Freedom Road: More Endorsements for Obama...

"The Selma of the North": Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

Between 1958 and 1970, a distinctive movement for racial justice emerged from unique circumstances in Milwaukee. A series of local leaders inspired growing numbers of people to participate in campaigns against employment and housing discrimination, segregated public schools, the membership of public officials in discriminatory organizations, welfare cuts, and police brutality.

The Milwaukee movement culminated in the dramatic—and sometimes violent—1967 open housing campaign. A white Catholic priest, James Groppi, led the NAACP Youth Council and Commandos in a militant struggle that lasted for 200 consecutive nights and provoked the ire of thousands of white residents. After working-class mobs attacked demonstrators, some called Milwaukee “the Selma of the North.” Others believed the housing campaign represented the last stand for a nonviolent, interracial, church-based movement.

Patrick Jones tells a powerful and dramatic story that is important for its insights into civil rights history: the debate over nonviolence and armed self-defense, the meaning of Black Power, the relationship between local and national movements, and the dynamic between southern and northern activism. Jones offers a valuable contribution to movement history in the urban North that also adds a vital piece to the national story.

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Blurbs:

Think you know the full story of the civil rights era? Patrick Jones's masterful study of the movement in Milwaukee will make you think again. Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The Selma of the North provides a devastating rebuttal of many of the conventional narratives of the civil rights movement. Here a vibrant nonviolent movement in the de-industrializing Midwest grows into a Black Power movement led by urban youth and a white Catholic priest who use confrontational direct action to lay bare the fissures of racial inequality in the 'liberal' North.
--Jeanne Theoharis, Brooklyn College, editor of Freedom North and Groundwork

A well-researched, well-written, and important history. Based on a rich array of sources, this book enhances our understanding of civil rights activism in the postwar urban North and establishes a useful foundation for the comparison of similar developments elsewhere in the country.
--Joe William Trotter, Jr., Carnegie Mellon University, author of Black Milwaukee

This book fills a serious gap in the literature of the civil rights revolution, joining studies on other cities in laying the groundwork on race and civil rights in the postwar urban North. Jones tells a good story, capturing events that might otherwise be lost to history.
--Arnold R. Hirsch, University of New Orleans, author of Making the Second Ghetto

The Selma of the North is an insightful and invigorating addition to the growing literature on black freedom struggles outside of the South. Jones's important and informative account writes Milwaukee back into the narrative of the civil rights-Black Power era and in the process expands our understanding of postwar America.
--Peniel E. Joseph, Brandeis University, author of Waiting Till the Midnight Hour

The Selma of the North is a riveting new story of the civil rights movement in America, a tale on par with Selma, Birmingham, and Montgomery in its power and importance. Jones's magisterial research and magnetic prose illuminate the untold story of the battle for the urban north in the 1960s, a battle that shows how race has always been the Achilles heel of white progressives. This story transcends easy dichotomies of black and white, North and South, radical and reformist. How did a group called 'the Commandos' define nonviolence? How did a white Catholic priest become a 'Black Power' leader? If this is not a saga for the age of Obama, I don't know what is.
--Timothy B. Tyson, Duke University, author of Radio Free Dixie and Blood Done Sign My Name

Friday, February 01, 2008

More Endorsements for Obama...

They are coming fast and furious today:

- California SEIU, with roughly 650,000 members! This is big...

- California's United Healthcare Workers union, with 150,000 members. They are affiliated with SEIU.

- Following Edwards's exit a few days ago, the members of MoveOn.org (3.2 million strong!) have overwhelmingly endorsed Barack. This might be meaningful on Tuesday, as MoveOn has a massive email list and a proven ability to mobilize its troops.

- A number of prominent Latino leaders in California have recently endorsed Obama. Here is a video about it:

- Paul Volker, respected former Fed Chief under Carter and Reagan. This one will matter to financial heads and give some gravitas to the junior senator from Illinois.

- Alma Rangel, wife of Charles Rangel, senior African American congressman from NY. Charles already endorsed Hillary, so I bet dinner is fun in the Rangel household.

- The members of Color of Change have also endorsed Obama, with 70% support! Color of Change began after Katrina. It is a multicultural progressive organizing site, along the lines of MoveOn.

- Oh, yeah, and as I already reported yesterday, Hulk Hogan is on the bandwagon... and Jimmy Carter got as close to an endorsement as he ever has a few days ago.

- And everyone on the planet knows Caroline, Ted and Patrick Kennedy endorsed Obama...

Of course, the two biggest prizes remain unclaimed in the endorsement race: John Edwards and Al Gore

C'mon, guys! Time is wasting. It is now or never. Have some backbone and make a stand. I fear Gore has always been too willy-nilly to actually take a serious stand. He does not seem to have the stomach for politics anymore and appears to be enjoying his celebrity. I also wonder if Edwards might hold off in order to best position himself for a post in the administration of whichever candidate ultimately comes out on top. If so, that would be a very weak maneuvering for a guy that spent the last many moons telling us he was a warrior and such...

Freedom Road

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"The Selma of the North": Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee

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Friday, February 01, 2008

More Endorsements for Obama...

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