These resources were put together by the UE Education Department to supplement the UE antiracism workshop, “Building Solidarity for Racial Justice,” which was held at the UE Eastern [1] and Western [2] Region council meetings in the fall of 2020. The workshop is a project of the North American Solidarity Project [3] and was developed jointly with Unifor and the National Nurses Union.

UE NEWS Articles

• People in Struggle Changed History: The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s [4]

• UE’s Early Commitment to Black Lives Matter: Fighting Frame-ups, Lynching and “Legal Lynching” [5]

• Jim Crow - A Legacy of Injustice [6]

• 1968: Municipal Workers, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Poor People’s Campaign [7]

• The Question of Unity: A UE Leader’s Lessons About Building People’s Power [8]

Videos

• Dr. Linda Murray on Racism [9], a talk given by Dr. Murray to a 1986 Human Rights Conference held by the Canadian Auto Workers, one of Unifor’s predecessor unions.

Documentaries

• On the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike of 1968 and its connection to the Civil Rights Movement: “At the River I Stand” (1 hour). The film can be purchased from California Newsreel [10], rented for 48 hours on-demand from Vimeo [11], and is also available on the documentary streaming service Kanopy [12] which can be accessed by many public library users.
• On the Civil Rights Movement and Medicare: “The Power to Heal” [13] (1 hour). Read the UE NEWS review of “The Power to Heal” here [14].

Podcasts

• On the history of racism in America, including using race as a tool used by the wealthy to divide the working class: Scene On Radio, Season Two “Seeing White.” [15]

Websites

• The Southern Poverty Law Center [16] remains an excellent source for information on hate crimes, as well as on the history of racism in the US.
• Check out the 1619 Project by the New York Times [17] for a candid look at the history of chattel slavery and explicitly racist laws and court rulings in the US, and their implications for our present society.
• The Newberry Library hosts an excellent online exhibit [18] on the 1919 Chicago Race Riots.

Immigration History

• Angel Island off the coast of California received many immigrants from elsewhere on the Pacific Ocean. Their website documents immigration history [19] and the use of the island to detain Japanese Americans during WWII.
• On the Bracero program: http://braceroarchive.org/teaching [20]
• On the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, from the Migration Policy Institute: https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/irca-lessons-last-us-legalization-program [21]

Other Reading

• On previous abuse by Minneapolis police officers: “Thousands of Complaints do Little to Change Police Ways,” [22] New York Times, June 8, 2020.
• The Economic Policy Institute explains [23] more about the gender pay gap and race.