In Message from the Grassroots, perhaps his most powerful speech, Malcolm X reminded us that "you don't catch hell because you're a Methodist or Baptist, you don't catch hell because you're a Democrat or a Republican, you don't catch hell because you're a Mason or an Elk... You catch hell because you're a black man.... All of us catch hell for the same reason." Malcolm could just as easily have said that we don't catch hell because we're Haitian or African American. A white supremacist system sees us as Black people. Abner Louima was not tortured because he was Haitian, nor was Amadou Diallo gunned down by the police because he was from Guinea. The offending officers saw no difference. In their eyes they were inferior, scorned Black men. Malcolm saw Black unity/ solidarity as the counter and corrective of racism and white supremacy.
"I am particularly pleased that we were able to extend, for the first time, overdue trade preferences to the people of Haiti, Said [Charles B. Rangel], who represents New York's 15th Congressional District. "I welcome the opportunity to work with my colleagues to correct and improve legislation that better serves the American people," he added. "We can and will do more to ensure that our policies spread the benefits and opportunities of our trade and tax system to all levels of society," Rangel declared.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
256 p, Examines the situational determinants which influenced migration from the West Indies and the adaptation process and identification of two groups of immigrants from Jamaica who arrived in the United States (a) between 1920 and 1940 (early immigrants) and (b) between 1960 and 1975 (recent immigrants).
While Local 355 will continue to accept support from organizations and the community at large for the new initiative in the upcoming months, one of its first actions will be to formally request that Broward County commissioners implement a "worker retention policy" to ensure that concession workers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport do not lose their jobs, even as their employers' contracts are being evaluated, [Jay Mehta] said. "The survey shows us that the best way to express our solidarity is to...continue to fight," said UNITE HERE Local 355 organizer Romane Petit Joseph, referring to the union's original purpose, which includes working toward quality jobs, workers' rights, immigration reform and living wages.