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THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA FOR 87 YEARS
SOUTHSIDE Back in the Day
September 9 - 15, 2021
Vol. 88
www.spokesman-recorder.com
NO. 6
Back in the Day fest revives Southside community spirit
Johnnie Brown
What started out as a BBQ reunion of sorts in Phillip Crawford’s backyard has over the years blossomed into a beloved annual South Minneapolis community event, now in its 11th year. On Saturday, Sept. 4 Southsiders gathered once again at Phelps Park in Minneapolis to enjoy food, health clinics, free haircuts, kids’ activities, shopping with local vendors, and live entertainment from crooner Johnnie Brown and the Grammy Award-winning Sounds of Blackness. For more photos and to hear from attendees, visit msrnewsonline.com. Photos by Steve Floyd except where noted.
(l-r) Brothers Phillip, Marc, and sister Lisa Crawford Photo by Charity Singleton
A young attendee shares her treat
Sounds of Blackness
Attendees creating lasting memories Photo by Travis Lee
LABOR UNION HISTORY TAINTED BY RACISM ally becoming the first African
Chrysler were, at the time of
often boasted of my father’s initiative in challenging the White bosses’ notion of what was rightfully his. But as his Black co-workers filed by at the funeral home that wintry day, it was his grace that they spoke of, recalling the many times my old man encouraged them to pursue the technical bona fides that would allow them to work in the higher paying, less physically demanding skilled trade positions. “Now look, n—,” one of his coworkers recalled my father saying with a broad grin on his face, “if I can do it, you know they’ll let anybody do it.” But not really. My old man’s self-deprecating humor notwithstanding, the top jobs at
thanks to a clause in the union contract that locked Black workers in de facto segregated job classifications. According to the labor historian Herbert Hill, this clause, negotiated by the United Auto Workers and Detroit’s Big Three auto manufacturers—General Motors, the Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler— was in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. By the time my father landed a job at Chrysler, African Americans accounted for seven-tenths of one percent of the skilled labor force at the Big Three’s auto plants, while making up 42.3% of the entire workforce, according to data compiled by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Labor Day’s annual hom- more than half of the Gross
rather advanced in his thinking
planted the seeds for its comeback by pushing Congress to override President Truman’s veto and pass the Taft-Hartley bill in 1947, limiting employees’ ability to strike, and perhaps most importantly, requiring labor leaders to oust the most militant workers, Communists and African Americans. Among the questions put to Blacks suspected of collaborating with Reds (Communists) were: “Have you ever had dinner with a mixed group?” and “Have you ever danced with a White girl?” White employees were asked whether they had ever entertained Blacks as guests and White witnesses were asked, “Have you had any conversations that would lead you to believe [the accused) is
progressive unionists with more enthusiasm than the UAW’s Walter Reuther, who would be the only non-Black invited to speak at the March on Washington in 1963. In an effort to consolidate Reuther’s base of Polish, Hungarian, German, and other White ethnics, the UAW and the National Maritime Union combined to purge 11 unions, representing nearly a million workers, from the CIO over a two-year period beginning in 1949. When Black autoworkers demanded an African American union vice president as was customary in CIO unions, Reuther refused, calling such a move “reverse racism.” Moreover, contracts be■See LABOR on page 5
To its own detriment, the American skilled tradesman at my father’s hiring, reserved for age to the American worker is Domestic Product (GDP), an on racial matters?” UAW toed the color line Indianapolis Chrysler. I have the Whitest and not the best— as good an opportunity as any all-time high. But big business No labor leader expelled By Jon Jeter Contributing writer
Never have I been so proud to be my father’s son than at his wake on a sunless, snowy midwinter afternoon 10 years ago. According to family lore, my father was unemployed on the day I was born in 1965 but found work at the Indianapolis Chrysler Foundry weeks later. As my father told the story, he walked into the plant on his first day and saw a slave ship of Black men shackled—if only figuratively—to a soul-killing, back-breaking assembly line, and decided on the spot that was not the life for him. He would go on to enroll in the training courses for a millwright’s position, eventu-
Fear of eviction intensifies for thousands of MN renters By Niara Savage Contributing writer Beginning on September 12, Minnesota renters who are behind on rent but ineligible for COVID-19 emergency rental assistance could face possible eviction as the state’s pandemic-era protections for tenants phase-out. Currently, landlords can decline to renew a lease for a renter who owes payments but does not qualify for rental assistance, although they cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent. Attorneys with the Minnesota Anti-Eviction Project place the “very conservative” statewide estimate at 13,330 evictions for the first month when nonpayment of rent evictions resume — more than
10 times the pre-pandemic monthly number. While most “off-ramp” protections for renters will not end until October 12, at which point landlords will be able to file evictions for any legal reason unless a tenant has a pending COVID-19 emergency rental assistance application, the urgent need for housing security amid impending uncertainty has already intensified. Rachael Sterling, the COVID-19 eviction response coordinator and housing attorney at HomeLine, a nonprofit Minnesota tenant advocacy organization, told the MSR that calls from renters seeking assistance and legal counsel have spiked. “We are getting an increased
number of calls,” Sterling said. “We do see quite a few calls regarding landlord notices to vacate… Landlords are telling them that they need to go.” News of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down President Joe Biden’s attempt to extend the eviction moratorium has dominated the national discourse surrounding the eviction crisis recently. Sterling said Minnesota’s state-wide policies have offered greater protection for renters throughout the pandemic and superseded narrower protections offered by the federal-level moratorium. “The CDC moratorium has never actually had much impact on Minnesota because, essentially, since March of ■See EVICTIONS on page 5
to reflect on both the towering triumphs and embarrassing failures of a trade union movement that has time and time again betrayed its own membership by agreeing to backroom deals that aid and abet corporations in discriminating against the Black rank-and-file. It began in 1935 at the nadir of the Great Depression when the Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, rejected the American Federation of Labor’s tradition of segregated locals. Accelerating with the country’s entry into World War II, labor unions became a force to be reckoned with in American public life. By 1975, more than one in three workers belonged to a union. Employees pocketed
Are crowded stadiums a COVID risk?
By Phil Galewitz and Andy Miller Contributing writers
said Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida in Tampa. “But I would not go to these events right now.” The college football season is Salemi said that with COVID kicking into high gear, the National Football League season starts cases at their highest level since this weekend, and the baseball late January—with the seven-day pennant races are heating up. For average case count rising to just the first time since 2019, nearly over 149,000—and hospitals fillall stadiums will be fully open to fans. But with COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths soaring from the delta variant, many fans are wondering if that is a wise idea. ing up around the country, there Is it safe to go to a packed is too much risk even for people stadium even if you are who have been fully vaccinated. vaccinated? While outdoor events are less Six out of the seven public likely to lead to infection because health experts that Kaiser Health the air circulation is greater, sitNews (KHN) spoke to from big ting within just a few feet of 10 football states were adamant in or 20 screaming fans watching their response: No way. Not now. football, baseball, soccer or an “I am a die-hard sports fan,” auto race at a stadium reduces
that safety margin, he said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone attending large gatherings in areas with high numbers of COVID cases should “consider wearing a mask in crowded outdoor settings and for activities with close contact” with others who are not fully vaccinated.
“When there’s a lot of shouting and yelling it means they’re spraying the virus.’’ “A packed football stadium now is not a good idea,’’ said Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo, a professor of medicine and public health sciences at the University of Miami’s medical school. “When there’s a lot of shouting and yelling’’ without masks, “it means they’re spraying the virus.’’ ■See FOOTBALL on page 5