Goddamn, it's about fucking time. This is John Brown 2008. After months of watching people shift the blame for white racism into our laps, I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to see this gentleman picking up the sword. This is just thrilling. Forward it to your friends. This is change. H/T to Andrew.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
I just sent this to my mom and asked her to forward it to my 3 uncles, who were all steel workers in Cleveland. 1 uncle won't vote for Obama but the other 2 aren't sure. I'm hoping this will help sway them to our side.
This type of voice has long been missing from my old town. It needs to change. About damn time!
I've already sent it to 10 friends, from the left and right, and have asked them to pass it on as well.
Let's get this thing to go viral big time.
Thank you.
Deleted. Not today. Say something relevant or don't comment.
Now c'mon, Ta - if Brown really did commit what 'totally down' says, I'd like to hear more.
Of course, a citation would dandy.
Fired up and ready to go, I've sent this to those that need to hear it
I wish he was one of those regular people that spoke at the Democratic Convention, he'd a brought the house down
This speech made me proud to be a labor advocate. Such moments are often few and far between. I am forwarding this to family, and if I can work up enough balls, some client/union members as well.
This fellow gave the same speech in a smaller venue, I think I saw it on Talking Points Memo. This guy has guts - he may have rubbed a lot of people the wrong with such blunt talk.
This is huge. I've been wondering when someone would just call the elephant in the room out and jump out in front of this.
Here in GA Obama's race will prolly be the deciding issue for most voters. Just today my wife's co-worker sent her an e-mail linking Obama as related to a terror bomber in Iran. To which my wife pointed out that if it were true, and it's not, that would make Dick Cheney related to that bomber too. :P
Facebook share, Myspace bullet, CC-all. This is something everyone should hear.
Great speech. Who the hell is that talking? Who the hell is he talking to? What is the event at which he is speaking? When did this speech take place?
Thanks!
Obama's candidacy has already achieved a great deal...
Man, they should have this guy out front everywhere in this last month. Get him to cut an ad, and get a 527 to pump it everywhere it matters.
oh dip, just noticed he gave this speech in July of 2008.
Where the F is the MSM on news that matters. Steelworkers were at the heart of Hilary's racist push, how is this speech not flooding a news cycle?
It's white ethnic democrats. My buddy's an italian cop in a dangerous exurb of Boston whose top choices for president were Hillary ("because Bill'd be in charge again!), then Rudy, then he couldn't name anyone. Said he absolutely wouldn't vote for Obama, because he'd "give everything to the blacks." Funny thing is, he's not really what you'd call conventionally racist--he's got black friends, black teammates and black coworkers he trusts with his life every day.
I couldn't understand why it meant nothing to him that Hillary and Barack had almost the exact same politics, then I realized for guys like him politics IS about taking care of your own. If I told him I wouldn't vote for an ex cop because they'd roll over for the policeman's union he'd be pissed but he wouldn't tell me I was wrong. He doesn't think blacks are inferior, or not want to see one as an authority figure or even think Obama would make a bad president--he thinks politics is tribalism and the whole point of taking power is to help your kind. That's racism, but it's a kind that we don't usually think about as such.
So long story short a white union guy that looks like Mike Ditka telling a roomful of union workers that Barack is One Of Us is a good thing
Jack,
That's a whole lot of sense in one post. the 'taking care of your own' is a smart insight.
And yeah, you couldn't cast this guy better - tough, no shit guy, as white and blue collar as you can get, just hammering it - but brilliantly, hammering them on voting against their interests.
get a 527 up someone and get this guy everywhere - or mail out dvd/videos of it - but this needs to be seen, and the Internet alone isn't going to reach enough of the real audience.
Damn! That's not a speech; it's a sermon. Makes me wish I could join a union.
I understand why the Obama campaign has wanted to de-emphasize his race, but I'm sorry that there haven't been more messages like this from white speakers. If not for the South Carolina mess, Bill Clinton could have been a powerful preacher on this topic, namely that in 2008, it is NOT acceptable to vote against Barack Obama on account of the color of his skin.
I've said it before: it is just beyond thrilling to this middle-aged white lady -- a product of segregated Texas schools -- to see the rise and ultimate victory of Barack Obama. If you had grown up in Jim Crow days, you would understand how spectacularly unlikely this movement seems. Barack said it best himself the night of the Iowa primary: "They said this day would never come." I felt like the earth had shifted on its axis that night.
The video of him talking about working people being angry is even better.
Dude is on fire. He represents all those white, hard-working Americans that the GOP pretends to care about, and the people Hillary thought she could reach better than Barack.
I'm moved by it, have to admit.
But I think the brilliance of it is not merely the passion of the main, but that it's also both a call for solidarity, in the spirit of the unions in the past, but also of self-interest - that to vote for your prejudice is to vote against your own well-being.
Race has always been a way to keep poor white, brown and black apart for financial gain.
Class is always the real issue, but the light of that truth is always obscured by the shadow of race.
I hope this guy has been out campaigning in PA and the like non-stop - he could genuinely swing voters - probably not as many as I'd like to hope, but enough to make a difference.
Ano,
That's Richard Trumka, the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and former president of the United Mine Workers. So his observation about the history of the CIO comes from his own union's background, as well as that of his audience -- he was speaking to the United Steel Workers (must have been their national convention).
Trumka is a big deal in the AFL-CIO. Now, if he could get someone from the Building Trades to start giving that speech...
richard trumka.
an afl-cio official. makes me proud that my dad worked for that union for 25 years, as a local official.
he has exactly the right idea: confront the issue head on with passion and with anger over the possibility that racism might make some union members to not vote for obama.
they should edit this down to two minutes and use this in targeted areas in places like michigan and ohio and pennsylvania and indiana.
ignoring the issue and hoping that it will not hurt his chances is not going to work.
this is the way to do it.
the fact that trumka attacked it head on says a lot about HIS view of the right strategy.
Its about time. Hopefully, its not too late for these guys. It would be more comforting if they had given their support before they started sinking. But, I guess you can't lick a gift horse in the mouth.
BTW, Duvall Patrick, MA's first black governor, is doing a stand-up job. It was clear to everyone that he was far and above the best candidate. There are not alot of Blacks in MA. Patrick won the primaries against a Gabelli and a Reilly with 49% of the vote. He won the election with 56% of the vote. That's impressive and testament to the fact when the going gets tough people value results. When times are good they can afford a little racism.
This video & you all's comments make me proud to be an American.
I wish more people would think like this. I'm fine w/ people not wanting to vote for Obama for valid reasons, like pro-life; however, race is not one of them.
"I'm not much for quoting dead philosophers." I wouldn't be surprised if the guy has a degree in philosophy or political science that he doesn't talk about, so he can seem to be a regular guy. What a weird country we are.
Anyway, my point is that it's a wonderful speech, not just because it's righteous, but also because his case is so intelligently and eloquently made. He ascribes the usual arguments against Obama to a woman who's largely sympathetic, and then obliterates then, not with anger, but with soft-spoken common sense. His crusade is against racism, not against racists, because he thinks that the ones espousing racism can be persuaded that they're mistaken, that they're allowing their prejudice to cut their own throats. And when he gets to his rip-roaring climax, he's earned it; it grows, not out of a sense of his own moral superiority, but from his anguish about what we've allowed our nation to become.
Unfortunately Deval got off on the wrong foot in MA and didn't realize a. the casual viciousness of the populist press (Herald and radio) and b. that just because beat the machine's guy in the primary he didn't beat the machine. His tenure in MA cann only be described as "competent but ineffectual"--Obama-style grand themes really don't work in state office. The sausagemaking's too local
That's was a whole bucket of awesome right there. I blogged the video and will be pushing it around, you can guarantee. Thanks.
Damn! That's not a speech; it's a sermon.
I couldn't agree more. At one point I said to myself, "Amen! Preach it, brother!"
I normally think of myself of a rational, calm individual. But I love speeches like this.
this is really what i've been waiting for.
he is trying to reach an audience that is right there for barack to take hold of.
he just has to take a bit of a risk to do it.
i grew up with guys like that back in michigan, my dad drank and played poker with guys like that at the union hall. i've been around guys like that my entire life.
lots of those guys do not trust obama, for lots of reasons. and yes, race is one of them.
but his cooler-than-ice posture absolutely hurts him with the kind of voter trumka is speaking to. they are angry and they are upset and it's hard to imagine that this ivy league educated, too-cool black guy with a funny name gives a hoot about them at all.
and yes, they have black friends, but their black friends are probably not like barack. they're friends and co-workers, and friends and co-workers laugh and get upset and show it all and then they look at barack and they don't see any of that.
they're thinking: i'm mad as hell and this guy should be at least a little bit upset at how things are going.
but they just see the cool black guy with the funny name who uses words they don't understand and it just makes it that much harder to take the difficult step of voting for a black man.
at the risk of being redundant, i'll just offer this: if barack talks openly and passionately and yes, flashes a bit of well-timed, calculated anger and reaches those union workers, it's over. he'll win in a landslide.
and that includes talking directly about race and its possible impact on the race.
that is going to be extremely important because the mccain campaign is getting ready to unleash hell on obama.
better buckle up...
Another middle-aged white lady absolutely brought to tears watching this.
We CAN take our country back from Limbaugh and Hannity and Rove, and reclaim some of the brainwashed in the process.
Mike -- Wikipedia has a substantial article on Trumka with a pointer to this speech. He has an undergrad degree from Penn State and a law degree from Villanova, so your guess about his undergrad major has a good chance of being right.
I saw this on Daily Kos this morning and it hit me HARD. My family is originally from eastern KY and WV -- two areas of Appalachia that are dying just like the steeltowns of PA of which he speaks. If you take out his hometown's name and insert the name of my grandmother's or great aunt's towns, you'd have the exact same story. So many people from those areas are so afraid of the IDEA of Obama because "they don't trust him," or "he's a Muslim," or more truthfully...because he's black. They're willing to vote against their own economic and social interests because of these deep-seated fears.
I forwarded this onto my parents, brother and relatives this afternoon in the hopes they would pass it along. Truth be told, it reminded me, too, of my grandfather who passed away this June. He would have understood perfectly what Trumka was saying, as he spent years sticking up for the working man in the construction and mining industries. He knew that you can't let color tear us apart when we have so much that brings us together.
Every old-timer in my hometown in south Arkansas lived through a strike in 1983. I myself remember eating union rations and wild game for months. People lost their homes. There were fistfights in parking lots, guns fired. Deer camps, churches, and lifelong relationships broke up over scabbing. Bathroom walls still get graffitied with the names of scabs on the regular. My dad sat next to Clinton during the negotiations. One of my earlisest memories is of seeing him on TV, walking the picket line. He told me he'll never forget the finger wagging in his face after the union finally gave in and the company won.
I have another relative who is a union man through and through. He's always voted Democrat. This year, he's voting "independent." His wife i actually voting for McCain. Why? He "ain't gonna vote for no nigger."
PLEASE pass this on to every person you know with union ties....
Jack: I love your insight on politics as tribalism. It made me consider how difficult it is to counter my own ingrained perceptions of white people.
Take this speech for example, I love this speech and I'm happy about it. I love the timing, that it comes from a white man--a white man who doesn't sound like he's being condescending, one who can easily be considered "one of the guys."
And yet it stuck me as something to be suspicious about...
Great speech. Doesn't Richard Trumka remind you of Matt Foley though? You'll have plenty of time to vote for Barack Obama, WHEN YOU'RE LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!
Lumping everyone who isn't leaning towards Obama for one of many reasons (racism, late term abortion, his FISA vote, immigration, the bank bailout) and saying it's only the racism is a sure-fire way to alienate people. I imagine that's why it hasn't been distributed.
But of course, he didn't say it was the only reason. Other than that, good point.
"Lumping everyone who isn't leaning towards Obama for one of many reasons..."
Don't be silly. There are probably a lot of reasons it hasn't been distributed, but this guy Trumka wasn't lumping anyone together. That's bullshit...
Speaking of race, anyone hear Howard Stern's man-on-the-street interviews in Harlem yesterday? Howard's guy took McCain's policies -- the the war in Iraq, and everything else -- and presented them as Obama's policies and asked the Harlem residents if they agreed with them. "Absolutely," were the replies. See if you can find the youtube video somewhere, because it's hilarious. Black folks were even praising Palin when they were asked what they thought of Obama picking her as a VP.
At least the steelworker fellow is trying to look beyond race. Maybe they ought to give that a try in Harlem too.
Hopefully we'll see some mainstream coverage of this...but I'm not optimistic. I'll try to be.
Some aspect of this campaign season nearly brings me to tears each today. This video is today's winner. The scab of race on this country is peeling off. A scar will always remain, but things will be different for my kids. I can see the small changes already. If only my grandmother could witness this great time in American History.
Fred,
You're helping me to become a very patient human being.
That being said,I don't recall anyone in this thread implying that there aren't black people voting for Obama solely because he's black. That's not right either. But what Howard Stern is doing is taking the opions of a few misinformed black people, who perhaps even feel that it is their cultural responsibility to vote for Obama because he's black, as the position of "all of us."
And since black people are more likely to vote democratic, Stern's experiment should not surprise you. Perhaps the association with Obama isn't even black, it's just democrat.
I am black and a woman. I would not vote for Obama, if he was Pro-Life, or far on the right. None of his other credentials would appeal to me.
I have to agree with frankie d's desire for more anger, I believe the word "enough" said in someone resembling at the acceptance speech was one of the most poignant moments in the campaign. However, whatever he's doing has been working, the independents are eating it up and he's leading in the union states. Its hard to second guess his team, they prove me wrong every time they do.
Reminds me of the powerful moment in the labor movie "Matewan" when the nascent miners' union is considering excluding blacks, and the organizer played by Chris Cooper says with scorn (and I'm paraphrasing), "If you leave those black workers out, then this ain't a union: it's just a goddamn club."
The GOP has relied on racism to divide voters for decades. It has to stop sometime.
"At least the steelworker fellow is trying to look beyond race. Maybe they ought to give that a try in Harlem too."
Sure, and while they're at it, maybe you could take the idea for a spin, Fred.
Not to belabor the point, but if McCain was the first opportunity in 232 years to vote for a presidential candidate of my own race, I might be tempted. I don't think it makes much sense to equate that with "I ain't gonna vote for no nigger."
TNC --or whoever knows it--
Is his http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist) the John Brown are you making reference of?
(Pardon my ignorance)
Just wanted to say that Trumka did give a version of this speech at the Dem Convention, but it was during the labor caucus at that other convention center, not at the Pepsi Center, at night, with the "big boys." It was still great, though. I hope he's still giving versions of it around the country and glad there's renewed interest.
While the prospect of the first black president in history is noteworthy, that shouldn't keep us from taking note of an equally unlikely accomplishment: Fred making a comment that hasn't been deleted yet for offensiveness.
But what Howard Stern is doing is taking the opinions of a few misinformed black people
It's the problem with any "man on the street" segment. You go around and ask 100 people what they think. You take the few ridiculous answers, either flubbed because they are uninformed or couldn't think on their feet with a microphone in their face. Either that or you change the question after the fact to make them look like an idiot.
This is awesome. A brilliant, moving, personal and political sermon.
One thing that's been striking about the recent polling happiness is that Obama's improvement has been greatly among Democrats, with now ~85% of Democrats supporting Obama. (That's pretty similar to McCain's numbers among Republicans.) The best explanation for this movement, I think, is that precisely the people Trumka is working to reach are coming home. This is working. We're winning.
Eduardo
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
he is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
he hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword;
his truth is marching on.
OR
John Brown's baby had a cold upon his chest
John Brown's baby had a cold upon his chest
John Brown's baby had a cold upon his chest
And they rubbed it with camphorated oil.
Both to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", which was first published in (wait for it) the Atlantic Monthly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic
This is disgusting demagoguery, TNC. There are all sorts of reasons that workers could have for voting for McCain, and this guy essentially brands every working-class McCain voter as a racist. I quote:
"There's not a single good reason for any worker, any union member, to not vote for Barack Obama, and there's only one really bad reason. Because he's not white."
Asher - please - he's addressing Union Workers. When was it in Union workers interests to vote Republican?
He's not talking about every working class person - he is talking about union members - taking two words from one sentence doesn't wash when it's clear what he means.
Part of me wants also to believe this is an angry community organizer who disliked all the digs the RNC threw his way.
Asher, any union leader knows that some union members will vote Republican. That doesn't mean they have to concede that there are good reasons for doing so.
As for the idea that he is suggesting racism is the only reason a union member would vote for McCain, that's just a misreading.
"John Brown 2008" -- I love it.
He says there are no good reasons and only one very bad reason. I guess you could say that he hasn't excluded the possibility of other, not-so-bad bad reasons.
Hey, I got to this before Sullivan did. And if he happened to get to this video via my blog, without hat-tipping me -- curses, I say!
I have some commentary about this video, here:
http://tinyurl.com/3pshmq
What Trumka accomplishes in this speech is something that's pretty effin' remarkable. See my blog post and read my argument as to why.
"After months of watching people shift the blame for white racism into our laps"
Any chance you could do a poost explaining this sentence?
Thanks.
Wow. That was just freaking amazing.
You left out the one that fits Trumka's speech the most:
When the Union's inspiration through the workers' hearts shall run
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun.
But what force on Earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one?
For the Union makes us strong!
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
For the Union makes us strong!
I've always wondered whether picking an anthem sung to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic has been a problem for organizing the South. (Also, the lyrics sound like an 11th-grader translating Cicero without changing any of the Latin syntax).
Saw this over at Politico a few weeks ago, but it's still on point
That was most righteous. Spread the word.
Truly, he is a brother.
I'm suck a sucker for speeches like that. Made me cry.
SUCH a sucker. sheesh. typo city.
"When was it in Union workers interests to vote Republican?"
A good 40% of union workers have voted Republican in various elections, for a number of reasons, e.g.: they are gun owners, they are pro-life, they are economically literate and work in an export-oriented industry, they are investors (a lot of well-paid union workers also own significant amounts of stock, usually in their own company).
Watching this speech made me cry. Even thinking about it now makes me tear up.
A 45 year old, white, Canadian man, I come from a long line of Newfoundland fishing families. I have never belonged to a union, but my grandfather did. His was the last generation in my family to have been illiterate. I think there is a connection there; the labour movement helped lift my family out of poverty and ignorance.
I have often wondered if unions have lost, or are losing, their relevance. Richard Trumka proves they are not. I have no idea what it feels like to be black in America. But I believe in brotherhood. I know that because it alleviated my people's despair and hopelessness, it can destroy other hatreds and fears too.
I am glad this man is my brother, and I am overjoyed that he is Ta-Nehisi's and Barack's.
I want this guy in the Obama/Biden Cabinet so that Austan Goolsbee's pointy free market economist head is within easy reach for frequent cuffing.
Please Jesus.
Unions have No right to tell people who to vote for. This is stupid. Most people don't care if Obama is black or not. Oh, and by the way search Youtube, they have a video of Barac Obama's brother stating he is a muslim.
Barack Obama has received an unusual endorsement, from bluegrass great Ralph Stanley. As I wrote on my blog, "My hat's off to any 81-year old white Southern dude who's voting for Obama, but Ralph Stanley has gone above and beyond. He's even cut a radio ad for Obama which is running in Stanley's home state of Virginia.
"Stanley, who is probably best known for his contributions to the great soundtrack of the Coen brothers' movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, is pretty much one of country music's living legends."
I then post the ad, which btw, is excellent. And also some video clips of the man's music, because I'm a big fan.
You can find my post here:
http://tinyurl.com/3hz7cw
talk about white guilt,
and the pity it inspires,
Obama can only make them feel self-righteous again in the demoralized country they live in,
but is only bout that, white self righteousness masked with the face of middle class angst and more of the same
guilt, guilt, guilt…
enough said
This is a few days late, but "Pesto" commented on Oct 2, "I wish someone from the Building Trades was giving this speech." There is -- I invite him to check out Laborers International Union of North America President Terence M O'Sullivan, who is preaching a similar message. He spent this week in swing state Missouri, not just St Louis & Kansas City, but also Arkansas border town Springfield MO & other smaller communities. Terri O always raises the race issue and challenges union members "we have no room in our union for any racist attitudes." He's just as fiery as Brother Trumka and we do need more old-fashioned union leaders like this.