he's going to be the president of the United States."
To the fired up steelworkers, Trumka added that this is our moment to change our country. "We're going to be able to say that 2008 was the year that we started ending the war in Iraq so that we could use money to create new jobs," he said. "We're going to say 2008 was the year we took back our country and built a government that embraced workers and loved unions and saw the power that we bring and the justice that we instill in a country."
Trumka's words suggest a labor movement-led struggle against divisive racist influences on the working class has been inspired by Barack Obama's historic candidacy. This alone, union activists say, may be worth every ounce of their effort to bring him into office in a landslide.
