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AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Trumka Sparks Nationwide Dialogue on Race and the Election |
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Wow. Just wow. When AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka gave a heartfelt speech at the United Steelworkers (USW) convention last July about the need for all of us to overcome racial prejudice when voting for president and instead cast our ballots for our economic interests and in support of America’s future prosperity, we knew he hit it out of the ballpark.
Now, literally millions of others know as well. This past week, Trumka’s speech went viral, spreading from a post by Platypus on Daily Kos—where an astounding 440 people took time to comment, nearly all offering amazing support—to dozens of blogs and online news sites. A video clip of the speech posted at YouTube, now has nearly 290,000 views—and continues to grow.
That clip (see video), now cross-posted on dozens of sites, begins with Trumka stating:
There’s not a single good reason for any worker, especially any union member, to vote against Barack Obama. And there’s only one really, really bad reason to vote against Barack Obama. And that’s because he’s not white.
In response to the video, many of the comments at Daily Kos were similar to those of Missreporter, who wrote:
my eyes welled up too. in fact, i had some spillage…i just cried. I’m tearing up right now just thinking about it…i really believe this is the time to put this country and its progress to the test….
Others, such as Othniel, referenced the need for the nation’s progressive community to recognize the critical role of the union movement in building a progressive America.
American workers understand why all workers must stand together.
Labor is such an important part of our coalition, and which all too often has been ignored. And labor does understand the importance of standing together.
This is such an excellent speech.
And many comments, like that of BehrHunter, were to the point:
Damn. This makes me want to join a union.
And I run my own business.
From well-known blogs, like the Huffington Post, to a Flickr discussion thread, to blogs sites many of us haven’t heard of, such as OpEdNews, which awarded Trumka the site’s “Founding Fathers” award, here are some of the places (including those we cross-posted after his speech) where Trumka’s speech has sparked a much-needed discussion.
Read the text of Trumka’s speech here.
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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
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