The New Economic Reality

In Philadelphia the annual May Day Rally was held at Elmwood Park located at 71 st and Buist Streets in Southwest Philadelphia. It is a small but comely Park nestled in a predominately African American neighborhood is not only close to the edge of town but near the Philadelphia International Airport. The event was sponsored by the May Day USA Educational  Committee ; Philadelphia Labor History Society and PhilaPOSH. Several unions and labor organizations supported the rally. Among them were AFSCME District Council 47 ; American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Philadelphia, PA Area Local 89; Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Coalition of Labor Union Women; Philadelphia AFT Local 3; National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981(Philadelphia Chapter);The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, CWA Local 38010; NUHHCE/AFSCME Dist 1199C;  Philadelphia Council AFL –CIO and a host of other labor and progressive organizations. It is a family celebration and picnic. Hot dogs, burgers,...

The Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Non violence held its 31 st annual luncheon at the Philadelphia Downtown Sheraton Hotel on January 21, 2013. It is held annually to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Non violence Inc., was founded by the Honorable Dr. C Delores Tucker and a group of local leaders in 1983, 17 years after the assassination Dr. King. Dr King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, knew that Philadelphia held a special place in her late husband’s heart and thought it fitting to have a permanent organization dedicated to his ideals of peace and freedom in the City of Brotherly Love The Philadelphia Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Non violence is the only affiliate   commissioned by the late Coretta Scott King and the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. The last office Martin Luther King Jr. opened before his assassination w...

We caught the bus in front of the Wayfarer’s Cooperative, a small cooperative in MT Airy that specializes in groceries. It was June 10, 2007. It was a pleasant day filled with warmth and sunshine. The bus was headed to Washington D.C. It was a march to end the occupation of Palestine. Israel has been there for forty years. To me, a man of African American descent, the six day war seems as if it were yesterday. The Palestinians lost so quickly. Egypt; Jordan and Syria went down to defeat. At the time it seemed fair and Israel was justified in defending her borders. It was just a war and Israel had surprisingly won. No one, at that time understood the gravity of what had been happening in Palestine. No one understood how much aid Britain and the U.S. had given the Israeli Army. It didn’t seem like genocide at first. We didn’t know that much about Zionism. We didn’t know it meant racism; colonialism and genocide. We didn’t know that the Palestinians were to lose their land. As the sce...

The main issue of most modern scholars is whether God actually created the universe. They believed in a spontaneous occurrence. Some believe in an explosion or a “Big Bang”. There other theories but since I don’t have much time to expand upon them all . I will just deal with a brief synopsis of one.             Eons ago a very large explosion took place. From this explosion particles of debris and matter, according to one group of scientists, formed what we know as the first galaxies. Each of these galaxies revolve around the center of a super cluster. These super clusters revolve around the center of the universe. This center is the place where the explosion first occurred. Every super cluster and the galaxies within them rush away from the center of the explosion. We live in what the scientists call the Milky Way galaxy. This galaxy has approximately 100 to 400 billion stars within it. These stars were formed, according to ...

          From January 17-21, 2013 the AFL-CIO will hold its annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance, at the Sheraton Downtown Hotel, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania entitled “Workers Rights are Civil Rights”. The focus of the Convention is to key working Americans on the necessity   of the Civil Rights. Human Rights are essential to the day to day survival of those who work everyday. Human rights, in the workplace, insure that each and every person can enjoy the earning and benefits of work. Human rights insure a workplace free from racial and sexual discrimination. African Americans deserve decent employment. Both unions and employers should be committed to fighting for human rights. However, the ideal is far from reality.   In reality, the employers that hire the most minorities pay the lowest wages. The businesses that pay the lowest wages have the most horrifying discriminatory practices. The reality is Afric...

           Shortly after the welcome, of the AFL-CIO MLK Celebration there was a panel discussion on saving public education in Philadelphia. The panel included Pete Mathews, President of AFSCME District 33; Jerry Jordan President of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and other important labor leaders and working people. Pete Mathews felt, “ Martin Luther King knew he was going to die so that we could achieve the things we had to today. He feels Mayor Nutter has the money to pay the workers and merely wants to break the union. Pete Mathews further stated the “mayor has given us January 30 th as the deadline to make a contract. He has given us an ultimatum. Although he did not specify what steps would be taken if we did not comply. He added, “It’s not about color it’s about something else.” Ethelene Baker, a correctional officer works to get inmates their Graduate Equivalency Diploma; felt Mayor Nutter is a mayor for the 1%. A...

           What do you do for breakfast?   Some people ready themselves to see the first African American sworn in for his second term of President of the United States. It was a wonderful event. The invocation and prayer was given by Rev. Derrick Monk, pastor of the Divine Covenant Outreach Center. The event was the final part of the AFL CIO Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Observance. It took place at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The event occurred from 10’oclock in the morning until 1 o’clock in the afternoon January 21, 2013. They served a wonderful buffet. It consisted of scrambled eggs bacon, sausages, steak, and salmon. In addition there was fresh fruit, melons, strawberries and orange and grapefruit juice.   Pastries, cereal and bagels with cream cheese were served for those who preferred a lower cholesterol diet. Coffee and tea were available in decaf or regular. For th...

  Rosalyn Pelles, Director ,Civil ,Human and Women’s Rights AFL-CIO was the moderator for the panel discussion on the experiences of a group of four female civil rights activists in the   Civil Rights Movement. The panel discussion took place at the AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observance. Martha Noonan; Debbie Bell; Diane Nash and Rutha Harris were four women who shared there experiences in what was the most pleasantly unusual panel discussion that involved history; narration and music. It showed the bravery, determination, intellect and talent in each of the women. Martha Noonan, Detroit , Michigan community program activist and academician created the Anti Hunger Bank; programs to fight sickle cell anemia. She has also held several conferences on the Civil Rights movement. Debbie Bell ,Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chair of the Communist Party of Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware District. ;teacher , in the Philadelphia School District for 30 years; Local C...