[BRCLabor] Re: [BRCdiscuss] Fwd: [gangbox] Bruce Gordon and the NAACP: A View From Below

Sun Jul 17 19:59:47 EDT 2005

Greetings All,

I wish I'd known this before going to the NAACP convention. While the  
selection was virtually a fait accompli, it was not unanimous. Perhaps, some  knew 
of the story. 

There was plenty of labor participation. The NAACP convention sent forth  
several resolutions including on social security, ending the war and a call for  
a Caesar Chavez national holiday. 

The convention in 2006 will be in Washington DC. I hope that people are  
willing to mobilize for it and call on the NAACP to support the MLK Holiday at  
Verizon.

I would be glad to ask the Durham North Carolina branch and Region 5  
(Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina,  Tennessee) 
to sign on to such a resolution. Deadline will May 1, 2006 for  submission of 
resolutions... 

Most state conferences will be held this fall to plan for convention 2006.  
The North Carolina conference is in October. In the spirit of Robert F.  
Williams, I think we can mobilize support for a resolution from the North  Carolina 
conference. 

Was any attempt made to get a resolution in from Region 2? Region 2  includes 
New York and New Jersey. I'm confident in saying that such a resolution  
would surely pass.

It was a powerful NAACP convention with strong labor presence. I think the  
pressure is on Bruce Gordon to prove himself to labor. Let's keep the pressure  
on.

Theresa El-Amin
Durham NC
-----------------------------------------
In a message dated 7/17/2005 11:18:46 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
GREGORYABUTLER at aol.com writes:

In a message dated 7/14/05 11:05:24 AM Eastern Daylight  Time, 
blacktel4justice at aol.com writes:

Subj: [gangbox] Bruce Gordon and the NAACP: A View From Below  
Date: 7/14/05 11:05:24 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: _blacktel4justice at aol.com_ (mailto:blacktel4justice at aol.com) 
Reply-to:  _gangbox at yahoogroups.com_ (mailto:gangbox at yahoogroups.com) 
To: _blackcommunitynews at yahoogroups.com_ 
(mailto:blackcommunitynews at yahoogroups.com) 
Sent  from the Internet 

Bruce Gordon and the NAACP: A  View From Below 
As a member of the “Black Telephone Workers for  Justice,” I would like to 
weigh in on the recent selection of Bruce  Gordon as the new president of the 
NAACP. 
Many of you know that  Bruce Gordon was the highest ranking black executive 
in 
Verizon before  his recent retirement. Under his leadership, many blacks were 
hired in a  managerial capacity at Verizon. Gordon’s leadership was a model 
for  
diversifying corporations such as Verizon. The recipient of numerous  awards 
as one of the most influential black executives in corporate  America, Gordon 
was the darling of the “Black Enterprise” crowd. As  Vice-President of 
Retail 
Marketing for Verizon, he was able to rub  elbows with the who’s who in 
capitalist America, and become a “positive  black role model” par 
excellence. Today, 
you can’t pick up the NY Times  without seeing his face hob-knobbing at some 
social event in NYC.   
Many pundits are hailing his selection, claiming that Gordon’s corporate  
background 
will bring a new sensibility to the NAACP as it attempts  to chart a new 
course. (Although given the NAACP’s funding sources, I  don’t know how it 
can get 
any closer to corporate America.) Others are  critical of his selection, as 
he 
does not come from a more classic  background informed by “civil rights 
activism.
”   
We black  telephone workers know Bruce Gordon differently. We know him from 
below.  
After the Verizon strike of 2000, in New Jersey, many black telephone  
workers 
were pissed that once again, the demand to make Dr. Martin  Luther King’s 
birthday a paid holiday, was not sufficiently supported  and fought for by 
our 
unions, the IBEW and the CWA. As a result, black  telephone workers formed a 
caucus, the “Black Telephone Workers for  Justice (BTWFJ)” to organize black 
telephone workers to be a more  effective fighting force in the struggle to 
make Dr. 
King’s birthday a  paid holiday. As we said in our literature, “everyday 
that 
we come to  work without Dr. King’s birthday as a paid holiday is a slap in 
the 
face  to black workers and all workers conscious of the sacrifices that Dr.  
King made for all workers.” Black workers found it an insult to have the  
birthdays of slaveholders such as Columbus and George Washington as paid  
holidays, but 
not that of Dr. King. Hence the demand to make Dr. King’s  birthday a paid 
holiday on a par with that of “others,” was an essential  part of our 
fighting 
program. We decided that we would not rest until we  drug our unions and 
Verizon, 
kicking and screaming, into the 21st  century.   
In January, 2001, we called for our first  demonstration in front of the 
Verizon headquarters in Newark, NJ. We  called for black workers and our supp
orters 
to take Dr. King’s birthday  off and protest in front of Verizon 
headquarters. 
Verizon management,  threatened discipline and attempted to intimidate and 
prevent us from  taking the day off in mass. Seeing that the black 
technicians were  
willing to meet them in a “trial of strength,” Verizon management  
eventually 
relented to the mass pressure, and allowed all who wanted to  take the day 
off 
to do so. Every year since, on the anniversary of Dr.  King’s birthday, black 
telephone workers in the Essex County area,  community groups and supporters 
rally in front of the Verizon  headquarters to make our demand. Every year, 
all 
year round, black  technicians and others have put their jobs on the line to 
build the  struggle to make Dr. King’s birthday a paid holiday. Exposing 
Verizon’
s  hypocrisy on the issue has been a large part of our work, as no 
opportunity  
is passed up to condemn Verizon in public. 
I cite this history  because it is important for the public to understand 
that 
at no time has  Gordon or any of the “diverse black management” that grew 
under Gordon’s  leadership ever lifted a finger to support this just 
struggle. 
Neither  Gordon, nor any of his black managers supported one demonstration or 

issued one word of support for the demand. Many of the lower level black  
managers, 
in fact, were instruments in the harassment and disciplining  of BTWFJ 
activists.  
In 2003, one of the BTWFJ newsletters,  “Finally Got the 411!” called out 
Verizon black managers, and accused  them of being cowardly, for failing to 
lift a 
finger to support the  demand. Some of the black managers in order to 
maintain 
some sense of  dignity, claimed to support the demand “in private,” but we 
said, enough  of that “down-low” support.  
After having been an all around thorn  in the side of Verizon for three 
years, 
exposing their hypocrisy at  every opportunity, Bruce Gordon sent a message 
that he wanted to meet  with me, as President of the BTWFJ. I of course 
responded 
that he would  have to meet with our entire BTWFJ executive board and other  
technicians, of which he agreed. This meeting took place in 2003. At the  
meeting, Gordon claimed that he was sympathetic to our demands and  wanted to 
help, 
but could not make a public statement in support of our  demand to make Dr. 
King’
s birthday a paid holiday. We exchanged  differences on how to go about 
building the struggle amongst Verizon  workers, and he made a few promises to 
invite 
us to one of his MLK  banquets and would make an attempt to get the black 
management dominated  Verizon organization, CITE, to support the demand. 
Nothing came 
of this  meeting. Black managers never took a public stand in support of the  
demand.  
It was the view of some of our leadership that after  hearing so much about 
the “BTWFJ” he was sent to “size” us up and get a  sense of what we were 
about. 
It wasn’t long after the meeting, (some  months), that I was fired and he 
retired. So much for Gordon’s support!  As black workers, we never trusted 
Bruce 
Gordon, and were never given  any reason to trust him. Like all managers, he 
issued some platitudes to  try to confuse us, but never dared go against his 
corporate colleagues  and masters.  
The reality is that Bruce Gordon is a member of the  capitalist class and 
cannot possibly be a friend to working people. His  job was to help Verizon 
find 
the way to extract surplus value (profit)  from its workforce. In the final 
analysis, the basis for the IBEW’s  refusal to stand firm in the fight for 
Dr. King’
s birthday is due to the  racism of the all white leadership. Verizon’s 
refusal to give up Dr.  King’s birthday is clearly economic: They are not 
going to 
give up the  millions it would take to give us another holiday, without a 
fierce  
struggle. Gordon as a representative of this same capitalist class was  not 
going to go back in the boardroom and argue against the interests of  the 
class he 
represents. He could only come and use his blackface to try  to confuse us 
workers. The bourgeoisie will never understand how clear  the “view from below
” 
is. As one of the most able members of the  capitalist class, he will be a 
perfect fit for the NAACP! As black  workers, we know his type. We have seen 
the 
enemy. 
Ron  Washington  “Black Telephone Workers for Justice”  
_Blacktel4justice at aol.com_  (mailto:Blacktel4justice at aol.com)           
7/12/05   

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