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<H2 class=date-header><SPAN>Wednesday, July 17, 2013</SPAN></H2>
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<H3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name">Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin,
its a question of color, green. </H3>
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<DIV class="post-body entry-content" itemprop="description articleBody">Before I
got too old and ill to work at my moving job I worked with an African American
man called Perry. We would have the odd chat. Perry was cautious in his
conversation. I was going on one day about class and the class divide
and capitalism and I said it is not about color Perry, meaning to go on and
say it is about class. But before I could do so Perry interrupted me to sa˙:
"Naw you are wrong there. It is all about color"and he rubbed his fore finger
and thumb together in the universal signal for money. He was of course right.
<BR><BR>But you would not think it to see the coverage of the murder of Trayvon
Martin. This coverage is dominated by the major corporations media and the
talking heads if they are African American are all well paid talking heads and
mouthpieces for one wing or another of this corporate media. And this corporate
media does not want any talk about economic issues to come into the discussion.
After all it could lead to the role of profits, wages and condition and their
role on the violence in US society. And this would put capitalism on the spot.
No! Wages jobs conditions poverty economic discrimination has to be kept out of
the discussion. <BR><BR>As I said in yesterdays blog the Wall Street Journal
blames black people for the murder of Trayvon Martin.. In its opinion they are
the ones responsible for violence and crime. (The Wall Street Journal) does not
consider corporate crime a crime. It is just good business.) This blaming black
people is a vicious slander and attack on black people. Any discussion on the
issue of race in the Trayvon case and all the racial killing cases has to start
from the question of economics and class or it will make no sense. The corporate
class that runs this capitalist system wants labor to be as cheap as possible.
One way they achieve this is to divide the working class and thus weaken
its ability to fight. The last thing they want is a united mobilized working
class. So they stir up racism at every turn, either subtly or not subtly.
<BR><BR>They also make sure racism is at the center of the realities of
everyday life. Black male median wages in 2,009 was $23,738. Median
white male income was $36,875. That is a 2 to 1 difference.
Between 1980 and 2002 the black and white wage gap between black and
white women grew from 6% to 18%. Black unemployment rate is presently at
16.2% compared to 9.1% for the rest of the population. If the millions of black
workers in prison who are not counted in these statistics were counted the
unemployment rate for black Americans versus white Americans would be even
worse. This is over a 2 to 1 difference. There are huge profits in these
figures for capitalism. It gets millions of black workers to work for less than
white workers, that is they get cheap labor. <BR><BR>But it is not only that.
This strategy of higher levels of unemployment and discrimination against black
people helps the capitalists profits in another way. It divides and weakens the
working class as a whole and thus reduces the wages and conditions of all
workers whatever color. The corporate media con large sections of the white
working class and sections of the Hispanic working class into believing the
extra problems and oppression of the black people is their own fault. It is
all the problem of the blacks themselves, they are lazy, they do not want to
work, they are criminals, and on and on it goes. Just like the British ruling
class would say about Irish workers (I am Irish background). By conning the
majority of white workers to swallow this garbage the bosses prevent
working class unity keep black workers at the lowest wages and reduce the wages
and conditions of all workers. . <BR><BR>For centuries black workers in America
were forced to work for no pay, not a cent, their children
were seized from them and sold, black people were hanged and
their bodies burnt in celebrations. After the end of slavery millions of black
workers with skills were freed from the plantations. This was a threat to white
business and white workers. The KKK and other organizations were created to
prevent these newly freed black workers from setting up businesses and getting
into good jobs, especially the skilled trades. To their eternal shame the
skilled workers unions banned black workers for many decades. The legacy of this
racism remains. And not just the legacy but the actual racism remains.
<BR><BR>A major reason for this is the role of the union leaders. They were
forced over the decades to open the unions to all races. But their response on
racism and on the Trayvon Martin case has been pathetic. They should
have immediately called mass meetings of all their members in every work
place, union local and regional bodies of every union to discuss the Trayvon
Martin murder and acquittal of his murderer Zimmerman by the racist jury and
racist system. </DIV>
<DIV class="post-body entry-content"
itemprop="description articleBody"><BR>Sean.
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