Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Corporate propaganda can never be radicalized
Could the US mainstream media be radicalized by this oppression?
No, corporate propaganda will never be radicalized...
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/02/must-stop-leading-journalism-groups-demand-law-enforcement-halt-attacks-working
"When you silence the press with rubber bullets, you silence the voice of the public."
by
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Leading journalism groups on Monday urged U.S. police forces to stop targeting members of the media covering the nationwide protests catalyzed by the police killing of George Floyd, writing, "When you silence the press with rubber bullets, you silence the voice of the public."
The demand comes in an open letter from 18 organizations including the National Press Club (NPC), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and PEN America.
"Over the past 72 hours police have opened fire with rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, pepper balls and have used nightsticks and shields to attack the working press as never before in this nation. This must stop," the groups write.
"A few years ago in Ferguson, Missouri, police attempted some of these tactics and they failed. Courts found against governments that illegally arrested journalists and then tried to ban them from their state. It was devastating for Missouri's reputation," the letter says.
"This will happen again," the groups predict, singling out law enforcement in "Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Denver, Fargo, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Washington, D.C. and other cities."
"Do not fire upon them. Do not arrest them. The world is watching. Let the Press tell the story," states the letter.
The new open letter came as CPJ said in a statement Monday evening that at least 125 incidents involving violations of press freedom had occurred in the three-day period beginning May 29 in the context of the current social uprising.
"We are horrified by the continued use of harsh and sometimes violent actions of police against journalists doing their jobs. These are direct violations of press freedom, a fundamental Constitutional value of the United States," said CPJ program director Carlos Martinez de la Serna.
"We call on local and state officials to explicitly exempt the news media from curfew regulations so that journalists are able to report freely," he added.
CPJ pointed to a new database from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project from Freedom of the Press Foundation and CPJ. The log has a running tally of incidents during the ongoing George Floyd protests including arrests, assaults—including whether the incident was committed by police and if a weapon such as tear gas or rubber bullets were used—and equipment damage.
Laura Hazard Owen wrote Monday at NiemanLab that "it's becoming clear that attacks by police on journalists are becoming a widespread pattern, not one-off incidents."
A number of news reports and videos shared on social media in recent days provide evidence of that pattern.
"I researched countless protests for my first book. I've written about many since. I think it's safe to say that we've never seen the widespread, deliberate targeting of journalists by police that we've seen over the last few days. Something has changed," journalist Radley Balko tweeted Monday.
Another organization, Free Press, this week amplified the demand for press safety and said the need for journalists to be in the streets alongside protesters to amplify their perspectives was more crucial than ever.
"It bears repeating," Free Press News Voices organizing manager Alicia Bell said Monday. "The First Amendment prevents law enforcement from silencing the voices of protesters and from beating back the journalists who seek to share their concerns with the world."
"Reporters need to turn their cameras and microphones toward the local organizers who have long engaged in the fight for Black dignity alongside those who are now taking to the streets with legitimate grievances against a system that devalues the lives of our people," she continued.
"This moment underscores the importance of deep relationship building between newsrooms and communities," said Bell. "Newsrooms must replace police ride-alongs with community-listening sessions and other intentional tactics for shifting power."
Minneapolis School Board to Vote on Ending Contract With Police Over Failure to 'See Humanity in Our Students'
The school district cannot "claim to fight institutional racism" while aligned with the police department, said a board member.
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/06/02/minneapolis-school-board-vote-ending-contract-police-over-failure-see-humanity-our
The Minneapolis public school board will vote Tuesday evening on a resolution to end its contract with the city's police department following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man.
School board member Josh Pauly drafted the resolution last week after an eight-minute video showing now-former police officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee into Floyd's neck prompted international protests, including demonstrations in Minneapolis where police have shot rubber bullets, tear gas, and pepper spray at protesters and journalists.
The school district "cannot align itself with [the Minneapolis police department] and claim to fight institutional racism," and "cannot partner with organizations that do not see the humanity in our students," Pauly said last week.
The Minneapolis Police Department provides the school district with "school resource officers," joining about 70% of U.S. public secondary schools and 30% of elementary schools that employ armed law enforcement officers, according to the National Center for Education Statistics."It's just gotten to the point where I don't think in good conscience I can give another dime to the Minneapolis Police Department," school board chair Kim Ellison told Minnesota Public Radio last week. "It's an agency that's not correcting its mistakes."
A Department of Defense program has also provided military-grade weapons and equipment to at least 22 school districts in eight states, Education Week reported in 2014.
Harsh disciplinary actions in schools such as suspension and expulsion have increased dramatically since the 1980s, along with the rise of police presence in schools.
As the Pacific Standard reported last year, "disciplinary proceedings initiated by [school resource officers], as with the justice system outside of schools, are implemented more harshly and more frequently with students of color. Not only are black, Latino, and low-income students punished at much higher rates than their whiter and wealthier peers, but they're also more likely to be arrested."
Under Pauly's resolution, the Minneapolis schools would be required to develop other methods to keep students safe.
The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers supports the proposal and said last week that ending the district's contract with the police would allow the district to "spend its money on people who can meet the needs of our students, including providers of mental health supports and education support professionals."
"The officers of the Minneapolis Police Department have demonstrated they do not share that value with the educators, families, or students of Minneapolis," union leaders said in a statement last Friday.
SEIU Local 284, which represents 500 custodial and food service employees in Minneapolis schools, also expressed support.
"SEIU members in Minneapolis and across our state believe in making a future where all families—no matter our race, zip code, job or wealth—have public schools where our students feel safe and have the resources they need to thrive," said SEIU Local 284 executive director Kelly Gibbons. "But in Minneapolis it has long been clear that Black families aren't able to feel safe from the people who are supposed to serve and protect us. The killing of George Floyd last week has made clear for anyone who had any doubts that our system is broken and needs to be changed. A positive first step to enacting change in our public schools would be for the Minneapolis Public Schools to cut ties with the Minneapolis Police Department."
Pauly told The Guardian that school boards in New York, North Carolina, Arizona, and other states have reached out to him in recent days for guidance on drafting their own resolutions to cut ties with local law enforcement agencies. Denver school board member Tay Anderson said Sunday he had called on the his school district to cut ties with the Denver police.
"I'm tired of the vigils. I'm tired of the statements. I'm tired of the hashtags," Anderson told Chalkbeat. "Our black children in DPS need to know that they matter... We have to follow up with actions."
The Minneapolis school board will vote on Pauly's resolution at 5:00pm Central time on Tuesday.
DEPLOYING FEDERAL TROOPS IN A WAR AT HOME WOULD MAKE A BAD SITUATION WORSE
By Zoltan Grossman, Counterpunch.
June 2, 2020
https://popularresistance.org/deploying-federal-troops-in-a-war-at-home-would-make-a-bad-situation-worse/
As the George Floyd Uprising intensified in Minneapolis on Friday and Saturday, President Trump asked Acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper for options to deploy federal troops to the city. He signaled to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, “We have our military ready, willing and able if they ever want to call our military, and we can have troops on the ground every quickly.” Military Police soldiers from Fort Bragg (North Carolina), Fort Drum (New York), Fort Carson (Colorado), and Fort Riley (Kansas) were ordered to be ready to deploy for crowd and traffic control duties, if the state National Guards could not quell the unrest.
On Monday, Trump put Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Mark Milley “in charge,” lambasted state governors, and said he would soon order active-duty federal troops into U.S. cities to “quickly solve the problem for them.” He also indicated that he would soon be deploying active-duty military forces in the District of Columbia, where he has the direct authority to do so.
Although the National Guard has often been used against civil rebellion, deploying federal military forces within the U.S. is a drastic and historically rare move. I’ve studied the history and geography of U.S. military interventions from the “Indian Wars” to the Middle East, and have documented only a handful of times that Army, Marines, or federalized National Guard forces have been used against U.S. citizens over the past century. For Trump to take such a profound leap would be an admission, as Gov. Walz stated, that a conflict at home is being equated to an “overseas war.” Sending in soldiers trained for combat will only make a bad situation worse, by launching a war at home against domestic dissent.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 governs the President’s ability to deploy the active-duty military within the U.S. to put down rebellion. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 limited the federal government’s power to use the military to enforce civilian laws, constricting the military to a role supporting state and local police authorities. Interestingly, the limitation was put in place partly due to the white supremacist rollback of Reconstruction, as President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew federal troops occupying the former Confederacy since the Civil War. The Act still allows the President to deploy forces in the U.S. under congressional authority (derived from the Insurrection Act), if a state cannot maintain so-called “public order.”
Wars Against Indigenous And Mexican Resistance
U.S. military forces fought the so-called “Indian Wars” as foreign interventions on the soil of Indigenous nations, to forcibly incorporate them into (or keep them within) the United States. These included the 1862 war against the Mdewakanton Dakota (Santee Sioux) in Minnesota, which ended in the execution of 38 Dakota men.
The Army’s last major Indian War was against the Lakota Nation, culminating in the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre of about 300 civilians, for which the soldiers were awarded Medals of Honor. Later interventions were directed against the Leech Lake Ojibwe in 1898 (using soldiers just returned from the Philippines), and the Muskogee (Creek) in Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) in 1901. U.S. naval forces also backed the 1893 settler overthrow of the U.S.-recognized Kingdom of Hawai’i.
During the Mexican Revolution, U.S. Army troops were also involved in fighting Mexican rebels who crossed the border, in the 1915 Plan of San Diego raids into Texas, and Pancho Villa’s 1916 raid into Columbus, New Mexico in 1916 (triggering the Pershing Expedition deep into Mexico). Although these were interventions on U.S. soil, they were not directed primarily against U.S. citizens.
The “Indian Wars” were rekindled in 1973, when FBI and other federal agents besieged Lakota community activists joined by the American Indian Movement (AIM) at the Wounded Knee massacre site, where two Native resisters were killed in firefights. Phantom jets from nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base conducted surveillance overflights. The 82nd Airborne was put on alert, but an FBI request for 2,000 Army troops was turned down by Colonel Volney Warner, and the 72-day siege ended without a second massacre. (AIM still exists, and is this week leading neighborhood patrols to protect the Minneapolis Native community, as an alternative to police or military violence.)
During the 2016-17 confrontations at Standing Rock over the Dakota Access Pipeline, North Dakota National Guard troops were deployed, and TigerSwan private security contractors (who had worked with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan) spied on the water protectors. Although there was no obvious direct use of federal military forces, it is not always clear which agencies operated surveillance planes and drones.
Deployments Against Strikers And Veterans
Army troops have also been sent in to crush strikes by U.S. workers. During the 1894 Pullman rail strike in Chicago, troops killed 34 strikers. In Idaho, troops intervened against striking silver miners in northern Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene region in 1892, and occupied the area in 1899-1901. Troops were deployed against striking West Virginia coal miners in 1920-21 (including the first aerial bombing of U.S. citizens); the conflict inspired the film Matewan.
In 1932, during the Depression, Army soldiers were deployed against World War I veterans demonstrating in Washington for early payment of the government bonus for their service. General Douglas Macarthur led the light-tank assault on the “Bonus Army” veterans and their families; 55 veterans were injured and their shantytown burned to the ground.
African American Civil Rights And White Backlash
By far the most common use of federal troops in the U.S. has been related to African American civil rights, and the white backlash against those rights. A series of racial confrontations and pogroms in the 20th century involved state National Guard troops, but it was not until World War II that federal troops were directly used. In June 1943, white rioters in Detroit protested a Black housing project and white workers went on strike against promotions of Black workers in local industries. The tension led to a cascading series of rumors, violent clashes, and shootings, resulting in the deaths of 34 people—25 African Americans (18 at the hands of police), and nine whites. Although most of the rioters were white, police arrested four times as many African Americans. President Roosevelt deployed Army tanks and 6,000 troops, who stayed in the city for weeks, as violence also erupted in New York and military bases in Britain.
Federal troops were deployed during the civil rights era to enforce desegregation orders, against intransigent Southern governors who refused to racially integrate the schools. President Eisenhower famously sent Army troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to escort Black children safely to school past white mobs. President Kennedy federalized the National Guard to enforce federal courts’ orders to desegregate the University of Mississippi in 1962, and the University of Alabama and Alabama public schools in 1963. In 1965, President Johnson federalized the Alabama National Guard to protect civil rights marchers at Selma.
But in that same year, the Watts Uprising in Los Angeles signaled a wave of African American urban rebellions against economic inequality, judicial racism, and police brutality, causing repeated deployments of state National Guard troops. It was once again in Detroit, with its extreme segregation and nearly all-white police force, where federal troops were deployed. A July 1967 violent police raid on an African American club (whose patrons were celebrating the return of two soldiers form Vietnam) triggered a conflagration of violence that left 43 residents dead (33 African Americans and ten whites), and 1,189 injured. President Johnson sent in 4,700 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne to back up the police and 4,000 National Guardsmen.
The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968 immediately triggered a wave of urban rebellions around the country that lasted up to two weeks, and the largest deployments of federal troops on U.S. soil since the Civil War. At least 21,000 federal soldiers were sent to cities around the country, 13,600 of them to Washington D.C. and others to Baltimore, Chicago, and other cities. Troop transport planes landed at O’Hare in darkened, combat conditions, and local soldiers were enlisted to guide military units around the city. There were more armed government forces (police and military) used in Chicago alone than in the 1983 invasion of Grenada. At least 43 people were killed in what became known as the “Holy Week Uprisings.”
Even Johnson acknowledged, “I don’t know why we’re so surprised. When you put your foot on a man’s neck and hold him down for three hundred years, and then you let him up, what’s he going to do? He’s going to knock your block off.”
First Bush Administration
In September 1968, the U.S. Army published a classified plan known as Garden Plot projecting that “dissatisfaction with the environmental conditions contributing to racial unrest and civil disturbances” may require large-scale federal military interventions “to preserve life and property and maintain normal processes of governments,” laying the basis for a series of martial law-style plans for counterinsurgency at home.
These plans for local martial law were put into motion during the presidency of George H.W. Bush, first in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he sent 1,100 heavily armed Military Police to the island of St. Croix, which had been severely damaged by Hurricane Hugo. The storm damage exacerbated longstanding racial tensions, and the troops’ primary mission was not disaster relief, but suppressing looting (even if it was allowed by stores) and putting down a Black uprising. Although troops and military contractors have since been deployed to other hurricane-damaged regions, such as Florida in 1992 and Louisiana in 2005, they were sent in under state authority.
The largest deployment of federal forces after 1968 was during the Los Angeles Uprising, triggered by the April 1992 acquittal of police officers involved in the beating of Rodney King. Initial mass protests led to arson, looting, and racial violence over 32 square miles. As 10,000 National Guard troops were overwhelmed, Governor Pete Wilson used the Insurrection Act to request federal troops. President Bush federalized the National Guard, activated reservists at California military bases, and deployed 4,000 Army and Marine troops to set up checkpoints and back up police raids around the city. In one incident, a police officer confronting a shooter requested “cover” from the Marines, meaning to aim their weapons at the house, but the Marines instead unleashed 200 rounds in “covering” fire. In all, 63 people were killed in Los Angeles (including at least seven by police), and 2,000 injured.
The Road From 9/11 And Ferguson
The 9/11 attacks in the George W. Bush Administration instantly demonstrated how, in its exclusive focus on overseas interventions, the Pentagon had never really prepared for the actual defense of the “homeland.” The PATRIOT Act and other laws intensified the militarization of law enforcement (equipping police with military weaponry and technology far beyond their needs), the use of private security contractors, military spying on antiwar groups, and the increasing use of some regular Army and Marine units along the U.S.-Mexico border. An 2006 revision of the Insurrection Act allowed the President to deploy troops as a police force during a natural disaster, epidemic, or terrorist attack, though it was reversed two years later.
The result of the so-called “Global War on Terror,” coupled with the continuing wars on drugs and undocumented immigrants, was a blurring of the distinction between wars abroad and the war at home. This trend became painfully evident by 2014 in the militarized, racist response to Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and many other cities. In 2020, as the George Floyd Uprising convulses the country during a pandemic and Depression, Predator drones (from Customs and Border Protection) conduct surveillance flights over Minneapolis, “Lakota” (!) and “Black Hawk” military helicopters fly low to disperse protesters in Washington, and President Trump designates anti-fascist groups as “terrorists” (perhaps to justify federal military involvement on U.S. soil).
Ordering rank-and-file soldiers into U.S. cities, to repress people in neighborhoods just like theirs, may not be as easy as Trump may think. Military discipline was difficult enough to enforce in Vietnam and Iraq, and will be harder in an American city. Soldiers have the right to refuse illegal orders to harm civilians. The Uniform Code of Military Justice (Article 92) establishes a duty to obey lawful orders, but also a duty to disobey unlawful orders to that are clearly contrary to the Constitution.
Veterans for Peace and About Face have already called for National Guard troops to stand down. If soldiers feel they are being given an unlawful order to harm or violate the rights of civilians, “I was just following orders” may not be an adequate legal defense. They can contact the G.I. Rights Hotline, or legally send an “Appeal for Redress” to their congressional representative that is protected under the Military Whistleblower Protection Act. Military personnel know quiet, creative ways to “work-to-rule,” and share vital information about unlawful actions, to help slow down the madness. And if in doubt, they (as a few police have already done) can always kneel in solidarity or pray for guidance.
ATLANTA OFFICERS CHARGED AFTER STUDENTS PULLED FROM CAR
By AP News.
June 2, 2020
https://popularresistance.org/atlanta-officers-charged-after-students-pulled-from-car/
Atlanta – Six Atlanta police officers were charged Tuesday after dramatic video showed authorities pulling two young people from a car and shooting them with stun guns while they were stuck in traffic caused by protests over George Floyd’s death.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced the charges during a news conference.
“I feel a little safer now that these monsters are off of the street and no longer able to terrorize anyone else,” said 22-year-old Messiah Young, who was dragged from the vehicle along with his girlfriend, 20-year-old Taniyah Pilgrim.
The Saturday night incident first gained attention from video online and on local news. Throughout, the couple can be heard screaming and asking officers what is happening.
Two of the officers were fired Sunday after Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and police Chief Erika Shields determined they had used excessive force. The other four have been placed on administrative leave, police spokesman Sgt. John Chafee said in an email Tuesday.
Pilgrim was released without charges. Howard said Young was charged with attempting to elude the officers, and the mayor has said she’s ordering his charges dropped.
Body camera video from seven officers shows police taking another young man into custody in a downtown street. The man, whom Howard identified as Chancellor Meyers, tells officers he didn’t do anything.
Sitting in the driver’s seat of a car stopped in the street, Young holds up his phone, shooting video as an officer approaches and pulls the driver’s door open. Young pulls the door shut and says repeatedly, “I’m not dying today.” He urges the officers to release Meyers and let him get in the car as the dark sedan advances a bit.
The car gets stuck in traffic and officers run up to both sides of it, shouting orders. An officer uses a Taser on Pilgrim as she’s trying to get out of the car and then officers pull her out.
Another officer yells at Young to open the window. An officer repeatedly hits the driver’s side window with a baton, and another officer finally manages to break it.
As the glass shatters, an officer uses a Taser on Young and officers pull him from the car as officers shout, “Get your hand out of your pockets,” and, “He got a gun. He got a gun. He got a gun.” Once he’s out of the car and on the ground, officers zip tie Young’s hands behind his back and lead him away.
Howard said no gun was found.
Young suffered a fractured arm and a gash requiring 24 stitches as he was pulled from the car, Howard said. Young told Howard’s investigators that an officer who escorted him away after his arrest punched him in the back more than 10 times as they walked.
“I’m so happy that they’re being held accountable for their actions,” Pilgrim said at the news conference.
Young and Pilgrim are rising seniors at historically black colleges near downtown Atlanta. Young, from Chicago, is studying business management at Morehouse College. Pilgrim, from San Antonio, Texas, is studying psychology at Spelman College.
The two officers who were fired Sunday — Investigator Ivory Streeter and Investigator Mark Gardner — were charged with four others.
Streeter is charged with aggravated assault for using a Taser against Young and is also charged with pointing a gun at him, arrest warrants say.
Gardner is charged with aggravated assault for using a Taser against Pilgrim, a warrant says
Lonnie Hood is charged with aggravated assault against both Young and Pilgrim for using a Taser against both of them, an arrest warrant says. He is also charged with simple battery for violently pulling Pilgrim from the car and throwing her down on to the street, a warrant says.
Willie Sauls is charged with aggravated assault for pointing a Taser at Pilgrim, a warrant says. He’s also charged with criminal damage for repeatedly hitting and damaging the driver’s side window of the car, a warrant says.
Armon Jones is charged with aggravated battery for hurting Young’s left arm when he dragged him from the car and slammed him onto the street, a warrant says. He’s also charged with pointing a gun at Young.
Roland Claud is charged with criminal damage for breaking the car’s windows, a warrant says.
All of the charged officers are black except for Claud, who’s white. Atlanta Police Department sworn personnel is about 61% black, according to 2019 numbers provided by the department.
Howard says he has asked a judge to set a signature bond of $10,000, which means they wouldn’t have to pay anything unless they fail to show up for court dates. The main reasons for that are to limit the number of people in the Fulton County jail during the coronavirus pandemic and because they are police officers, Howard said.
The officers have been asked to turn themselves in by Friday, he said.
LAST TANKER IN IRANIAN FLOTILLA REACHES VENEZUELA
By RT.
June 2, 2020
https://popularresistance.org/last-tanker-in-iranian-flotilla-reaches-venezuela/
The tanker ‘Clavel,’ the last of a five-tanker Iranian flotilla, has made it to Venezuela’s shores to deliver much-needed gasoline. The final delivery comes just three days after the previous cargo arrived.
The fifth oil tanker entered the nation’s waters on Sunday, carrying the last shipment of the more than 1.5 million barrels of fuel sent to Venezuela by Iran. Both nations are facing tough US sanctions, with Washington willing to stop the Iranian lifeline that was meant to alleviate fuel shortages in the South American country.
Earlier this week, Venezuela’s military escorted four other ships – the ‘Fortune,’ the ‘Forest,’ the ‘Faxon’ and the ‘Petunia’ – through its exclusive economic zone to their destination. The ‘Faxon’ was the last to arrive at Puerto la Cruz on the country’s eastern coast on Friday.
Meanwhile, one of the vessels, the ‘Forest,’ has apparently unloaded fuel. According to Marine Traffic data, the vessel left the port it had docked at and was en route to an unknown location as of Sunday afternoon.
Washington had earlier warned against helping the Iranian fleet to get to Venezuela. The US Special Representative to the country, Elliott Abrams, told Reuters that the United States government’s pressure campaign against Tehran and Caracas was aimed at ensuring that “everyone recognizes this would be a very dangerous transaction to assist.”
While the White House did not explicitly say it intends to intercept the tankers, the Iranian envoy to the US previously said the vessels may face “the threat of imminent use of military force by the United States.” Tehran has warned against any interference with the ships, warning that would amount to “piracy and a major peril to international peace and security.”
Despite Venezuela having vast oil reserves, its refining capacity has been limited, and its energy crisis has only worsened amid sweeping US sanctions. The restrictions dealt a painful blow to the republic’s oil sector, which accounts for most of its budget revenues.
MAJOR PUBLIC DEFENSE NONPROFIT IN NEW YORK IS UNIONIZING
By Hamilton Nolan, In These Times.
June 2, 2020
https://popularresistance.org/major-public-defense-nonprofit-in-new-york-is-unionizing/
One Of The Nation’s Most Respected Public Defender Nonprofits Is Unionizing, The Latest In A Surge Of Union Drives At Prominent Nonprofits Across The Country.
The Bronx Defenders, a large nonprofit that defends low-income people in the Bronx, New York, told management today that they intend to unionize with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, an affiliate of the UAW. The proposed union will have about 270 members, covering virtually the entire non-management staff. Of those, about 100 are not attorneys, including everyone from social workers to paralegals to facilities workers.
Employees at the Bronx Defenders cited issues like pay, health care benefits, and equality of professional development and promotions as motivating factors for the union drive. But one factor stood out more than any other: the potential for burnout among public defenders and those who work alongside them.
“I’ve seen people who were hired with me who left already because of burnout,” says Imani Waweru, a staff attorney in the criminal defense practice who has been at the organization for less than two years. “What we do every day is advocate. Why not have a place we can advocate for ourselves?”
Naima Drecker-Waxman, an associate in the immigration practice, agrees that burnout is a real threat—and believes that improvements in working conditions for the Bronx Defenders staff will translate to better outcomes for the clients. “We need to ensure our workforce is treated with respect in order to serve our clients,” she says.
Discussions about unionizing began quietly a year ago, and the effort to collect union cards intensified in the past couple of months. (Union drives at nonprofits usually win voluntary recognition from management, thanks to the inherent pressure for the organization to live up to the ideals it espouses. Employees at the Bronx Defenders expect the same.) The culmination of the union campaign comes against the backdrop of the coronavirus crisis, which has hit both the Bronx and the incarcerated population of New York City with savage force. The employees of the Bronx Defenders see their union drive as part of a larger struggle to improve a justice system that often seems unable to keep up with the demands of the crisis. “We’re all sharing this burden of a court system that’s not responsive to our needs,” says Drecker-Waxman.
Alexi Shalom, the union organizer at the ALAA, says his union has already won protective equipment and hazard pay in other places. “We’re seeing the tangible benefits of an organized workforce,” he says. “Our members are of no use to clients if they’re sick.”
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