Capitalism, Race and Democracy - Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Follows the audio · click any line to jump

1. And like me, become a sustaining member all year round.
2. Thank you.
3. This is Mumia Abu-Jamal, and you're listening to KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and 98.7 Santa Barbara.
4. This week on Capitalism, Race and Democracy.
5. Black people did not celebrate the Fourth of July.
6. That was the white folks' celebration.
7. We celebrated Juneteenth, and she explained it to us.
8. San Francisco Longshore workers speak out on Juneteenth.
9. Texas also played a special role in beginning the formalization of the commemoration of this day
10. The state of Texas plays a special role in the history of the Juneteenth celebration
11. From Pacifica Radio, this is Capitalism, Race and Democracy
12. A collective effort by producers from Pacifica stations and affiliates across the U.S.
13. I'm your host, Polina Vasiliev
14. On Juneteenth, 2026, longshore workers in Seattle and San Francisco shut down the ports.
15. At San Francisco ILWU Local 10, which has a majority of black workers,
16. former ILWU 10 Secretary-Treasurer Clarence Thomas and ILWU Local 10 Vice President Trent Willis
17. talked about the history of Juneteenth and its lessons for today.
18. They spoke with Pacifica's Steve Zeltser.
19. We can't lose sight of the fact that the matter of Juneteenth
20. is when in 1865 enslaved Africans, blank people, in the state of Texas
21. got the word about the Emancipation Proclamation.
22. And it's important to point out that Juneteenth is a black working class oral tradition history.
23. When I was seven years old, I can remember one Fourth of July celebration and my mother telling me and my siblings, because she was from Port Arthur, she's from Port Arthur, Texas.
24. And she said, children, when I grew up in Port Arthur, Texas, black people did not celebrate the Fourth of July.
25. That was the white folks' celebration.
26. We celebrated Juneteenth.
27. And she explained it to us so that we could understand it.
28. That was one of my—I guess one of our first black history lessons.
29. But I think it's important for people to understand that Juneteenth is not only a celebration about freedom, supposed freedom from chattel slavery, but it is also about resistance.
30. And I think that it's important for people to understand that black folks were not docile and just waited for Abraham Lincoln to free the slaves.
31. Nothing could be further from the truth.
32. I THINK IT'S A GREAT QUESTION.
33. I THINK IT A GREAT QUESTION DOCTOR PROFESSOR GERALD HORN IN HIS BOOK HIS LATEST BOOK His latest book has to do with the capital of slavery Washington D 1800 to 1865 And he describes enslaved African people as the non or the unpaid sector of the working class
34. And we cannot forget the fact that African people engaged in slavery boats.
35. One of the most famous, of course, is the one led by Nat Turner.
36. We can't forget about Brother John Brown, who was not black, but he was anti-racist in his fight, in his charge on Harpers Ferry.
37. We cannot forget about the importance of the revolution that took place in Haiti that signaled to people in bondage in the United States of America that they could take on the slave master and win.
38. I just want to say that Juneteenth in particular is important not only for African-Americans to understand, but for all working people.
39. And in particularly at this time, you and I, Steve, have had a lot of conversation about what kind of action needs to be taken right now
40. When we see the rights of black people in the South to lose representation through gerrymandering and other rigs, the idea of black people being denied their representation is an attack not only on blacks, but it's an attack on our democracy for all Americans in this country, for all working class Americans.
41. And I think that when we talk about what is the real meaning of Juneteenth, I think that we need to be able to connect what happened in 1865 to what is happening right now.
42. And what I'm getting at is the attacks that are going on in the South are very, very much connected to the travails of the history of people of color in this country.
43. We have witnessed the attempts by the Trump administration and other right-wing segregationists to whitewash the institution of slavery, to also revise history as it relates to the defeat of the South.
44. And the whole idea is to take us back to a period of time when black people had no democratic rights, did not have the ability to earn living wages, because these attacks that are going on with regards to blacks and their voting is also happening with regards to the issue of the working class being able to live, have decent wages, have livable wages, the ability to organize.
45. What we see right now is what we could look back in history and compare to the roaring 20s, the Gilded Age, where the labor was under attack, being smashed, workers were being controlled by robber barons.
46. And so we can see that the billionaire class is trying to take us back to that period of time.
47. That's what Trump means when he says, make America great again.
48. What he talking about is when black people were in bondage and the working class did not have unions and we were desperate and fighting and in a situation of desperation AND SO RIGHT NOW WITH JUNE 10TH THIS be a wake call and a rallying cry to renew the fight and struggle for democracy One of the reasons why the ILWU
49. has a great history with regards to the issue of anti-racism and freedom fighters is because
50. we can look at how this particular organization came into being. The 1934 strike, which was led
51. by a man by the name of Harry Bridges from Australia, who was a rank-and-file leader
52. and who was confronted with the reality of having to take on the issue of white supremacy
53. within the trade union movement, because the employers were constantly using African Americans
54. who were not members of the union as scabs to cross the picket line.
55. But it wasn't until the recognition of Bridges and others that they had to come to grips
56. with making the connection between race and class and reaching out to black labor leaders
57. such as C.L. Dellums for the purpose of being able to go into black churches and to appeal
58. to the black community not to cross the picket line.
59. Those are facts.
60. This kind of history is being hidden.
61. This kind of history is being ignored and that's why I'm talking about it today because
62. when we look at that particular reality and we see that the black community had no reason
63. at all to believe anything that Harry Bridges was saying, but they trusted him to the degree
64. that they decided to stop crossing that picket line.
65. And that was a major reason for the victory of longshore workers in 1934.
66. And that history is so relevant to the history of what the ILWU has stood for for nearly
67. 90 years.
68. And I think that today, with Juneteenth, we have to be able to connect those dots.
69. We have to be able to look at that history and give us some direction as to where we
70. should go in the very near future. But I would like to say this. I believe that at this point
71. in time, we need to have a national day of action. And what I mean by that is, is that
72. the working class needs to be able to understand that the history of denial of voting rights for
73. black people is something that is very much a working class issue for all working people.
74. because this is an attack on democracy for all of us,
75. and we need to wake up to understand that.
76. And so a national day of action right now would be most appropriate,
77. and I would envision that to take on the form of a national strike
78. where workers don't go to work.
79. November the 4th, which is Election Day,
80. would seem to be an appropriate day to take such an action.
81. People could be able to be working.
82. Folks could be assured that they could go to the polls by not working.
83. We can only anticipate what kind of shenanigans Trump may decide to pull in terms of suppressing
84. the vote, doing things to discourage people from voting.
85. And the only real way to challenge that is by having people in the streets and voting
86. and being on guard to be able to challenge any kind of foolishness that might occur to
87. in some way suppress people voting rights So I think that a national call to action would be an appropriate measure to take right now with regards to how we could build on this Juneteenth celebration
88. And I'm hoping that we can see the kind of response from labor.
89. People are too caught up right now in hoping that the Democratic Party is going to be victorious in the midterm elections.
90. There's no guarantee of that at all.
91. And even if that is true, who are these Democrats that are running?
92. Are we going to see a situation similar to what we saw during the Obama years,
93. where the Democrats controlled the House and Senate,
94. and we still couldn't get the Employee Free Choice Act passed
95. because you had conservative Democrats?
96. So the working class needs to be mobilizing and organizing in its own name,
97. independent of the Democratic Party.
98. But make no mistake about it,
99. we have to take the issue of the challenges
100. to black representation as an attack
101. on all of our democracy.
102. That was San Francisco ILWU Local 10's
103. former Secretary-Treasurer Clarence Thomas.
104. Next, Pacifica's Steve Zelter spoke to
105. ILWU Local 10 Vice President Trent Willis.
106. I've been in history, tell you,
107. 400 years of oppression, okay?
108. that we're still going through.
109. We've come a long way, but it's far from perfect.
110. Even within the IOWU, the reason I love this union
111. is because this union is one of the few unions that I've seen take steps,
112. at least take steps to resolve the division issue of racial division.
113. We've taken steps to do it.
114. Now, the union has not been perfect.
115. We've had our racial problems within the IOWU, okay?
116. But at least I can say the IOWU is taking steps, okay?
117. Develop programs, put committees together like the AALC, the African American Longshore Coalition.
118. We've solved problems internally with the help of black people in this union and other minorities to solve those kind of problems.
119. You got other unions that just do their whole white supremacist activity and they act just like regular society.
120. OK, so don't the black people and minorities don't owe those unions any loyalty.
121. OK, you a black man can't even get in your union because you got your good old boy thing going.
122. That's the problem with the labor movement.
123. This country has a has a problem no matter what part of the country we're talking about, whether it's liberal or conservative.
124. This country has a problem with accountability when it comes to racism.
125. You hear a lot of white people saying, why does it have to be about race?
126. Well, we should be asking you the question.
127. Why does everything have to be about race?
128. That's what black people want to know.
129. Why does it have to be about race?
130. Why can't we just go somewhere and be treated fairly like everybody else?
131. Why does it have to be about race?
132. That's what we want to know.
133. Quit taking our terms.
134. you know, just let me say that black fatigue, black fatigue was a, was, that was a term that
135. black people used. We're the ones tired. Okay. Now these white supremacists has hijacked that term
136. and they're using it like they have black fatigue. What the hell are you tired of?
137. But black people aren't doing the goddamn thing to you. Like, like people misuse the word racist.
138. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS.
139. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS.
140. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS.
141. industries or any, we're not in control of any political systems or anything that affects
142. white people's lives. Like we're not in charge of anything where we can make white people's
143. lives miserable. Okay. But it is like that the other way around. That's where the word
144. racist comes from. When you are in control of somebody's livelihood and you use that control
145. to make them miserable because of the color of their skin.
146. People don't know the correct terms.
147. They don't know the correct meanings of words.
148. This is why everything's in chaos.
149. There's a difference between a bigot and a racist.
150. There are a lot more bigots in the country than there are racists, believe it or not.
151. And what should labor and all working people do about it?
152. Because we're facing frontal attacks, the threat of fascism.
153. We have a fascist government that wants to kill people, spending $70 billion for more ICE thugs, more prisons.
154. They're going to be putting black and brown people, working people, unionists in these prisons.
155. It seems like on Juneteenth, the threat of going back to slavery is here.
156. And what needs to be done about it?
157. There's been no protest against, you know, kicking blacks out of representation in the South.
158. I mean, does there need to be a national movement in this country to really fight this and prepare against a dictatorship?
159. Yeah, well, there are protests happening.
160. And there's a lot of opposition to what's going on as far as the gerrymandering and all of that.
161. There's just no question as to what's going on now.
162. Now, you talk about what the labor movement can do.
163. That was your original question, right?
164. I think we all know what the labor movement can do.
165. What would the labor movement do in France?
166. Tell me what the labor movement would do in France.
167. What do the laborers in France do when France as a country starts messing with the workers?
168. What do they do?
169. You got all of these so-called, they call them socialist countries,
170. the countries that provide health care for their workers and they treat their workers half decent.
171. They say, oh, that's socialism.
172. Okay, you don't want that. That's what they tell American workers. You don't want socialism. Okay, well, what should we want in socialism place? It should be capitalism because right now you're experiencing what capitalism is doing for your ass right now.
173. Okay, so if you're a worker at home listening to me talk, right, I shouldn't even have to tell you what to do as a worker in response to all of this.
174. Okay, you do the same thing workers have done since the beginning of organized labor.
175. You put the tools down.
176. Okay? Anything you talking about doing other than that, or at least organizing towards that, is...
177. Okay, you're dealing with people that don't care about anything but money. They don't care about your life. They don't care if you die.
178. They don't care if you protest, especially if you protest on the weekends and you're doing things that's not costing them any money or anything.
179. They don't care.
180. That is the reality of it.
181. A lot of people are scared to say what the reality is, okay?
182. But this whole system is based on monetary gain.
183. It's money, okay?
184. And if you not affecting anybody money or if you not in a position to affect anybody money then nobody going to listen to you Okay Now we could talk about Iran right now
185. You think the only reason Iran is still there is because somebody got a conscience and said,
186. oh, let's not mess with Iran.
187. No, Iran is stopping a whole bunch of people's money.
188. Okay?
189. Iran is shutting down the Strait of Hormuz.
190. Okay?
191. what the hell are working people doing in the United States?
192. But talking a lot.
193. Let's just be real.
194. We can have a rally.
195. We get up on stage.
196. That's wrong what they're doing.
197. And we're educating all of our working brothers and sisters to tell them what's wrong.
198. Well, how long are we going to keep saying what's wrong?
199. We are.
200. Yeah, we're real good at hooping and hollering about what's wrong.
201. What are you going to do about it?
202. What are you going to do?
203. You're going to call your congressperson that's got a lobbyist in his pocket?
204. Okay?
205. When are you going to vote to end the electoral system?
206. That's a problem.
207. Okay?
208. When are we going to vote to get rid of the lobbyists?
209. What do we have lobbyists for?
210. Those are just people that go and pay the elected officials off so they don't listen to us.
211. Okay?
212. And you start explaining stuff to people simple like that.
213. That's what a lobbyist does.
214. They go in there and they offer congressmen and senators and elected officials, they offer them money.
215. One of the biggest lobbyists is Israel.
216. That's why you can't hardly get any of these congressmen and senators to speak against Israel because Israel is paying them.
217. So if you cut out all of the paying off the elected officials because they're supposed to listen to us.
218. They're not supposed to get elected by us and go in there and cast their vote for the highest bidder.
219. They're supposed to cast their vote the way we want them to.
220. That's why this country is in chaos.
221. That was ILWU Local 10 Vice President Trent Willis speaking to Pacifica's Steve Zeltzer on Juneteenth, June 19, 2026,
222. as longshore workers in Seattle and San Francisco shut down the ports.
223. pay for the work we've done?
224. When will we be paid for the work we've done?
225. We've bought in your walls in every land.
226. Keep this country free, y'all.
227. Women, children, and men.
228. But anytime we ask for pay or loan
229. That's when everything seems to turn out wrong
230. We've been beat up, called names, shot down and stoned
231. Every time we do right
232. Somebody say we're gone
233. Tell them when will we be paid
234. For the work we've done
235. When will we be paid
236. That was Prince, When Will We Be Paid.
237. You're listening to Pacifica's Capitalism, Race and Democracy.
238. I'm Polina Vassilyev.
239. Next, we share a Juneteenth report from Capitalism, Race and Democracy producer
240. Akua Holt of Pacifica Radio KPFT in Houston Texas Texas House Bill 1016 was created by State Representative Al Edwards and passed in the 66th Legislature regular session declaring June 19th Emancipation Day
241. in Texas. It became a legal state holiday in 1980. The celebration of Juneteenth continues
242. across the state of Texas with family gatherings, lectures, parades, and community events.
243. Attorney Craig Washington, former Houston activist and politician, served in the Texas State House of Representatives, the Texas State Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives.
244. Washington spoke with former interim general manager Dr. Obadike Kamau of KPFT Houston.
245. Let's talk about the history of Juneteenth.
246. This is something that happened really as the Civil War was winding down.
247. Major General Granger came into Galveston and, through his field order number three, read the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln.
248. And with that, was supposed to have officially freed African people in the state of Texas.
249. Why don't you pick it up from there?
250. What do you understand about the story?
251. My understanding is that General Granger arrived by sea through the Gulf of Mexico, and strategically Galveston was chosen as the point to come ashore, one, because it's an island, and two, because the politics and the social strata was a little bit different than it was in other parts of Texas after the Civil War and during an after-war period.
252. Reconstruction and Colonel Granger came with a contingent of colored troops and
253. which was much to the amazement of many of the local people I've read that they
254. were because they had weapons before that it was a rarity to see a person of
255. of African descent with a firearm of any kind and I'm certain given the totality
256. of the circumstances of what I read, that was done to make a point.
257. To the amazement and first knowledge of most of the people assembled who happened to have
258. been of African descent, I believe it's the second stanza of the Lift Every Voice and
259. Sing, which many of us have adopted and called the Negro National Anthem.
260. There's one stanza aligned.
261. It says, we have come to the place for which our fathers sighed, and they had arrived as
262. as a people had wanted out of their lives, and that is to be free again,
263. because remember they were free when they went after them.
264. That tradition of celebration has carried forward from that day to this day.
265. There have been always celebrations in the state of Texas,
266. and as Texans have gone to other places as far away as California
267. and to other countries even and to the East Coast and up the East Coast,
268. most states have some sort of contingent of people who celebrate Juneteenth,
269. and they still call it Juneteenth.
270. And far and wide, it's in recognition of that event on that day.
271. Texas played a special role in the celebration of Juneteenth.
272. It occurred in Texas.
273. When Granger came in, he emancipated descendants of Africans in the state of Texas,
274. but the emancipation was supposed to apply to all of the states who had practiced enslavement
275. and was still a part of the Confederacy.
276. This effort was meant not just to free Africans in Texas but really Africans throughout the enslaved states And as you said this date has been celebrated since 1865 more than 100 years
277. Text has also played a special role in beginning the formalization of the commemoration of this date.
278. And one of your former colleagues, Al Edwards, was kind of the tip of the spear in this effort.
279. Can you talk about Al and the fight to get the state of Texas to recognize Juneteenth?
280. I'd be happy to.
281. Representative Edwards was multifaceted but singular of purpose.
282. He was doggedly determined to pass legislation to make the 19th of June or Juneteenth a state holiday in the state of Texas.
283. He met with trials and tribulations, as the song says, through many toils and snares.
284. But eventually he was able to accomplish it because he stayed single of purpose and he stayed focused on the prize.
285. And the prize was to have a day that all people could celebrate, not just those of us, but people of all stripes and colors and styles and types and whatever reason we use to divide God's creatures from each other, all to be happy when slavery no longer exists, when human bondage no longer exists.
286. And so there are a lot of people who are not of African descent who also join in the celebration because it's a celebration of freedom.
287. And Martin Luther King said, none of us are free until all of us are free.
288. But Al was on the money.
289. He was the tip of the spear.
290. He stayed on the point, and he got it done.
291. Thank you for giving us a little of the legislative history of how Juneteenth became a state of Texas law.
292. And also, very quickly, what do you think of the effort to make it a national holiday?
293. I think it's worthy of the effort, and I hope that they get it passed.
294. Anything that brings us together in peace and in harmony, regardless of what our background is, is a good thing.
295. If we can have a good time and celebrate each other and celebrate freedom in general, just like we do the Fourth of July, then I think it's a good thing.
296. And I hope this happens.
297. Former Congressman Craig Washington is also a former Texas State Senator and also a former member of the Texas State House.
298. Doug Washington has shared with us some history of the holiday of Juneteenth, and most importantly, he shared with us how the first formal commemoration of Juneteenth by a governmental body took place.
299. We want to honor the memory of Al Edwards, the brother who was so very, very involved.
300. Special thanks to Dr. Obadike Kamau of KPFT and former Congressman Craig Washington.
301. We thank capitalism, race and democracy producer Akua Holt of Pacifica Radio KPFT in Houston, Texas, for that contribution.
302. And that concludes today's edition of Capitalism, Race and Democracy.
303. We thank all of Pacifica's sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show.
304. Today's program was produced by the Capitalism, Race and Democracy Collective,
305. with contributions from Steve Zeltzer, Anne Garrison, Akua Holt, Thomas O'Rourke and myself, Polina Vasiliev.
306. You can find this and all previous episodes at our website, capitalism, race and democracy dot org.
307. Make sure you click the subscribe button.
308. Follow us on X at Pacifica CRD.
309. I've been your host, Polina Vasiliev.
310. Thanks for listening.
311. Thank you.
312. Keeping Independent Radio Alive at kpfk.org.