Did Kia and Georgia State Officials Conspire in Illegal Discrimination?

In my book Legacy, I wrote: "In Troup County, conditions would probably have to deteriorate to the level of those in a Bangladesh sweat shop before the workers would dare to speak of forming a union -- and Kia management knows that... Some people argue that anti-union attitudes are just as strong throughout the rest of the South as they are in Troup County. I disagree. I think there here in Troup County, because of our secret history of proto-fascism, anti-unionism has a much stronger hold on the conscious and unconscious minds of workers."

Kia opened its plant in West Point because of the strong anti-union attitudes in the area -- and because the foreign company was promised tax breaks and other incentives from the state and local government. As local schools continue to shut down, Kia doesn't have to pay property taxes, and it seems that Troup County cares more about Kia's profits than our kids' education.

The state of Georgia also promised that state employees and resources would be used to recruit and train Kia employees. GPB reports that several workers have sued the state, claiming that the state conspired with Kia in illegal discrimination against former union workers.

According to the lawsuit, at least 150 former union workers applied for jobs at Kia, but only one former union member was hired. Joel Friedman, a labor law professor at Tulane University, told GPB, "It certainly would be statistically unlikely that it would just so happen that all of the people who were found to be unqualified happened to be people who actually had experience building cars in a unionized setting and that they were rejected not because they had previously been unionized but for some other reason."

Sabrina Bolston, who worked at the Ford plant in Hapeville for 10 years, hoped that she would be able to get a job at Kia. She applied three times and never even got an interview. Moreover, Kia didn't hire any of the experienced auto workers that had worked at the Ford plant. Bolston told GPB, "The only thing we had in common was that we all worked there."

The lawsuit was filed in December. In March, Georgia state legislators amended Georgia's Open Records Law to retroactively block the release of records about state training programs. Smells like somebody's trying to hide something.

The lawsuit comments on the stench: "Such actions violate the Georgia Constitution's prohibition on retroactive legislation attempting to trump vested rights and create denail of access to courts claims under the United States and Georgia  Constitutions by truncating, with its very terms, 'pending lawsuits.'"

GPB reports that Georgia Attorney General has responded to the lawsuit by saying that workers who applied for a job at Kia had a privilege, not a right, to inspect records about how the state screend applicants for the plant.

Did our state legislators forget that they represent the people of Georgia, not the interests of a foreign corporation?

Our state's Attorney General has called for a dismissal of the case -- even though it is illegal to discriminate against former union workers -- and now a judge will decide whether the case will proceed. The plaintiffs have asked a superior court judge to strike down the new amendment to the state's Open Records Law that blocks the release of records from state training programs.

Our Legacy - We Dare Not Question These Things

I hope to produce a documentary film that highlights some of the issues covered in my book Legacy. My friend Anton Flores of Alterna Community alerted me to the song below and asked me to consider using it in my documentary.

The song is "Legacy" by Pierce Pettis. When I first listened to it on my laptop, my wife heard it from across the room and asked, "Did somebody write a song about your book?"

It certainly seems like the song was written about LaGrange. In a way, it was. Listen, and check out the lyrics posted below.

It is a legacy
 It was handed down to me
 Poor dirt farmer
 Skinny mule

He parts the red clay
 Like it was the Red Sea
 It is a legacy
 Both me and You

You are a black man
 I am a white man
 Both come from the Southland
 Both doing the best we can

Well the grim reaper
 Is my brother's keeper
 The way my brother was kept
 Small wonder Jesus wept

It is a legacy
 Passed down to you and me
 What we're taught to believe
 We never question these things

It is a legacy
 It's a wild and bitter seed
 Blown across those fertile fields
 Where the roots run deep

We both got calloused hands
 Blue collared working men
 Down here in Bubba land
 What's in a name?

Both living rent to rent
 Some on the government
 We are quite different
 We are the same

It is a legacy
 Passed down to you and me
 What we learn to believe
 We never question these things

It is a legacy
 It's a wild and bitter seed
 Blown across those fertile fields
 Where the roots run deep

Sundays we congregate
 Praise Jesus, pass the plate
 Sitting in our Sunday best
 Singing hymns and mopping sweat

We learn the golden rule
 In separate Sunday schools
 In a house long divided against itself

It is a legacy
 Passed down to you and me
 What we choose to believe
 We dare not question these things

It is a legacy
 It is a wild and bitter seed
 Scattered on those fertile fields
 Where the roots run deep

Preparing to Occupy LaGrange

Last year I wrote the following in my book Legacy:

In the fall of 2011, as I type these words, thousands of people from across the political spectrum have occupied Wall Street to protest corporate influence in politics. The time is ripe for change. Some have called this the American autumn, referring to the Arab spring in which democratic uprisings swept across the Middle East earlier this year. I think it's time for a change at the local level, too.

If the future of our city is up on the auction block, available to the highest private bidder, then maybe the citizens of LaGrange should establish a People's Foundation to counter the influence of the Callaway Foundation. But, wait a minute, isn't that what government is supposed to be? Isn't our government supposed to represent the public interest? Isn't that why we pay taxes? 

I remain hopeful that our democracy will triumph. No matter how much money and influence corporate interests may have, we the people still wield the ultimate political power: the power of numbers. However, to tap into that power, we must stand together in courage and solidarity. Is it any surprise, then, that certain corporate interests would invest in social systems that promote fear, dehumanization, and division among people?

Little did I know that a few months later, I'd be preparing to Occupy LaGrange on Lafayette Square on May 1, 2012, in solidarity with the nationwide May Day General Strike called for by the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street.

Noam Chomsky has called the Occupy movement "the first major public response to thirty years of class war." In an interview with AlterNet.org, Chomsky identifies two major accomplishments of the Occupy movement: "One was just changing the discourse, putting things on the public agenda that were simmering in the background but were never articulated in a focused fashion -- like inequality or financial corruption and the shredding of the democratic system, the collapse of a productive economy... The other thing that happened, which is hard to measure, is the creation of communities. The Occupy communities were extremely valuable. These were communities that just kind of spontaneously developed out of mutual support, public interchange and the kinds of things that are very much lacking in an atomized society like ours, where people are kind of alone. The social unit that the business world strives for is a dyad, a pair. You and your television or you and your computer screen. That was broken by the Occupy movement in a very significant way. Just the possibilities of cooperation, solidarity, mutual support, public discussion, democratic participation is a model which should inspire people."

I'm looking forward to getting away from my computer screen and being part of an Occupy community on May 1st. If you'd like to join us, come out to Lafayette Square, downtown LaGrange, between 11:00a.m. and 7:00p.m.

A Message to the Racism Deniers

I'll begin this post with a couple of confessions:

First, I am racist. I wish that I weren't racist -- and I work hard to overcome my racist tendencies -- but I grew up in LaGrange, Georgia, and as a child, I was a member of the popular, local white supremacy club known as the Callaway Educational Association. Because I had a CEA membership card, I had the distinctly white privilege of swimming in a pool untainted by black skin and checking out library books that had never been touched by black hands. The Harvard Implicit Association test confirms that I have unconscious racial bias. (I recommend that you click the link and try the race test for yourself.)

Second, I must admit that I was once a fan of the agitprop novelist Ayn Rand and her unwavering support of individualism. Then I realized that Rand had it all wrong. She saw the world in terms of either/or and black/white. Sometimes this is called all-or-nothing thinking. It is a cognitive distortion, an irrational way of seeing the world. The world is not split into good people and evil people. We all have the potential to do both good and evil. The world is not made up of just black and white; subtle shades of grey abound. Ayn Rand refused to see most of the beauty in the world, and as a result, she died a bitter, lonely woman.

I think much impetus behind the growing trend of racism denial can be attributed to Ayn Rand's influence among political conservatives (especially the libertarians and tea partiers). Rand had a name for her method of irrational thinking. She called it Objectivism. Objectivists often argue that racism no longer exists because Jim Crow laws no longer exist. Here's an example of a common Objectivist argument: "Whatever residual cultural racism may remain in the U.S., discrimination against people of African descent is not legal anywhere in the U.S. today, and it is contrary to the explicit principles of virtually every significant organization. It is sad that in a culture that offers so much opportunity, there remain many who make excuses and look around for someone to blame for their troubles."

The colloquial phrase associated with this argument is "playing the race card." Whenever people complain about racism, the racism deniers accuse them of "playing the race card," as if racism is a thing of the past that keeps getting brought up again. Here's the logic behind that argument: Because we have a black president, racism no longer exists; or, at the local level, because black people can swim in the Callaway pool now, racism no longer exists.

Many of the racism deniers claim color-blindness. A local racism denier recently wrote, "I don't accept racism because I don't see a difference in color." The racism deniers say that we live in a post-racial, color-blind society. Bullplop!

You just have to open your eyes and look at current research to see that racism has not disappeared. Even college degrees don't close the racial gap in unemployment, and many college-educated African Americans have been forced to "whiten up" their resumes to get call-backs for jobs. Further, black males make up about 10 percent of the overall population but almost half of the prison population.

"With the election of Barack Obama now, it's widely believed that we as a nation have finally triumphed over race. But the reality is quite different," Professor Michelle Alexander told NPR. "I believe the mass incarceration of poor people of color in the United States is akin to a new caste system, one that appears from a distance to be colorblind, but operates nearly as effectively at locking people of color in a permanent, second-class status as earlier racial caste systems, including Jim Crow. In some major American cities, the majority of African American men are locked behind bars or labeled felons for life. And once you're labeled a felon, you're trapped. You're trapped at a permanent, second-class status in which you may be denied the right to vote; automatically excluded from juries; legally discriminated against in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits. So many of the old forms of discrimination that we supposedly left behind are suddenly legal again once you've been branded a felon. And the popular, supposedly colorblind justification for the mass incarceration of people of color holds no water: crime rates. As I describe in some detail in my book, crime rates do not even begin to explain the astounding and rapid increase in imprisonment in African American communities. Over the past few decades, crime rates have, risen and fallen, fluctuated over the past few decades, but incarceration rates have consistently soared."

If you don't want to take the time to read academic books and research articles, you just have to look to popular culture to see that rampant racism persists in the United States. Just look at the outpouring of racism surrounding the Trayvon Martin case. Or look at the reaction to the popular movie The Hunger Games: Apparently some white readers of the Hunger Games books pictured all of the characters as white, and some of these readers were upset when they saw black actors in the movie. Here are some comments from such moviegoers regarding the character of Rue, a little girl who's killed in the movie:

"call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad."

"Awkward moment when Rue is some black girl and not the little blonde innocent girl you picture." 

"why does rue have to be black gonna lie kinda ruined the movie."

Even our current presidential candidates regularly spout racist rhetoric.

To make matters worse, the racism deniers often employ convoluted, irrational hypotheticals to suggest that the "real" victims are not people of color but white folks. For example, many have suggested that people wouldn't be upset if Trayvon Martin were a white kid. I know I'd still be upset. His skin color wouldn't change the fact that an out-of-control vigilante shot and killed an unarmed minor.

Of course, the media tends to play up controversy. That's why Rush Limbaugh has a job. Matt Rock writes, "Rush Limbaugh has built much of his career on denying racism. Limbaugh's tactics have worked well enough that he's spawned an entire cult movement of racism deniers, many of whom aren't even fans of his program. His message that racism no longer exists, and that 'reverse-racism' is our biggest social threat today, has passed through the echelons of his followers to radiate into mainstream culture."

"They do not understand that ignorance is the culprit that is preventing them from growing as people," continues Rock. "And until they take the time to understand, until they take the time to educate themselves and learn exactly what racism is and why it's still such a serious problem in our society, then they will continue to deny the existence of that which still separates us because of skin color. They will continue to fuel this absurd notion that racism ended with the civil rights movement."

"These are the people who think Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are the devils incarnate and that Barack Obama is an unhinged radical who wants to see the demise of white people," writes blogger Gabrielle. "They have invented their own definition of 'racist' and assign the label to anyone, mostly people of color, who talks about racism. Those of us (of all races) who stand up to racism don’t hate white people; we hate the denial and distortion. Empathy is about being able to understand someone’s pain without injecting your own story into it. No one has a right to dictate how people of color should feel about their history and plight. Put your weapons down. Listen. Accept. Have compassion. If frustrated conservatives (and moderates & liberals in many cases for that matter) stopped being so defensive and combative when someone brings up racism, and listened to how entire populations of Americans felt, we would be a much healthier society."

In my book Legacy, I quote Professor Michelle Alexander: "Today in the so-called era of color-blindness, something akin to a racial caste system exists in America... It is a truth that we as a nation have gone to great lengths to deny, or perhaps it's more accurate to say, to avoid knowing. What is needed today is a broad-based social movement, multi-racial, multi-ethnic that includes poor whites, a group that is often pitted against people of color, triggering the rise of successive new systems of control. But before such a movement can get started, a great awakening is required. We've got to awaken from this color-blind slumber we're in; we've got to awaken to the realities of race in America."

And so, here's my message to you, racism deniers: You are not only racist but perhaps the worst kind of racist: willfully ignorant. I implore you to learn more about racism. You could audit a Social Psychology class at your local college, or attend a local NAACP meeting. I know it can be scary to step outside of your comfort zone, but you won't experience personal growth unless you take a chance. Ask people of color about their experiences and their feelings, and listen to them without trying to inject your own story.

By denying racism, you deny yourself the opportunity for personal growth and progress, as well as the opportunity to help make the world a better place for everybody.

Rally for Trayvon Martin in LaGrange, GA

Earlier this evening I attended a rally for Trayvon Martin at Troup County Courthouse in LaGrange. I heard from people of different ages, races, sexes, religions, and worldviews. We came together to speak out against an inexcusable injustice.

Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a wannabe cop. I don't care if Trayvon was suspended from school at the time. I don't care if he had been suspended because of marijuana residue in his bag. I don't care how tall he was. I don't care if he was dressed "like a wannabe gangster," as Geraldo said on Fox News. I don't care if he was disrespectful when questioned by Zimmerman, as Zimmerman's friend Joe Oliver said; I would've been disrespectful too if some asshole with a gun jumped out of a vehicle and started following me and acting as if he had some kind of authority over me.

What I care about is that Zimmerman murdered an unarmed minor and didn't go to jail. And that's an inexcusable injustice.

Zimmerman's friend Joe Oliver told NBC, "None of this would've happened if Trayvon had just said I'm staying with my parents."

Wrong! Trayvon didn't have to say anything to Zimmerman. Zimmerman is not an officer of the law. Neighborhood watch captains don't have the legal authority to question people or execute them, no matter what they look like.

None of this would've happened if Zimmerman wasn't a racist, out-of-control vigilante. It's not a crime for a black teen to walk down the street wearing a hoodie.

Tonight at the rally, a brave, young African American wearing a hoodie spoke to the crowd of about 40 and told us that he doesn't feel safe anymore. For me, that was the most powerful moment of the rally. Kids shouldn't have to fear the people who are supposed to be looking out for them and protecting them.

It's time to arrest Zimmerman and undo this great injustice.

With that said, there is a ray of hope penetrating this dark tragedy, and everyone at the rally experienced it. It is this: Even in LaGrange, GA, one of the most conservative cities in the country, we the people have the will and the means to quickly organize a non-violent direct action that brings together people from all walks of life to stand up and speak out against social injustice. We are the 99 percent; we are here; and, when called upon, we will Occupy LaGrange.

Georgia's Fascist Concentration Camp at Fort McPherson

During World War I, Fort McPherson, a U.S. Amry military base in East Point, Georgia (just outside of downtown Atlanta) was used as an internment camp for Imperial German Navy prisoners of war.

During the textile strike of 1934-35, Fort McPherson was used as a military internment camp for strikers who had been arrested by Georgia National Guard soldiers. In 1934, over 100 strikers were arrested in Newnan, GA, and taken to Fort McPherson to be held indefinitely. They were released when the strike ended.

Original photo caption: Sept. 19, 1934 - Atlanta, Georgia - Sixteen women textile strike pickets, imprisoned with 112 men by Georgia National Guardsmen on charges of trying to keep workers from entering a cotton mill at Newnan, GA, are shown eating their dinner at their prison camp near Atlanta. They were members of the strikers' "Flying Squadrons" which traveled from mill to mill urging workers to leave their machines.

In 1935, when martial law was declared in LaGrange, several more strikers from Callaway Mills were sent to the military internment camp in Atlanta.

Federated Press reported that a commander at the "concentration camp" ordered National Guardsmen to "terrorize the strikers." A journalist in Atlanta wrote that Georgia, "following the development of martial law, shooting down of strikers, and concentration camps during the strike [was] coming forward as the spearhead of actual fascism in the U.S."

Indeed, newspapers in Nazi Germany praised the fascist movement in Georgia, calling it "a sign of fascism's coming global triumph."

As soldiers rounded up LaGrange citizens for transport to the concentration camp in Atlanta, many criticized President Roosevelt for not intervening on behalf of the workers. After all, it was FDR's New Deal that had inspired the workers to stand up for themselves. However, as it turns out, FDR was a friend and frequent visitor of Cason Callaway, then president of Callaway Mills. FDR must have watched the situation of martial law in LaGrange closely. A few years later, when FDR declared war against the fascist forces of Europe, he said, "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power."

Georgia SB 469 Protest at the Capitol

In my book Legacy I wrote about the history of workers who came together to fight against anti-unionism, racism, and fascism. Today I participated in that continuing history in the GA SB 469 protest at the Capitol in Atlanta. Here are some photos and short videos that I captured with my cell phone; this is what democracy looks like:

SB 469 violates the First Amendment right to lawfully and peacefully protest in many settings.
· The purpose of this Bill is to stifle lawful picketing.
· It would criminalize behavior of a union or group based solely on an individual’s “affiliation” with the group, even if they are not acting as an agent for the group.
· The right to peacefully protest cannot be limited based on the content of the speech nor by an unlimited right to “quiet enjoyment” in neighborhoods.

SB 469 creates special exceptions to criminal law to penalize peaceful picketing.
· SSB 469 lowers the necessary showing for issuance of an injunction required for every other kind of injunction under Georgia law.
· SB 469 sets daily penalties of $1,000 for an individual or $10,000 for an organization without allowing court discretion and lets the employer collect the fines as damages.
· It departs from all other provisions of Georgia criminal law by allowing conviction of both criminal trespass and conspiracy to commit criminal trespass.
· SB 469 creates a higher criminal penalty for conspiracy to commit criminal trespass than for the completed crime of criminal trespass – unlike any other Georgia crime.

SB 469 interferes with federal labor law that already requires notice of employee rights not to join a union, to report illegal union activity, etc.
· SB 469 oversteps its authority regarding employer messages regarding de-certification of unions under federal law.
· SB 469 charges the State DOL to enforce the law against employers – responsibilities regarding enforcement of federal law beyond its jurisdiction.
· Georgia is already a “right to work” state and prohibits requiring union membership as a condition of employment. This Bill just adds an unnecessary duty on employers to distribute an anti-union message, and wastes taxpayer dollars by imposing an unfunded obligation on the State Department of Labor to enforce it.

SB 469 violates federal law governing employee rights to dues check off.
· Federal labor law takes precedence over Georgia law in governing the rules for union dues check off and revocation. This Bill illegally interferes in that realm that is controlled by federal law.
· This Bill draws lines between different worker groups based solely on whether they engage in collective bargaining – a right protected under federal law.