The Big Six: Organizing the Struggle for Freedom

By Ben Jealous

Two things happened last week — one public, the other personal — that made me reflect on how far we’ve come as a nation, how we got here, and what it will take to keep that journey moving forward.

Maryland, my home state, inaugurated its first Black governor, Wes Moore. It’s a description I thought might go to me four years ago when I became only the third person and the first African American to win 1 million votes in a statewide race. Unfortunately, my incumbent opponent was one of the other two.

Attending the inauguration made me think about how we’ve gotten here — more slowly than anyone who truly believes in our American ideals would consider right, but making steady progress all along the way. My vote total helped Wes, just as President Obama’s victory in 2012 eased my way. I think back to being a youth leader in my California county for Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential bid.

While we can bemoan the pace for good reason, we shouldn’t overlook that change has come. That long arc of the moral universe remains. Even when we fall short of something like an electoral victory, we make progress.

The question remains the eternal one when we see injustice, inequity and threats like climate change that are unquestionably existential. How do we pick up the pace?

On the same day, I celebrated my 50th birthday. That means I’ve been organizing and advocating for change for more than half my life.

I’m lucky in many respects. Thirty years ago, celebrating someone else’s 21st birthday, I remember standing with other young Black men somberly pouring out our drinks in memory of our friends who had been killed or imprisoned before we got to college.

I’m luckier still that I’ve had people throughout my life — starting with my parents — who have helped me find my commitment and learn ways to put it into effective practice.

People like Alvin Chambliss, the North Mississippi Rural Legal Services lawyer, who asked me to lead protests against closing two historically Black universities to turn them into prisons. People like Norman Hill, a protege of A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, and union leaders Richard Womack and Bill Lucy who trained me (along with Stacey Abrams and Derrick Johnson) at an AFL-CIO summer institute for Black student organizers. People like Bishop Desmond Tutu and Colin Powell.

I remain deeply committed to passing forward all that knowledge and insight, so hard won by folks who preceded me in ways that paved my road. For me that starts with listening to young leaders and organizers both to understand their perspectives as well as to give them space to air what they are compelled to get out. For me, change starts with listening.

What I hope to impart are the big ideas that were passed along to me, like Gen. Powell’s lesson that finding the one common cause we can share can be much more powerful than a hundred things that we may disagree about. Finally, I want to charge them to use their own gifts, talents and knowledge to make the progress we still need. They will know how best to reach their peers and those who come after them. A quinquagenarian like me will never be able to use the tools of their generation to their fullest effect. What I hope to do is inspire and applaud.

That’s an optimistic view, I know. One that I get genetically perhaps. Just before my grandmother died, she took a call from Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who had been a graduate student in social work decades before when my grandmother was creating Child Protective Services in Baltimore. It was that long arc in view. It was my grandmother who gave me the perspective that still guides me. “Baby, it’s true. Pessimists are right more often, but optimists win more often,” she told me once. “In this life, you have to decide what’s more important to you. As for me, I’ll take winning.”

Ben Jealous is incoming executive director of the Sierra Club, America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization; former national president of the NAACP; and professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania. His new book “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free” was just published.

1111 Broadway, Suite 800, Oakland, CA 94607 (510) 208-7400 • www.alamedactc.org

By Tamara Shiloh

By 1963, racial tensions across America surged to dangerous heights, especially in areas promoting segregation, hostility, and police brutality. Protests and violence had become challenging in Birmingham. Its local jails were full, sparking outrage throughout the city. Media outlets were bringing national attention to the injustices served in Black communities.

In the meantime, interest in organizing a march began to swell.

On July 2, 1963, six leaders representing various national civil rights organizations met in New York City, making public their plans to organize a march demanding jobs and freedom. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, also called the March on Washington or The Great March on Washington, took place in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. Appointed as march director was Asa Philip Randolph (1889–1979).

Randolph began his career as an activist in 1917 when he became president of the National Brotherhood of Workers of America. He was named as its president in 1925, and by 1937, Black workers were receiving better pay, benefits, and working conditions. His greatest success as a labor organizer was with the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–

Request for Proposals (RFP) for Federal Legislative and Policy Advocacy Services (RFP No. R23-0009)

The Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) is seeking proposals for a contract to commence services in July, 2023, or as indicated in the RFP and/or appropriate addenda.

Key Dates:

- Proposal due date: February 22, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. PT

Proposals are subject to Alameda CTC’s Local Business Contract Equity Program. The Program goals for professional services are 70% for Local Business Enterprise (LBE) and 30% for Small LBE. For Program requirements and forms, visit Alameda CTC’s website. Any contract resulting from this RFP will be awarded without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or national origin.

All RFP documents are available at www.alamedactc.org/contracting-opportunities and may also be obtained by contacting Alastair Powell at apowell@alamedactc.org. All questions regarding this RFP must be submitted in writing to apowell@alamedactc.org, no later than 3:00 p.m. PT on February 3, 2023.

Submittals must be made in accordance with the instructions in the RFP. Any contract awarded must be in compliance with the local, state, and/or federal requirements.

1968) served as the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala. His leadership during the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott after the arrest of Rosa Parks, which lasted a little more than a year, catapulted him into the national spotlight. Before his assassination in 1968, he was the recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1961, while working for the NAACP, James Farmer Jr. (1920–1999) organized Freedom Rides throughout the South. The goal was to use the media to make the world aware of the violence Blacks in America endured.

John Lewis (1940–2020) was a social activist long before his career as U.S. representative for the 5th Congressional District in Georgia began. He became involved in civil rights activism during his college years (1960s). He was later appointed as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chair, and by 1963, was known as one of the “Big Six.”

A social worker by trade, Whitney Young Jr. (1921–1971) rose to power during the civil rights movement because of his commitment to bringing employment discrimination to a halt. Working with the National Urban League and as part of the Great Migration, he assisted Blacks in securing employment, housing, and other resources once they’d reached northern cities.

Roy Wilkins (1901–1981) believed that civil rights could be achieved by changing laws, using his stature to testify during Congressional hearings. He started out as a journalist for Black newspapers, but his work as a civil rights activist (1931–1977) is what added his name to the history books. Mid-career (1950s), he worked with Randolph and Arnold Johnson to establish the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

Learn more about the power of social justice in this in-depth exploration of five marches, protests, and boycotts of the Civil Rights Era in Barbara Diggs’ “Boycotts, Strikes, and Marches: Protests of the Civil Rights Era.”

Source: https://americanhistory.si.edu/changing-americaemancipation-proclamation1863-and-march-washington-1963/1963/leaders-march https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Big_Six_(activists) https://blackthen.com/the-bigsix-key-leaders-of-the-march-onwashington-for-jobs-and-freedom/

Image: https://www.thoughtco.com/men-of-the-civil-rightsmovement-45371

The “Big Six” Civil Rights Leaders (L to R) John Lewis, Whitney Young Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Farmer Jr., and Roy Wilkins. Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Jan. 31: Deadline for Signing Up for Health Insurance in California

Edward Henderson, California Black Media

The open enrollment period for Californians to secure health insurance plans ends on Jan. 31.

Depending on your situation, there are multiple options to explore when searching for a plan that is best for you through Covered California.

Covered California is the state’s health exchange marketplace created to get Californians quality health insurance through brand name plans like Kaiser Permanente, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna and many others.

One option is to buy a plan through Covered California. If you qualify for a tax credit to help offset your premiums, you may want to buy a plan through the marketplace. Qualifying usually depends on your income and household size. Your total household in- come must be between 128% and 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

Another option is to renew or change your current plan. During the open enrollment period, you can renew your existing plan. You won’t have to do anything if you want to keep what you have.

But if your current plan is changing — for instance, your Primary Care Physician (PCP) is leaving the network, or your drugs aren’t in the list of covered medications — then you may want to switch to a plan that best suits your current needs. If you need to change policies, the open enrollment period is the best time.

You can also enroll in MediCal. If your income is below 128% of the FPL, you qualify for MediCal, which is Medicaid for Californians.

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