Freedom Road: Ralph Nader

"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, November 07, 2008

Ralph Nader's Political Career, R.I.P.

Good lord has Ralph Nader become an annoying jack-ass... and I say that as someone who supported him in 1996 and 2000 and who has long admired his work on behalf of consumer rights and democratic reform.

Check this out: Here he is making a complete fool of himself on election night, asking whether Obama will be "an Uncle Tom" for corporate interests at the very moment our nation elected its first black president. What a putz. Hell, even Shep Smith of Faux News understands how lame-ass Nader's comments were...

Tim Goodman, over at The San Francisco Chronicle website, skewers Nader's performance on election night. In part, he writes, Nader is "A character without a filter between his head and his mouth and the willingness to say just about anything while being completely oblivious to the fallout." Goodman continues, "As to Nader supporters parsing what he said and what he meant with the 'Uncle Tom' comment, let's not waste a lot of time and ranting comments on whether that's an offensive term or not. Why not field test it yourself? Go to a bar (around midnight, shall we say?) filled only with African Americans. Use the term 'Uncle Tom' any way you'd like and see how that works out for you." Finally, he reminds us, too, that this is not the first dumb racial thing Nader has said about Obama. Recall that earlier in the campaign he accused Obama of "talking white." Again, what a dumb-ass.

No wonder most progressive/lefties abandoned Nader after 2000. His campaign had no meaningful grassroots support this year and achieved only .5% of the vote. Because Nader's presidential runs are now about him, personally, and not attached to a viable third party, they play no role in building alternative progressive institutions, let alone a "movement." Sad.

Moreover, any viable progressive/left movement in the U.S. must be multi-racial. Do you think the guy in the above video could possibly form or lead such a multi-racial movement? Of course not.

It is sad to see Nader tarnish his legacy these last few years... but that is what happens when you allow yourself to confuse your own ego with "the movement."

Ralph, your electoral career has now officially ended...

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Chomsky: It's OK to Vote Lesser of Two Evils

Noam Chomsky has been one of the leading critics of American foreign policy since the 1970s. In this video, he challenges head-on Ralph Nader's claim that there is no difference between the two major parties in the U.S. and argues that it is OK to vote for the lesser of two evils. According to Chomsky, there is indeed a difference between the two parties and their candidates, if a narrow one. While they both serve elites, he says, the Democrats, over time, help people:

Any thoughts? Do you think Ralph Nader is going to head up to MIT to kick Chomsky's ass?

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