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Why so few Black men are working
December 9, 2011
On Friday I walked the BART connector project. I found one worker who was a descendant of slaves on this $1 billion project. The minority contractors, who tend to employ members of their own tribe, have contracts whose value is less than 1/2 of 1 percent.
Black and Brown workers protest White contractor in Harlem
May 14, 2011
West Harlem streets around City College of New York were suddenly filled with angry workers’ chants on May 10: Black and Latino construction workers protesting the construction of City College’s new dormitory by a White-owned firm, while legitimate Harlem-based Black and Latino contractors were not hired, a pattern City College has followed for 30 years. Read how Harlem Fightback! and other coalitions have fought and are once again fighting back.
Jobs now!
November 29, 2009
When America talks about unemployment percentages around 10 percent, I know they are talking about white people. It is talked about as an alarming figure. As a Black man, I am not alarmed. If that were the number in my community, I would rejoice. “No Blacks working! That’s what I see at every construction jobsite in San Francisco,” exclaims Willie Ratcliff, Bay View publisher and lifelong construction worker and contractor.
Pimped?
September 14, 2009
Lack of capacity and lack of wealth often result from our deceptive practices with each other. More often they result from the acts of malice perpetrated by powerful predators who profit from our community dysfunction. These predators come with names that are disarming. They are often religious church names. They are always controlled by the rapacious and the greedy.
‘Change … comes through continuous struggle’ – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
January 1, 2009
My call last month for an end to the lockout of Blacks from construction is catching fire. This month, let’s get some work! Everyone who wants to work construction, pack the BART board meeting Thursday, Jan. 8, 9 a.m., Kaiser Center, Third Floor, 344 20th St., Oakland. Dr. King taught us, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.”