Bravo!
Charlene Mitchell's speech on July 4, 1968 dould have been spoken on
July 4, 2020 with only a few name changes. Despite all the
demonstrations, the protests, the rallies and yes, the murders of
Black Americans, it appears that we are simply treading political
water.
And for the purposes of the Ruling Class, this treading of political
waters serves their purposes. Over 50 years since Mitchell's
acceptance speech, and still the Ruling Class remains in command, and
continues to strip the working class of their fair return from their
labors.
I especially applaud Mitchell's emphasis on the need for *All working
class Americans to join together. Ceertainly we do need to continue
pointing to the abuses put upon Black citizens, showing that we
continue to be a racist culture, but until Black, White, Brown Working
Class Americans get it through our thick skulls that we are, in the
eyes of the Ruling Class, all the same color...Green! We have value,
not as First Class Citizens, but as providers of profit.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/12/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
First Black woman presidential candidate: The Communist Party’s Charlene
Mitchell – People's World
https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/first-black-woman-presidential-candidate-the-communist-partys-charlene-mitchell/
August 19, 2020 10:00 AM CST BY CHARLENE MITCHELL
Share
First Black woman presidential candidate: The Communist Party’s Charlene
Mitchell
Charlene Mitchell was nominated by the Communist Party USA as its
presidential candidate on July 4, 1968. She was the first Black woman to
be nominated for the presidency by any political party. | People's World
Archives
The selection of Sen. Kamala Harris as the vice presidential candidate
of the Democratic Party has made history, as she is the first Black
woman to be nominated for that position on a major party ticket. But
history was also made on July 4, 1968 when Charlene Mitchell was
nominated for president of the United States by the Communist Party USA.
She was the first Black woman to be nominated for the country’s highest
office by any political party. The text that follows is from a speech
made by Mitchell while on the campaign trail in 1968, but it reads as
though it could be delivered at a Black Lives Matter rally today.
Excerpts of the speech appeared in the pages of Daily World, predecessor
of People’s World. The full speech was also published as a pamphlet with
the title, “Communist Candidate Speaks on Black Liberation.”
I have been a Communist for most of my adult life. I joined the party
when I finally decided that the economic system that controls this
country not only cannot solve the problems of Black people, it actually
helps to prevent such a solution.
The economic system of capitalism and the political institutions which
serve it have failed the people because it is incapable of destroying
once and for all the racism that infects this nation.
It is incapable because to do so would mean putting an end to the
additional profits gathered by maintaining job discrimination and an
unequal wage standard. It would mean ending a situation where many Black
people are maintained as a pool of unemployed and under-employed labor.
It would mean ending the advantage of the bosses served by division on
racial lines.
Also, such an assault on racism would remove the ideological
underpinning of the conduct of foreign affairs that allows the waging of
a racist genocidal war in Vietnam.
This economic system does not function to meet the needs of the people
of this country. It guarantees only the bare necessities to working
people; it maintains a large group of poor people; and the rich get
richer and richer and richer—getting more money than they know what to
do with.
The cover of the original 1968 campaign pamphlet, “Communist Candidate
Speaks on Black Liberation.” | Courtesy of CPUSA Archives
While a Black mother slaves to make ends meet for her children on a
meager welfare check and a Black worker is told to work harder and
faster to produce more and more in less and less time, the number of
billionaires increases and the rich spend more on their dogs and cats
than most of us do on our children.
I have a son 17 years of age and I, like every other Black mother in
this country, constantly worry about his future. The ghetto schools get
older and older, the quality of education for our children gets poorer
and poorer. The world is opening up great things for people to do with
their hands and their minds. But for the most part, Black children are
denied the preparation to take advantage of them.
Capitalism also represses us. The men who hold power in this country
fear Black people and the potential power that lies in Black
communities. Now Black people have moved to assert that power and the
repression that follows. More and more the police club is being sent to
meet the protest of Black people. Our militant leaders are being framed
up and jailed. Others are subject to attempts to intimidate them into
acceptance of the present situation.
Black people must get together if we are to withstand this attack. There
must be unity among our people, be they socialists, liberals,
conservatives, communists, or independents. We must demand that all
discrimination bars that keep us from taking advantage of everything
that exists for other people be destroyed at once.
We must demand power to determine the conditions in our own communities.
We must demand control over the police that patrol the community, the
schools that educate our children. We—the people affected—should run the
welfare commission, the library commission, the draft board, and the
public health board.
In the country, these demands are for people’s power. In our
communities, these demands are for Black power.
These are things which can be done in our country even while capitalism
hangs around. There is a lot of business we can take care of now. But as
a Communist, I have decided that in time we will have to face that
ultimate business—usher in a system where the people own and control the
wealth together—bring on socialism.
The men who run this country…know what we want. They know what we need.
They know what we are willing and able to do to get it. And so they seek
to keep us divided—one from another and away from allies outside our own
community.
Another thing that made me a Communist was the realization that our only
possible allies in this fight are working people. For all their
problems, they are the only group who do not benefit from our oppression
and are oppressed by the system. The country’s rulers want to keep Black
and white working people apart. The Communist Party is dedicated to the
idea that—whatever the difficulties—they must be brought together, or
neither can advance.
I appeal to my Black brothers and sisters to consider the alternative
that my party offers. If you agree with all or most of our programs…if
you want to get in this thing, join up.
TAGS:
Black Lives Matter
capitalism
Communist Party
Elections2020
racism
CONTRIBUTOR
Charlene Mitchell Charlene Mitchell
Charlene Alexander Mitchell was born in 1930 in Cincinnati, moved as a
child to Chicago. She grew up in the Cabrini-Green public housing
project. As a young teen, she picketed segregated places in Chicago. Her
long career of unrelenting activism and persistence is most famously
illustrated in the success of the campaign to free Angela Davis. In her
solidarity visits, she met with CPUSA leader Claudia Jones who had been
deported to England, Joseph Dadoo of the ANC, and other international
leaders. In 1994 she served as an official observer of the first
democratic elections in post-apartheid South Africa and was an observer
at the congress of the South African Communist Party that year. In
recent years, she returned to Cuba for rehabilitation medical treatment
following a stroke suffered in 2007. Charlene Mitchell joined the
Communist Party USA at 16 —emerging as one of the most influential
leaders in the party from the late 1950s to the 1980s. She now belongs
to the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.
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https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/first-black-woman-presidential-candidate-the-communist-partys-charlene-mitchell/
August 19, 2020 10:00 AM CST BY CHARLENE MITCHELL
Share
First Black woman presidential candidate: The Communist Party’s Charlene
Mitchell
Charlene Mitchell was nominated by the Communist Party USA as its
presidential candidate on July 4, 1968. She was the first Black woman to
be nominated for the presidency by any political party. | People's World
Archives
The selection of Sen. Kamala Harris as the vice presidential candidate
of the Democratic Party has made history, as she is the first Black
woman to be nominated for that position on a major party ticket. But
history was also made on July 4, 1968 when Charlene Mitchell was
nominated for president of the United States by the Communist Party USA.
She was the first Black woman to be nominated for the country’s highest
office by any political party. The text that follows is from a speech
made by Mitchell while on the campaign trail in 1968, but it reads as
though it could be delivered at a Black Lives Matter rally today.
Excerpts of the speech appeared in the pages of Daily World, predecessor
of People’s World. The full speech was also published as a pamphlet with
the title, “Communist Candidate Speaks on Black Liberation.”
I have been a Communist for most of my adult life. I joined the party
when I finally decided that the economic system that controls this
country not only cannot solve the problems of Black people, it actually
helps to prevent such a solution.
The economic system of capitalism and the political institutions which
serve it have failed the people because it is incapable of destroying
once and for all the racism that infects this nation.
It is incapable because to do so would mean putting an end to the
additional profits gathered by maintaining job discrimination and an
unequal wage standard. It would mean ending a situation where many Black
people are maintained as a pool of unemployed and under-employed labor.
It would mean ending the advantage of the bosses served by division on
racial lines.
Also, such an assault on racism would remove the ideological
underpinning of the conduct of foreign affairs that allows the waging of
a racist genocidal war in Vietnam.
This economic system does not function to meet the needs of the people
of this country. It guarantees only the bare necessities to working
people; it maintains a large group of poor people; and the rich get
richer and richer and richer—getting more money than they know what to
do with.
The cover of the original 1968 campaign pamphlet, “Communist Candidate
Speaks on Black Liberation.” | Courtesy of CPUSA Archives
While a Black mother slaves to make ends meet for her children on a
meager welfare check and a Black worker is told to work harder and
faster to produce more and more in less and less time, the number of
billionaires increases and the rich spend more on their dogs and cats
than most of us do on our children.
I have a son 17 years of age and I, like every other Black mother in
this country, constantly worry about his future. The ghetto schools get
older and older, the quality of education for our children gets poorer
and poorer. The world is opening up great things for people to do with
their hands and their minds. But for the most part, Black children are
denied the preparation to take advantage of them.
Capitalism also represses us. The men who hold power in this country
fear Black people and the potential power that lies in Black
communities. Now Black people have moved to assert that power and the
repression that follows. More and more the police club is being sent to
meet the protest of Black people. Our militant leaders are being framed
up and jailed. Others are subject to attempts to intimidate them into
acceptance of the present situation.
Black people must get together if we are to withstand this attack. There
must be unity among our people, be they socialists, liberals,
conservatives, communists, or independents. We must demand that all
discrimination bars that keep us from taking advantage of everything
that exists for other people be destroyed at once.
We must demand power to determine the conditions in our own communities.
We must demand control over the police that patrol the community, the
schools that educate our children. We—the people affected—should run the
welfare commission, the library commission, the draft board, and the
public health board.
In the country, these demands are for people’s power. In our
communities, these demands are for Black power.
These are things which can be done in our country even while capitalism
hangs around. There is a lot of business we can take care of now. But as
a Communist, I have decided that in time we will have to face that
ultimate business—usher in a system where the people own and control the
wealth together—bring on socialism.
The men who run this country…know what we want. They know what we need.
They know what we are willing and able to do to get it. And so they seek
to keep us divided—one from another and away from allies outside our own
community.
Another thing that made me a Communist was the realization that our only
possible allies in this fight are working people. For all their
problems, they are the only group who do not benefit from our oppression
and are oppressed by the system. The country’s rulers want to keep Black
and white working people apart. The Communist Party is dedicated to the
idea that—whatever the difficulties—they must be brought together, or
neither can advance.
I appeal to my Black brothers and sisters to consider the alternative
that my party offers. If you agree with all or most of our programs…if
you want to get in this thing, join up.
TAGS:
Black Lives Matter
capitalism
Communist Party
Elections2020
racism
CONTRIBUTOR
Charlene Mitchell Charlene Mitchell
Charlene Alexander Mitchell was born in 1930 in Cincinnati, moved as a
child to Chicago. She grew up in the Cabrini-Green public housing
project. As a young teen, she picketed segregated places in Chicago. Her
long career of unrelenting activism and persistence is most famously
illustrated in the success of the campaign to free Angela Davis. In her
solidarity visits, she met with CPUSA leader Claudia Jones who had been
deported to England, Joseph Dadoo of the ANC, and other international
leaders. In 1994 she served as an official observer of the first
democratic elections in post-apartheid South Africa and was an observer
at the congress of the South African Communist Party that year. In
recent years, she returned to Cuba for rehabilitation medical treatment
following a stroke suffered in 2007. Charlene Mitchell joined the
Communist Party USA at 16 —emerging as one of the most influential
leaders in the party from the late 1950s to the 1980s. She now belongs
to the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism.
RELATED ARTICLES
Trustbusters target Facebook, but anti-monopoly effort shores up capitalism
Trustbusters target Facebook, but anti-monopoly effort shores up capitalism
In Paris, soccer players lay down ‘marker’ in fight against racism
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Remembering Breonna Taylor, Virginia law bans no-knock warrants
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Comments
0 comments
MOST POPULAR
250 million Indian workers and farmers strike, breaking world record
250 million Indian workers and farmers strike, breaking world record
McConnell’s virus lawsuit ban far worse than advertised
McConnell’s virus lawsuit ban far worse than advertised
Trump Labor Department allows religion as excuse for firing
Trump Labor Department allows religion as excuse for firing
Take control of the means of news production. Become a People's World
sustainer today.
GET PEOPLE'S WORLD UPDATES
First Name*
Last Name*
Email*
ABOUT PEOPLE’S WORLD CONTACT POLITICAL AFFAIRS ARCHIVE MUNDO POPULAR
ARCHIVE DOWNLOAD PRINT EDITION
Copyright 2020 Some Rights Reserved.
--
Carl Sagan “Why do we put up with it? Do we like to be criticized? No,
no scientist enjoys it. Every scientist feels a proprietary affection
for his or her ideas and findings. Even so, you don’t reply to critics,
Wait a minute; this is a really good idea; I’m very fond of it; it’s
done you no harm; please leave it alone. Instead, the hard but just rule
is that if the ideas don’t work, you must throw them away.” ― Carl
Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
