The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.27           August 2, 1999 
 
 
25 And 50 Years Ago  

July 26, 1974
Chanting, "We need jobs, not welfare," Blacks and Puerto Ricans occupied and shut down 10 blocks of construction on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn on June 24.

They were protesting the refusal by Columbia Asphalt Corporation, which is paving the avenue, to provide 12 jobs on the construction site for members of the Fort Green community. The action was called by Black Economic Survival, Fight Back, and Manpower, three Black organizations involved in the struggle to win more construction jobs for minority workers.

Negotiations were held at the on-site office between the three groups, the contractor, and union representatives. The contractor said he would quit the site before he'd give up more than two jobs. An official of Local 1010 of the Laborers' Union also said he would order his men off the job if the 12 were hired, since they would not have union books.

Black Economic Survival leaders Moses Harris, Mike Thomas, and Oscar Fomby replied that two jobs were not enough and that the action would continue until their demands were met. The contractor then proceeded to pull his equipment off the site. In further negotiations, however, he agreed to provide nine jobs right away and three more in two weeks.

During the past year, Black Economic Survival has carried out 90 such job-site occupations in Brooklyn and obtained 160 jobs in the industry for Black and Puerto Rican workers.

July 25, 1949
Groveland, Fla., a small town in the central portion of this Jim Crow state, has been the scene of unbridled Ku Klux terror for several days. Motor caravans have repeatedly raided the Negro quarter of this little town, pumping bullets indiscriminately into streets and dwellings. They have burned to the ground two houses and have threatened to reduce the entire community to ashes.

The orgy was touched off by the arrest of two young Negro veterans charged with robbing a white native and kidnapping his wife. Gangs of lynchers immediately converged on the local jail but found themselves foiled by the removal of the intended victims to a different jail. The would-be lynchers then proceeded to unleash their reign of terror. Two other Negroes are allegedly involved.

The entire Negro population of Groveland, some 400 in number, has been reportedly removed in trucks at night to neighboring communities and towns. State and local authorities have issued repeated assurances that they have the situation "well in hand."

 
 
 
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