Spring 2008 Issue 18

As of this writing, the Republicans have settled on their nominee, and the U.S. is still in the midst of a Democratic primary race that has energized and mobilized millions of people, especially youth, across the country. In state primary after state primary, record numbers of people have come out to vote, or caucus, to add their voice to the millions debating the question: Who will be the Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)?

During the fall of 2007, the United Autoworkers’ (UAW) contract negotiations with the “Big 3,” General Motors, Chrysler and Ford, were big news, including strikes at both GM and Chrysler. The resulting contracts were the epitome of the attacks on the broader labor movement, and included concessions of both a VEBA (Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Associations) to fund the health care benefits and a two-tier wage system that allows for non-core (non-assembly) jobs and, in the case of Ford, a percentage of all new hires, to be filled by workers making less than half the pay and benefits of current workers.

When Affirmative Action was first created in 1961, under President John F Kennedy, the focus was on the labor workforce. Higher education was, at the time, only available to the elite, which made colleges and universities a very privileged space. However, during the social upheavals of the 1960s, more people became aware of the power higher education holds.

Considered many things—a humanitarian, a philosopher, an economist—Marx has hardly ever been studied as a journalist. This is a shame, since his newspaper writing provides a look at some of his most important attributes.

After years in the Boy Scouts, James Jackson, Jr. had finally made the cut. He was about to officially become an eagle scout at a ceremony over which the governor of his state, Virginia, would preside. When the governor, instead of pinning the Eagle Scout medal to Jackson’s shirt, threw it at him, he then picked it up, pinned himself and saluted the governor. Jackson was now officially the first Black Eagle in the entire state.

Scanning the room at my first teachers’ union event, I could see that I was clearly one of the youngest teachers in attendance. It got me thinking about my generation and our involvement in unions. Were new teachers reaping the benefits of a union contract without understanding the decades of struggle behind it? Was the union leadership resistant to change or out of touch? Were new teachers more wary of unions or simply too overwhelmed by the demands of the job to come to a union meeting? Whatever the answer, it was plainly obvious that the need to organize and involve young workers in unions is greater than ever.