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Unions: Friend or Foe to the Black Community
By: Takia Hollowell
Many individuals think of unions as a great income equalizer for blacks and one of the greatest allies against “systematic” racial discrimination. Too often, proponents of this perspective have only been exposed to one side of the story. I challenge the premise of those proponents from both a historical and economical standpoint.
RACIST HISTORY OF UNIONS – KEEP BLACKS OUT!
The racist roots of unions is a story not often told. Anyone looking for Fox News quotes will not find them here. The historical aspect will be told mostly through the eyes of historical black activists.
Though slavery was an ugly blot of American history, it bore an unintended consequence that some whites were not prepared to deal with upon emancipation.
Booker T. Washington notes:
“On these [slavery] plantations young colored men and women were constantly being trained not only as farmers but as carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, brick masons, engineers, cooks, laundresses-sewing and housekeeping.” (The Negro Problem, Chapter 1)
The story continues…..
“In the skilled trades, at the close of the War of the Rebellion, most of the work was done by Negroes educated as artisans in the hard school of slavery, but there has been a steady decline in the number of such laborers, not because of lack of skill but because trade unionism has gradually taken possession of such employments in the South, and will not allow the Negro to work alongside of the white man. And this is the rule of trade unions in ALL parts of the country. It is to be hoped that there may be a gradual broadening of the views of white laborers in this vital matter and a change of attitude by the trade unions that they dominate.” (The Negro Problem: Chapter 7)
T. Thomas Fortune, Former slave and accomplished Journalist
It was the former slaves that possessed the coveted skill sets of the Industrial Age capitalists which enabled them to obtain employment faster than their unskilled counterparts. As white workers feared the growth of competition from emancipated slaves, many unions were formed to keep blacks out of several professions.
The market could not remain free. It HAD to be regulated. This is precisely why UMW President John Mitchell stated in 1903 that, “The trade union movement in this country can only make progress by identifying with the State.” (Mitchell, J. (1903) Organized Labor: Its Problems, Purposes and Ideals and the Present and Future of American Wage Earners. )
Enabled by both the federal and state government, unions obtained legal power to discriminate against blacks. For example, Lester Granger of the National Urban League referred to the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) as “the worst piece of legislation passed by Congress.” The NAACP also referred to it as “fraught with danger to Negro labor.” (Moreno, P. , Black Americans and Organized Labor: A New History. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.) Additionally, the pro-union Davis Bacon Act was blatantly and open created for the express purpose of suppressing black labor.
Frederick Douglass drafted an editorial titled, “The Folly, Tyranny and Wickedness of Labor Unions” in 1874. In this writing Douglass gives his account of the racism he experienced against a caulkers union.
Even Marcus Garvey referred to them as “white unions” as he wrote:
“If I must advise the Negro workingman and laborer, I should warn him against the present brand of Communism or Workers’ Partizanship as taught in America, and to be careful of the traps and pitfalls of white trade unionism, in affiliation with the American Federation of white workers or laborers. It seems strange and a paradox, but the only convenient friend the Negro worker or laborer has, in America, at the present time, is the white CAPITALIST.”
He continued on:
”I am of the opinion that the group of whites from whom Communists are made, in America, as well as trade unionists and members of the Worker’s party, is more dangerous to the Negro’s welfare than any other group at present.”
PRESENT DAY
Though organized labor proponents boast that millions of blacks are employed within their ranks, the economic consequences are not fully expounded upon. While it is true that some blacks have benefited from unions, it comes at the expense of high unemployment for many in the urban community. How so? As union leaders push for artificially higher wages, it causes the price of labor to increase – causing the employer to hire less workers. Labor, as any other commodity, is subject to the law of supply and demand and will greatly reduce as its price (wage) increases. In layman’s terms, more jobs would be available for others to apply for.
Milton Friedman explains it best here:
And for my leftist readers screaming, “Right Wing Racism” from Milton Friedman, please take note the this is no new economic law. I will close with the words of French economist Frederic Bastiat as he spoke on this very economic principle in 1848. He was neither Democrat or Republican.
“But if, duped by that false philosophy…. they take to remunerating (compensating) labour largely, far from doing good, they will do harm. They will give double wages, it may be. But then, forty-five men will be better provided for, whilst forty-five others will come to augment (increase) the number of those who are sinking into the grave.”
Originally posted at www.kiradavis.net
Is Capitalism Inherently Racist?
“But more importantly, racism is a key mechanism for the stabilization of capitalism and the legitimization of inequality.”
-Michael Reich, Professor of Political Economy at U.C. Berkeley
Is capitalism inherently racist? Unless you’ve been living under a rock for most of your life, there have been many references to America being a white capitalist system. People like Michael Reich have built the case that it is indeed. In his 1974 article entitled, The Economics of Racism he insisted that blacks are systematically subjugated in capitalist societies. How silly. The article goes on to list half truths and selective statistics to support his supposition by the way.
Behind almost every argument against capitalism and its alleged ties to racism is a Marxist. Lo and behold on the front of Reich’s article is this statement, “Reich believes this analysis to be based on ideas from Marx….” These Marxists are busy at painting capitalism as racist as they write many books and articles on this subject:
- Capitalism and Racism - Capitalism and Racism can be found on www.bolshevik.org.
- Racial Capitalism and the Digital Divide – This link reveals their motto on the top of their website, which reads, “A Socialist, Feminist, Anti-Racist Organization.”
- Marxist Theory of Racism and Racial Inequality - The name within itself is should be self-explanatory
- Why Capitalism Needs Racism – as you scroll down and look to the right of the page, this leftist group is linked to a group called Socialist Alliance.
- ….and many more….
Socialists are the common denominator in all of these articles. If this isn’t enough to convince to you, I’d challenge any disbeliever to cruise the Progressive Labor Party’s website (ww.plp.org) where they openly claim to be Communists. They also openly claim that, “Capitalism uses racism to super-exploit black, Latino, Asian and indigenous workers, and to divide the entire working class.”
If Marxists can convince a particular race that an economical system is implicitly against their best interests; would it not create a natural hostility towards free markets and an acceptance of big government policies?
The answer is an astounding yes!
J. Edgar Hoover summed it up best in 1960:
“Communists seek to advance the cause of communism by injecting themselves into racial situations and exploiting them (1) to intensify the frictions between the Negro and whites to ‘prove’ that discrimination against minorities is an inherent defect of the capitalist system, (2) to foster domestic disunity by dividing Negroes and whites into antagonistic warring factions, (3) to undermine and destroy established authority, (4) to incite Negro hostility toward law and order, (5) to encourage and foment racial strife and riotous activity and, (6) to portray the Communist movement as the ‘champion’ of social protest and the only force capable of ameliorating the conditions of the Negro and the oppressed.”
Hoover hit the nail right on the head. Where do you think the Black Panther Party came from? Go to www.marxist.org. They will tell you:
“From the tenets of Maoism they set the role of their Party as the vanguard of the revolution and worked to establish a united front, while from MARXISM they addressed the capitalist economic system, embraced the theory of dialectical materialism, and represented the need for all workers to forcefully take over the means of production.”
(Note: Notice the above picture. The Party for Socialism and Liberation is using the tragic Trayvon Martin situation to exploit racism against capitalism. Hoovers’ words ring truer than ever today!)
It is no wonder why some in the black community (and other races as well) have unfortunately been indoctrinated to have a disdain towards capitalism and become docile to an intrusive/bigger government. This incoherent ideology has been passed on from generation to generation (especially after the 1960’s). It still lives on today in talking points about “the rich getting richer” and how government must step in to ensure economic justice and/or level the playing field.
The solution to this nonsense is to educate those around you on what capitalism really is. Many of these well-intentioned individuals simply do not understand that capitalism is an economic system whereby the means of production are owned by you and I (i.e. the people). In this system, anyone of any race can flourish and succeed if they work hard enough. We have black millionaires and businessmen as proof of this. If capitalism was inherently racist America would not be inundated with people of all ethnicities on a huge immigration waiting list. They come for the freedom and opportunity to prosper as they are running away from their native socialist countries. As the black race has already been targeted, Latinos are the next target for racial talking points and leftist indoctrination. If you don’t do your part to educate those around you, this type of incoherent thinking will continue to spread and come back to haunt you at the voting booth. The end game for a Marxist is to end capitalism; and as you can see, racism has been one of their biggest weapons in this battle.
