Honoring a Civil Rights Icon Percy Green

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Honoring a Civil Rights

ICON

Percy Green

fearsome icon, civil rights stalwart and standard-bearer for the working class. These are just a few of the accolades one could bestow on this formidable leader for social justice.

The Evening Whirl, August 7, 1973

At The St. Louis Workers’ Education Society,Friday, September 21, a group of about 60of Green’s closest admirers gathered to payhomage. Spouse, Jamala Rogers, an activistin her own right, accompanied him. Whilea powerful and robust octogenarian, Greencan be quite understated when he’s not inactivism mode. Therefore, it behooved theWorkers Education Society to give him hisjust dues. And they did it in spades.

WES is a “workers’ center drawing on thepast to revitalize the radical movement ofthe present.” Seeking “to build a permanentculture of worker-education in St. Louis,”they were instrumental in gathering 300,000notarized signatures to block the state’s newright-to-work law that went down to defeat-- like a ton of bricks -- in August.

The organization invited Stewart Acuff, anational labor leader, to deliver the keynoteaddress.

Acuff, for many years was the

organizing director of the AFL-CIO. He’s also written several books about labor organizing. With a booming voice and a cadence of an old-style evangelist, Acuff, who is White, sermonized passionately and eloquently about the importance of workers’ unity and solidarity. He lauded the “great victory over right-to-work” calling it “the great rip off” and later saying the attempt to defang unions was “the greatest fraud of the ruling class.”

Acuff was raised in poverty in the Bootheel, the most southern part of Missouri. His parents were sharecroppers before they “made the 100 mile trek to the distant galaxy of St. Louis.” His father joined the union and “they scratched their way out of poverty.”

The biggest problem for workers is 40 years of stagnant wages “thanks to the gift of Reaganism,” Acuff said.

Jobs with justice means bringing people out of poverty and paying them a decent wage, not $9.00 an hour or $7.25 an hour. (WES is currently involved for the fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.) Not only did he hammer home the point that the labor movement must be rebuilt, it must be more culturally diverse – including more women -- as “a democracy cannot survive without strong unions.” Like others, he spoke highly of Green for being a staunch supporter of the cause.

The awards program is named after its

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HONORING A CIVIL... cont.

first honoree, Gerald C. Horne, PhD. The program’s full name is Dr. Gerald C. Horne WES Award. Dr. Horne, African American, was born and raised in St. Louis and is an endowed history professor at the University of Houston. He gave comments by Skype about Green’s contributions.

kindred spirits, the first two WES awards have definitely raised the bar.

Green is probably best known for his orchestration of unveiling the Veiled Prophet in December 1972, exposing Tom Smith,

Many of Horne’s books were for sale at the program. Also a list of his more than 30 books was also noted in the program’s booklet which included: His first book: Black & Red: W.E.B. DuBois & the Afro-American Response to the Cold-War, 1944-1963, published in 1985 followed by a series of others including: Race War! White Supremacy & the Japanese Attack on the British Empire -- to later works such as The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North American and the Caribbean.

Still buoyed by the beat-back of the rightto-work law, Horne spoke in glowing terms about it as a conflict between “labor and capital – locally and globally” as it “struck a blow for all working people.” His respect for Green’s on-the-ground activism is undeniable as evidenced by his heaping praise. On a lighter note, he encouraged the audience to take selfies after the program with Green as a way to memorialize posterity with one of the most prolific activists of our time.

Last year when Horne got the first award, Green attended. A photo was published in this publication showing the two pantheons of social justice, the academic and the practitioner, face-to-face/mano-a-mano -- showing great mutual regard. Obvious

vice president of Monsanto. (In looking at their regalia, Horne said in his Skype comments that it reminded him of a Ku Klux Klan gathering; over the years, others have concurred. The boldness and bravado of this multi-racial group in toppling an antiquated ritual (including a parade and a ball) gained it grudging respect and recognition for exposing the rank and swank hypocrisy of the ruling class -- reveling in all its glory of wealth and privilege while exploiting the labor of the working class. Their research found that corporate wealth mainly funded the event. (See Green on YouTube -- https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=4m2Fe_tER5Y):

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Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Celebration

Dreaming In Color

ARTS, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

Friday, January 18, 2019 7–8:30 pm

The Farrell Auditorium Free; tickets required

Join the Saint Louis Art Museum for our annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Celebration. Inspired by the vision and work of Dr. King and Kehinde Wiley, the first African American artist to paint an official portrait of a U.S. President, this year’s program will focus on equity and inclusion in the visual arts. Presenters will include individuals featured in Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis portraits talking about their experience as models and occupying space in a museum and art history.

Visit slam.org for more information

Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Advance tickets strongly recommended.

Tickets may be reserved in person at the Museum’s Information Centers or through MetroTix at metrotix.com or 314.534.1111. All tickets reserved through MetroTix incur a service charge; the service charge is waived for tickets reserved at the Museum Same day tickets, if available, can be obtained on-site only.

Martin Luther King Press conf., 1965; Photo: Leffler, Warren K.; Photographs in the Warren K. Leffler Archive Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.,LC-DIG-highsm-20544

One Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri 63110–1380

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HONORING A CIVIL... cont.

There’s most likely no one in the nation with the

But Green did much, much more to challenge the status quo.

For example, he was a leader in fighting for African American men to be hired and receive contracts with unions such as the St. Louis Building Trades and Construction Trades Council but also AT&T (then Southwestern Bell), Ameren (then Union Electric), Spire (then Laclede Gas) and a whole host of others.

breadth and depth of Green’s working class activism.

His courage, sophistication, keen intellect and duty to the frontlines put him in a category all his own. He’s been arrested more than 100 times in 25 years. In presenting his award, Zenobia Thompson, veteran activist, described him as “persistent.” She met him more than three decades ago in the struggle to keep open the predominantly Black Homer G. Phillips Hospital.

His case against McDonnell-Douglas, (since acquired by Boeing) where he worked, went all the way to the Supreme Court. In Green v McDonnell Douglas Corp., May 1973, the

Green concluded with his remarks, telling the audience in complicated and layered terms about unmasking the Veiled Prophet. He spoke with such excitement, energy and enthusiasm as if it occurred just days ago. “In 1963,” he started off, “I applied to be the head of the Employment Committee in CORE, (Congress of Racial Equality) which attracted some of the most progressive CORE members, Black and White.” CORE had already demonstrated against Jefferson Bank for not hiring Black tellers and they ultimately realized many went to jail for months (some a year) to get just four Black employees. They decided future strategies would call for more demands.

high court ruling established the basis indetermining whether racial discriminationoccurred. Green won a 9-0 decision. Legalscholars consider it as the most widely citedlaw in the U.S.

Jefferson Bank Protests St. Louis, MO 1963

The group targeted the construction of the Arch. They met with the MacDonald Construction Company to request the hiring of Blacks but they didn’t express any interest. “So, we were prepared to fight,” crafting tactics to expose them. After a couple of trial runs, they would walk through the work site and simply touch the Arch. They alerted the press about a picket line and probably

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some arrest at the Arch grounds.

“The press will cover you when you let them know they’ll be some arrests, particularly if it’s Blacks are getting arrested,” he chortled.

On July 14, 1964, he and a White student Richard Daley walked passed a group of workers (of course all-White) at lunchtime and climbed the Arch. They wanted to draw attention to the importance of “jobs that benefit the masses and working for a decent wage.” Both were ultimately arrested and he was later fired from McDonnell Aircraft. Later he started a separate group, ACTION (Action Committee to Improve Opportunities for Negroes).

On a more somber note, he clarified his reasons for focusing on jobs for African American males. This was particularly important to convey during this #MeToo era where sexual harassment is center stage, yet the critical nature of jobs for Blacks males still resonates.

He continued: “When companies do hire Blacks, they tend to hire Black women as clerks or secretaries and males are ignored.” In addition, “White workers are indoctrinated thinking that Blacks are taking jobs from them.” Therefore, they emphasized jobs for Black males as well as demystifying the hateful messages and persecution of Black males perpetrated by the power structure and the establishment media.

should use civil disobedience to disrupt,” hethundered, seemingly his favorite tactic. Healso added that we must not disregard “theright to strike.” Picket lines are fine, he said,but sometimes you got to take more forcefulaction.

Green’s most potent weapon is hisability to deftly pull off strategies and tacticsthat can leave the powerful flat-footed. Yetthe question remains:

Why don’t othersemploy these effective jabs at shaking thingsup?

Clearly, his passion is the interests and theissues of the working class, but he draws theline in calling police officers working class.“Police are agents of the establishment,” hequipped.

In Horne’s Skype remarks, he said: “I’m proudand honored to have my name associated withMr. Green.” Obviously his urging attendeesto take selfies made an impact. After theprogram, doting fans surrounded him withtheir smart phones angled high to take photoswith the legendary veteran activist.

Malaika Horne, PhD, is a book author, journalist and academic writer

“So the strategy is to disrupt,” he said, drawing out the word disrupt as if he were quickly pulling out of his holster his weapon of choice. “We

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