Publisher, Fran Zankowski Editor, Matt Cortina Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Senior Editor, Angela K. Evans Arts and Culture Editor, Caitlin Rockett Special Editions Editor, Michael J. Casey Adventure Editor, Emma Athena Contributing Writers, Peter Alexander, Dave Anderson, Will Brendza, Rob Brezsny, Paul Danish, Sarah Haas, Jim Hightower, Dave Kirby, John Lehndorff, Rico Moore, Amanda Moutinho, Leland Rucker, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Ryan Syrek, Christi Turner, Betsy Welch, Tom Winter, Gary Zeidner SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Sami Wainscott Advertising Coordinator, Corey Basciano Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman Graphic Designer, Daisy Bauer CIRCULATION TEAM Dave Hastie, Dan Hill, George LaRoe, Jeffrey Lohrius, Elizabeth Ouslie, Rick Slama BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer Cover, Thomas Lockhart July 2, 2020 Volume XXVII, Number 46 As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@ boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper. 690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. © 2020 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.
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BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
Black lives, the pandemic and unions by Dave Anderson
T
he gruesome and public extrajudicial murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis cop sparked a gigantic wave of protests, which surprised everyone. This is a unique moment in American history when a majority of whites are recognizing how deeply racist our society is. How many people knew about all of those Army bases in the South named after Confederate generals? Monuments that honor the legacy of slavery, genocide and imperial conquest have been toppled, destroyed or defaced by paint and graffiti. But wouldn’t it be better to challenge the power of today’s living and breathing oppressors rather than just pull down stone and bronze statues of I
long-dead oppressors? Black Lives Matter may do that in the future. It is emphasizing the issues of police brutality and the need for criminal justice reform now but it has a broad and inclusive agenda. It has demands in its platform for living wages, universal health care, affordable housing, restoration of the GlassSteagall Act to break up the big banks, the right for workers to organize in public and private sectors, an end to privatization of education, and “a progressive restructuring of tax codes at the local, state and federal levels to ensure a radical and sustainable redistribution of wealth.” The racial justice protests were preceded by many hundreds of pandemic-inspired labor and renter rebelJULY 2, 2020
lions in the spring. This wasn’t an accident. Black people are dying of COVID-19 at three times the rate of white people. Citing federal government data, the Economic Policy Institute has said only about 30% of workers have the ability to work from home. Less than one in five black workers and roughly one in six Latino workers are able to work from home. Many thousands needlessly died due to Trump’s colossal ineptitude and his refusal to use the Defense Production Act to compel American companies to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE). Instead, he used the act to force meat industry workers to return to work. The Department of Labor ruled that workers who refused to return to their jobs for fear of infection could no lonsee THE ANDERSON FILES Page 6
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