SOUTHERN STRATEGIES COMMITTEE c/o Highlander Center, 1959 Highlander Way, New Market, TN, (865) 933-3443
April 10, 2009
Dear President Obama, We write to you as community organizers from the US South to add our voices to the many congratulating you on your historic election. We find ourselves so much more hopeful now that you are at the nation’s helm. We are especially moved by how you, in the tradition of Dr. M.L. King, Jr., have challenged generations young and old to transform the conditions in which we find ourselves by using new frameworks and out‐of‐the‐box approaches. Indeed, we are writing you at this particular moment as a collective act of commemoration of Dr. King’s legacy. With this letter, we are joining our diverse voices in the common purpose of calling your attention to the need for federal action to remedy how the South, historically and today, remains the nation’s underbelly. As a former community organizer, we believe you recognize that the status of the “bottom” is the key indicator of the health and well‐being of a nation, and we appeal to you to keep fresh this perspective as you frame and implement policies to bring our nation to a realization of full democracy, peace, economic recovery and opportunity for all. In the attached case statement As the South Goes, So Goes the Nation, we have highlighted the compounding effects of the various structural arrangements—institutions, policies, and practices—that have kept our region underdeveloped and have conspired to nullify the impact of progressive national policies in the region. Some reforms we suggest are: uniform voting rights; eliminating right‐to‐work laws; fair and just immigration policies; a civil rights doctrine of effect, rather than intent; and alternative forms of energy and economic renewal that lift rural and urban communities out of poverty. Trusting you recall how past Southern struggles have had a transformative influence on the nation, we want you to consider the South’s strategic role in national recovery. Southern rootedness in community, values anchored in faith and family, and models of making a way out of no way are some of the strengths we can contribute to national economic renewal. Over the past few years, we have forged relationships, shared regional knowledge, and begun building a platform that addresses the multiple fronts of poverty. We are planning a series of Southern people’s assemblies to marshal intergenerational voices at the community level in developing ideas, priorities and strategies. But we cannot transform our region alone. We look to you to use the powers and resources of your office to work with us to reform these institutional arrangements, and together, refuel the social change organizing that is necessary to transform the region. Specifically, we are asking you to work with us to create a Southern Agenda within your administration, and to establish an institutional mechanism to oversee its implementation. Believing that the combined wisdom and skills of government and grassroots communities can have the greatest impact, we urge you to involve grassroots voices among a broad cross section of Southerners in the framing of the agenda, goals and timetables, and to develop clear lines of communication between our communities and your administration. Thanking you in advance for your prompt attention, we are sincerely yours, Pam McMichael, Highlander Research and Education Center, 865-933-3443
[email protected] Tomas Aguilar, Colectivo Flatlander
[email protected]
Leah Wise, Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network, 919-403-4310,
[email protected] Emery Wright, Project South,
[email protected] Art Menius, Appalshop,
[email protected]
As The South Goes, So Goes The Nation THE CASE FOR A FEDERAL SOUTHERN AGENDA Prepared by the Southern Strategies Committee, www.southernstrategies.ning.com
BASIS FOR SIGNIFICANT CHANGE There is the saying, demonstrated by history, “As the South goes, so goes the nation.” This is particularly true in light of the South’s changing demographics. Two‐thirds of the nation’s fastest‐growing counties are in the South, which reflects 40% growth since 1980, compared to 30% nationally. Projections are that the region may gain as many as nine Congressional seats after the 2010 census. This portends the South will have greater political influence in electing presidents and congressional representatives. Our 12‐state region also has nearly 60% of the nation’s African Americans and the fastest growing Latino immigrant population in the last decade. This suggests we will have an increasing number of majority “minority” districts, making the region more politically competitive and critical to any strategy for national political power. President Obama’s election in North Carolina, where he won 56% of white voters under 30—the highest in the nation, demonstrates there is a new generation of white voters in the South. If we can build on the 20% rise nationally in the turnout of minority voters in 2008, we have the basis for significant change in the region.
A REGION OF CONCENTRATED DISPARITIES The South still remains the nation’s poorest region, exhibiting gross disparities of persistent poverty, racial inequity, environmental degradation, educational under‐achievement, and ill health, relative to the rest of the nation. Three of the five poorest areas of the country are in the South—Central Appalachia, the Lower Mississippi Delta and the Southern Black Belt (Poverty in Rural America, Housing Assistance Council, June 2006). Of the 100 poorest counties in the nation, 74 are located in the South. Poverty rates, averaging 14% in 2006, have risen in nearly every Southern state since 2000. They are significantly higher for children, female‐headed households, immigrant families and communities of color, hovering from 40‐64% in the poorest counties. Eight of the 15 bottom states in education expenditure per pupil are in the South, and the South is the only region in the nation where low‐income children constitute a majority in public schools. (A New Majority: Low Income Students in the South’s Public Schools, Southern Education Foundation, 2007). Moreover, in contrast to national trends, HIV and teen pregnancy rates are on the rise in the region, as are low performing schools, high school dropouts, youth incarceration rates, poisoned environments, and chronic diseases, all of which disproportionately impact people of color. Such disparity exposes the persistence of institutional racism. SOUTHERN STATE ECONOMIC STRATEGY Southern “right‐to‐work” laws have been the linchpin of Southern state economic strategy. This race to the bottom strategy has ensured a region of working poor by making unionization and collective bargaining difficult and, in the case of North Carolina public workers, illegal. State policies have favored low wages, minimal regulation, low and regressive taxes, suppression of Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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workers’ rights, absentee ownership of land, capital, factories and natural resources, and racial and gender discrimination in workplaces, neighborhoods and services. Because a higher percentage of black workers are employed in the public sector, right‐to‐ work has more severely restricted economic progress in the black community. Women also are impacted disproportionately by the exploitative conditions in the South, which has the highest regional percentage of women in the workforce. Because of their added exposure to sexual harassment and violence at work, women have borne the brunt of such workplace exploitation, particularly in plants, such as poultry and catfish, where employers have hired a predominantly female workforce in anticipation of its greater docility. Southern state development strategies aggressively market these characteristics to lure branch plants and investment from the North and West and foreign industry. The downside has been a flurry of competition among states, which has drained public coffers through opaque and unaccountable use of public incentives and turned the region into a revolving door for transient industry. Despite two “Reconstruction” eras (1870’s and 1950‐60’s), national policy never thoroughly dismantled the bastion of states rights that protected these arrangements. Just how the doctrine of states rights is embedded in the body politic is exemplified by the fact that Mississippi was the last state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution that legally abolished slavery. That ratification took place in 1995 as a temporary act, which was renewed in 2007 for 100 years. Three Southern states were also the last to ratify the 19th amendment giving women suffrage, which they did in 1984, 1971 and 1970.
FEDERAL NEGLECT Federal policy towards Native Americans, black farmers, and Katrina survivors are three poignant examples of how institutional racism has impacted our region from the national level as well. Because most of the Southern Indian Bands are not recognized tribes with US Government treaties, the denial of federal subsidies has only deepened their poverty. As amply documented in the Pigford suit and settlement, U.S. Department of Agriculture policy discriminated against African American farmers in crop allotments, allocation of credit and resources, and access to markets. This discrimination has resulted in such wholesale elimination of black farmers and black‐owned farmland that even aggressive remedial action would likely take generations to recover the loss. In addition, the infrastructure for implementing USDA policy and programs is controlled by local politics. This is one example of how denying political access has enabled Southern white elites to suppress black opportunity and maintain black poverty. The implementation of other national programs, such as welfare, disability benefits, and unemployment, as well as environmental protection, has had similar fates. The example of Katrina survivors is better known, since the scenes of gross neglect, abuse, and disdain by FEMA and other authorities appeared on network news. For black Southerners, the story of FEMA’s relief programs giving consistent preferential treatment to affluent whites over blacks and poor people was familiar, based on previous disasters. What was new about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, however, was that the dismantling of government had proceeded to such an extent that FEMA lacked the capability to respond adequately. Unaccountable government and unbridled corporate activity continue to allow environmental degradation of Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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the coastal wetlands and delayed building of adequate levies. We support the efforts of representatives of diverse Gulf Coast communities and their national supporters who have asked you to sign an executive order authorizing the Gulf Coast Civic Works Program.
CASUALTIES: ENVIRONMENT AND QUALITY OF LIFE For generations, people in Southern and Central Appalachia have seen corporations, controlled by people outside the region, extract the vast wealth of our resources, while paying minimal taxes and exploiting workers with low wages and unsafe working conditions. Central Appalachia, one of the South’s three areas of consistent poverty, provides a stark illustration of how the South came to be a resource‐rich region with the poorest people. Now mountaintop removal, with its degrading effects on the environment and quality of life, is accelerating the process. Government neglect has compounded Appalachia’s environmental disasters. The 1972 Buffalo Creek flood that killed 125 people and destroyed sixteen coal mining communities in West Virginia and the more recent coal ash spill at the TVA plant in east Tennessee are examples of the results of failure to adequately monitor dams. The current regional spike in Black lung, a deadly disease that can be largely prevented by effective dust control, is another example of what happens when government fails to act. Federal environmental regulation has not protected military families either. According to a law suit on behalf of 850 Marine families from Camp Lejeune (NC), from 1957‐87 they were exposed to water polluted with carcinogenic toxins in amounts 40 times current allowable standards. Poignant examples of how exploitative conditions in the South disparately impact women are seen in policies of the medical and welfare establishments. Driven by theories of eugenics, they subjected black, Native American, and poor white women to forced sterilizations. Fannie Lou Hamer was one such victim of the “Mississippi Appendectomy,” in which her uterus was removed instead of a benign tumor. Poverty, particularly the lack of decent and affordable health care, fundamentalist culture, and violent hate groups, which have terrorized women’s clinics and murdered doctors, have worked together to continue to restrict Southern women’s access to full reproductive freedom. Forced by Lawrence v. Texas, (2003) Southern states were the last to decriminalize homosexuality. This legacy toughened the hostile fundamentalist culture that made lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Southerners vulnerable to hate crimes, discriminatory laws and practices, and social ostracism. Federal civil rights protections, however, have not offered redress or solutions since they exclude LGBT people, including laws against hate crimes.
FEEBLE INFRASTRUCTURE There is insufficient infrastructure in the South to support the implementation of federal policy that benefits ordinary people, and that is why much progressive legislation has bypassed the region. The US Department of Labor has minimal presence here and little relationship with unorganized workers. Mississippi has no Department of Labor at all, and five Southern states have no minimum wage laws. The lack of coordination between federal agencies, particularly Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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the Environmental Protection Agency and DOL, makes it difficult for communities to organize successfully around polluting industries–such as industrial hog farms–that are injurious to workers’ and residents’ health. Private philanthropy has not altered the picture either. That which emanates from foundations and donors from within the region primarily supports services, largely steering clear of policy advances and organizing investments that might “upset the apple cart”. What comes to us from national foundations amounts to such a meager portion relative to what goes to the rest of the country that it actually contributes to the South’s deepening disparity. NEOLIBERAL GLOBALIZATION: SOUTHERN ECONOMIC STRATEGY GONE NATIONAL AND BEYOND In many respects globalization can best be understood as the South’s economic strategy ascending to the national level, aided by new technologies. Globalization was consolidated by Reaganomics (domestic policy) and systematized as market‐driven “free” trade policy (international). It mirrored Southern state policy in intent and in design. Intent: remove encumbrances to the free reign of corporations and private capital by dismantling government and eliminating the power of workers. Design: enact trade and investment liberalization, privatization, deregulation, tax cuts, elimination of social programs, union busting, civil liberty violations, and deployment of troops. Under globalization, the restructuring of work as contingent labor, combined with the outsourcing and off‐shoring of jobs, were corporate strategies to reduce labor costs. They accelerated massive job hemorrhaging alongside the mergers and leveraged buyouts that hit the region in the 1980’s. The new fractured jobs bypassed much labor law and, by eliminating benefits, mushroomed the ranks of the uninsured, which now hover above 19% in the region. All sectors, from small farmers to medical doctors, were touched. “Zero tolerance” and ability tracking policies, that were mainly applied in under funded public schools with majority students of color, contribute to these new arrangements by relegating most students of color to contingent service jobs. The demise of traditional industries in the South was anticipated in the NAFTA debates, and indeed, rural communities have been severely hit. (Textiles lost 40% of plants in NC and 65% of jobs). But new growth industries—such as the “information highway,” biotech, auto, and industrial hog farming—have defied promises of picking up the slack and exhibit unstable employment. The effects of these policies on ordinary workers are higher production quotas, longer shifts, more injuries, less pay, long periods of joblessness and/or access to unstable temp or part‐time work. Unemployment and TRA benefits haven’t been enough, particularly for older workers with limited formal education. Only sixty percent of laid‐off workers found work after 2 years, which paid less than 90% of their pre‐layoff wages. Credit discrimination and insufficient training marginalized particularly skilled workers of color, who tried to create their own businesses. The households of working families were stressed by having to cope with fewer resources, and also with reduced and erratic parenting time because of the burden of working several jobs. It was in this context that predatory lending surged. Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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Globalization policies have destabilized local economies on every continent as well, forcing 200 million people to migrate in search of safety and jobs. While only 2% have come to the US, the portion coming to the South has given our region the fastest growing population and nearly overnight transformed the demographics in our communities. Most newcomers in the South are Mexicans and reside in rural communities, but configurations vary from community to community. For example, in Gwinnett County, GA, a county that was 90% white a decade ago, 100 languages is now spoken in county schools. The negative side of these trends is that they have ignited competition in grassroots communities over scarce resources because the region has little infrastructure, few human resources, and little multi‐cultural experience with which to accommodate immigrants, starting with language barriers. Corporate greed and politicians have coalesced to create a combination of unjust immigration policies and weak labor laws. They support employers’ divide‐and‐conquer tactics and have allowed the resurgence of workers’ super exploitation, especially targeting the undocumented, and created a new and increasing underclass of immigrant workers. These workers, having been forced to migrate from their countries of origin due to the devastating impact of the global economy, accept low wages and dangerous working conditions in order to feed their families. Non‐payment of wages is a growing trend across the region, and slavery has again resurfaced, notably in Florida and New Orleans. The case of Francisca Herrera illuminates the rollback on the hard‐fought gains won by worker’s rights movements. Her son was born without limbs, because she was exposed to pesticides while she was pregnant and working in North Carolina tomato fields (2004). Draconian policies deny undocumented immigrants access to higher education, health care and drivers’ licenses. These measures are not only unjust and unfair, especially to young people who have only known this country; they have backfired as public policy. More horrific are the detentions and deportations associated with the ICE raids, 287g, and similar policies. They intensify racial profiling and bring terror and abuse to our communities, reminiscent of Jim Crow and Dred Scott. The combined effect of the disproportionate impact of these policies on black workers amounts to a wholesale onslaught that booted many African Americans out of the formal economy. Yet, their exclusion has received little public attention, because most analyses and work focus on the individual factors, rather than the sum. Tally these: $ Privatization cut full‐time jobs with benefits, and left the higher percentage of black
workers employed in the public sector vulnerable to greater discrimination and lower pay. $ Deregulation weakened protection from OSHA, EEOC, EPA, FEMA, HUD, SEC, and the
Office of Civil Rights. Coupled with employer friendly NLRB and federal court decisions in civil rights cases, it restored black families’ vulnerability to job, housing and credit discrimination, injuries, illness, disabilities, and disasters. $ The South leads the pack in the well‐documented, intentional targeting of African
Americans, regardless of income, by predatory lenders. Four of five metropolitan statistical areas with the largest lending disparities are located in North Carolina and Virginia.
Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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$ Plant closings and lay‐offs have destroyed jobs that, while offering lower pay, less
seniority, and harsher conditions relative to whites and Northern counterparts, provided the most stable income in the black community and supported families and small businesses. $ Unjust immigration policies, weak labor laws, and racism have combined in ways that have
given employers new opportunities to practice flagrant discrimination and to make all workers more vulnerable. African Americans have experienced a decline in employment in every sector, even fast foods, and continued exclusion from jobs that have historically been denied them. $ Welfare cuts and the reduction of safety net programs, particularly the welfare to work
programs, put many rural, low income women in near‐indentured status and without promised childcare and transportation benefits, and correlates to the growth of strip clubs, sex workers, illicit drug trade, and skyrocketing HIV rates in rural communities. $ Mobilization of the National Guard for Iraq and Afghanistan has emptied college
classrooms of huge numbers of black students, particularly from HBCUs, and graduates out of work, exposing the enormous disparity in the African American community’s reliance on military funding for higher education. The wars in the Middle East also have had a disproportionate impact on Southern communities beyond race. Forty‐two percent of enlisted soldiers come from Southern states and largely from rural communities, which is why our nation’s wars have been a devastating force in the region. Southerners without privilege have used the military as their primary pathway to opportunity—a job and/or a way to pay college tuition. But the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have flipped the script. War casualties have thrust many military families into poverty and grief, especially when soldiers return home to inadequate medical and mental health services. In short, Southern engineered globalization, though a process of economic expansion, has generated greater racial disparity, wealth gap, and poverty of women and children in the region, even though these policies were not formulated with discriminatory intent. It has also turned the South into a sinkhole for the nation: sucking out jobs, depressing wages, defeating worker organization, and most recently, precipitating the financial crisis that has also foreclosed homes, stopped credit, and sparked a near global depression. But, in these dire circumstances lie opportunities, too, as the new demographics and political realignments in the region we previously mentioned, suggest. REMEDY—A SOUTHERN PLAN OF ACTION FOR CHANGE What we need most is a coordinated approach to attack the causes of poverty in the region, particularly in rural communities, an approach that helps marshal the vision, talents and energies of grassroots communities by investing in community organizing and networking. The impact of the economic stimulus package on our region is limited without addressing these structural arrangements that create and maintain the issues we face. We want to help forge a new economy that sustains all families, communities, and the planet. Establishing a Southern Agenda and mechanism within the Obama Administration to work with us to develop and Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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mount on‐the‐ground strategies and partnerships will help make such potential real, by being able to focus on such structural areas as: a) Eliminating racial disparities and the human rights abuses of current immigration policies b) Establishing uniform voting rights that extend full access to all, and aligning our voting rules with international voting standards, to which our nation already has subscribed c) Eliminating right to work laws d) Changing the intent doctrine in civil rights to one of effect e) Developing alternative forms of energy in collaboration with mining communities to assure that the switch away from coal does not mean these communities are sacrificed f) Bringing living wage green collar jobs that can lift people out of poverty to rural and urban communities. Thus, we are asking for a plan, mechanism, and opportunity to partner with President Obama, to galvanize intergenerational voices, ideas and priorities from across the region. We think a process that targets young people and grassroots women would be the most strategic—the former because they have energy, inspiration, and skills; the latter because they are the anchors of our families and communities, make up the majority of community organizing and service troops, and have shown themselves to be the most creative in making a way out of no way. At the time of his assassination, Dr. King had begun calling attention to the economic underpinnings of structural racism, poverty, political power, war, and other social issues and formulating a massive poor people’s campaign. We believe that it was his call for a comprehensive attack on the lingering legacy of slavery and violence that made him too threatening to live. His vision of beloved community remains before us and is renewed by the hope and excitement President Obama’s leadership of the nation gives us. We implore President Obama to help us sweep away the blockages under his command as we keep our eyes on the prize and actively hold on. We have rolled up our sleeves.
A Special Thanks to: Leah Wise, Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) for leading the writing team. Pam McMichael, Highlander Center (TN) for coordinating the process, writing and editing.
And to the following who also contributed to content, research, writing, and/or editing: Beth Bingman Appalshop (KY); Chavvah Lister, Center for Rural Strategies (KY/TN) Tomas Aguilar, Colectivo Flatlander (TX) Monica Hernandez, Highlander Center (TN) Federico Barillas, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama Allison Glass, Mid South Peace and Justice Center (TN) Jaribu Hill, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights Emery Wright & Stephanie Guilloud, Project South (GA) James Carpenter, South Carolina Progressive Network Connie Leeper, SE Regional Economic Justice Network (NC)
Theresa El‐Amin, Southern Anti‐Racism Network (NC) Tionya Shivers, Southern Coalition for Justice (NC) Liz Veazey, Southern Energy Network (TN) Janine Lee, Southern Partners Fund (GA) Holly Garret, Student Environmental Action Coalition, (VA) Nell Levin, Tennessee Alliance for Progress Mab Segrest, (CT) Suzanne Pharr, (TN) Ted Rosengarten (SC)
Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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Organizational Signatures
2nd Chance Organization Lexington, MS
AFWU, Local 591 Rocky Mount, NC
Alabama Environmental Council Birmingham, AL
Alternate ROOTS Atlanta, GA
Ananse Consulting Durham, NC
Aniz Inc Atlanta, GA
Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality Richmond, VA El Pueblo, Inc Raleigh, NC
Emerging ChangeMakers Network Mobile, AL
M.U.G.A.B.E.E. Raymond, MS
Esperanza Peace and Justice Center San Antonio, TX
Farmworker Association of Florida Apopka, FL
Appalachian Action Coalition Cincinnati, OH
Appalachian Community Fund Knoxville, TN
Georgia Equality Atlanta, GA
Appalshop Whitesburg, KY
Harriet Tubman Freedom House Project Columbia, SC
Black Workers for Justice Greensboro, NC
CAAMU Rocky Mount, NC
Carl Braden Memorial Center Louisville, KY
Center for Artistic Revolution North Little Rock, AR
Coalicion de Organizaciones Latino‐Americanas (COLA) Asheville, NC
Colectivo Flatlander Houston, TX
Concerned Citizens For A Better Tunica County Tunica, MS
Concerned Memphians United Memphis, TN
Latin American and Caribbean Community Center Atlanta, GA
Georgia Citizensʹ Coalition on Hunger Atlanta, GA
Kentucky Jobs With Justice Louisville, KY
High Rocks for Girls Hillsboro, WV
Highlander Research and Education Center New Market, TN
Hispanic Latino Coalition Louisville, KY
Independent Progressive Politics Network Gastonia, NC
Junebug Productions New Orleans, LA
Just Cause Oakland Oakland, CA
Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression Louisville, KY
Miami Workers Center Miami, FL
Mid South Peace and Justice Center Memphis, TN
Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance (MIRA) Jackson, MS
Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights Greenville, MS Mississippi Youth Justice Project Jackson, MS
MLK Community Center of Parks and Rec of Blount County Alcoa, TN
NARAL Pro‐Choice North Carolina Raleigh, NC
NC Fair Share Raleigh, NC
Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods Winston‐Salem, NC
New Life Women’s Project Williamston, NC
North Carolina Peoplesʹ Coalition for Giving Pittsboro, NC
People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources Austin, TX
Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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Power U Center Miami, FL
Tennessee Alliance for Progress Nashville, TN
Ernest Boyd Weaverville, NC
Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty&Genocide Atlanta, GA
Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition Nashville, TN
Ebonie Brake Rocky Mount, NC
RALEIGH F.I.S.T. Chapel Hill, NC
Rocky Mount City Workers, UE 150 Rocky Mount, NC
The Center for Rural Strategies Whitesburg, KY
The Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County Siler City, NC
Sister SONG Atlanta, GA
The Ordinary Peopleʹs Society (T.O.P.S.) Dothan, AL
Society of Folk Arts & Culture Eutaw, AL
The People United Harrisonburg, VA
South Piedmont Economic Action for Recovery (SPEAR) Kannapolis, NC
The Peopleʹs Institute for Survival & Beyond Southeast Region Atlanta, GA
Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network Durham, NC
The Sojourner Group Durham, NC
Southern Anti‐Racism Network Durham, NC
Ubuntu National and International Trade and Education (UNITE) Rayville, LA
Southern Coalition for Social Justice Durham, NC
UE 150 Raleigh, NC
Southern Energy Network Knoxville, TN
Virginia Organizing Project Charlottesville, VA
Southern Partners Fund Atlanta, GA
Workers Interfaith Network Memphis, TN
Southerners on New Ground Atlanta, GA
Southside Neighborhood Association of Durham, Inc. Durham, NC
Southwest Workers Union San Antonio, TX
SpiritHouse, Inc. Durham, NC
stone circles Mebane, NC
Individual Signatures
Frank T. Adams Asheville, NC
Deven D. Anderson Common Cause of NC* Raleigh, NC Ajamu Baraka US Human Rights Network* Atlanta, GA
Charlie Biggs Knoxville, TN
Caitlin Breedlove East Point, GA
Miriam Brodersen Healthy Families Durham* Durham, NC
Cynthia Brown Durham, NC
Ivy Burch Durham, NC
Omisade Burney‐Scott Durham, NC
Erin Byrd Raleigh, NC
Ben Carroll Chapel Hill, NC
Mandy Carter Durham, NC
Don Cavellini Pitt County Coalition Against Racism* Greenville, NC
Daniella Ann Cook Durham, NC
Dorothy Cook Rocky Mount, NC
Angela Crewspy Lewisburg, NC
Max Davis Durham City Workers Union, UE 150* Durham, NC
Walter Davis National Organizers Alliance* Seymour, TN
Julia Dawson Miami, FL
Dr. Vivian DeShields Montgomery, AL
Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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Barbara Dillon Activist With A Purpose* Grenada, MS
Jenny Dorgan Birmingham, AL
Pearl Dozier Battleboro, NC
Ilana Dubester Governorʹs Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs* Pittsboro, NC
Ana Edwards Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project* Richmond, VA
Theresa El‐Amin Durham, NC
Raymond Lee Eurquhart Durham, NC
Gaye Evans Knoxville, TN
Rev. David M. Fay Raleigh, NC
Sissy Ferguson Alcoa, TN
Stephen Fisher Emory, VA
George Friday Gastonia, NC
Doug Gamble Maryville, TN
H. Vanessa Mason Gerald UE 160* Chesterfield, VA
Malcom Goff NC Association of Educators* Durham, NC
Jeff Graham Atlanta, GA
Heather Gray Atlanta, GA
Kevin Alexander Gray Columbia, SC
Angaza Mayo‐Laughinghouse Greensboro, NC
Katie Haworth Durham, NC
Kay McClorey Kannapolis, NC
Paulina Hernandez Atlanta, GA
Ashley McKay Tunica, MS
Jaribu Hill Greenville, MS
ATTY. Al McSurely NC NAACP* Chapel Hill, NC
Timothy Hodges Clayton, NC
Debra T. Horton NC Justice Center* Raleigh, NC
Andrea Mensch Raleigh, NC
Chantelle Miles Durham, NC
Claudia Horwitz Mebane, NC
Luckner Millien Apopka, FL
Brenda Hyde Jackson, MS
Evan Milligan Montgomery, AL
Denise Jennings Atlanta, GA
Regina M. Moorer Hayneville, AL
Rev. Lee Wyatt King Kinghtdale, NC
Tirso Moreno Apopka, FL
Sean Kosofsky Raleigh, NC
Fank V. Morgan Greenville, NC
Janine Lee Atlanta, GA
Tara Morris Rocky Mount, NC
Connie Leeper Kannapolis, NC
Morgan Moss, Jr Rayville, LA
Nell Levin Nashville, TN
Saladin Muhammad Rocky Mount, NC
Patrick Lincoln Harrisonburg, VA
Muna Mujahid Durham, NC
George Lovelan Ferrum College* Rocky Mount, VA
Wilma S. Nedrick Petersburg, VA
Marie Lynch Rocky Mount, NC
Michael Maloney Cincinnati, OH
Dani Martinez‐Moore Raleigh, NC
Jessica Norwood Mobile, AL
John OʹNeal New Orleans, LA
Jed Oppenheim Jackson, MS
Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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Shameka Parrish‐Wright Louisville, KY
Mikki Sager Chapel Hill, NC
Larry Wellman Wilson, NC
Dr. Gwendolyn Patton Montgomery, AL
Graciela Sanchez San Antonio, TX
Tashika Wellman Durham, NC
ATTY. M. Travis Payne Raleigh, NC
Zulayka Santiago Pittsboro, NC
Gihan Perera Miami, FL
Rebecca Schaffer Durham, NC
Ruth Willoughby Pitt County Coalition Against Racism* Greenville, NC
Janet L. Perkins Little Rock, AR
Mab Segrest New London, CT
Charles Perry Raleigh, NC
Jim Sessions Knoxville, TN
Gwendolyn Pernell Sunflower County Parent’s and Student’s Organization* Indianola, MS
Blair Sharp‐Campbell Hillsboro, WV
Suzanne Pharr Knoxville, TN
Bryan Proffitt Durham Association of Educators* Durham, NC
Melbah M. Smith Brandon, MS
Mavis Stith Tarboro, NC
Dante Strobino UE Local 150 & Bail Out People Movement* Durham, NC
William P. Quigley Loyola University* New Orleans, LA
Charmeine Turner NAACP* Goldsboro, NC
Josh Reynolds International Worker Justice Campaign* Durham, NC
Willie Carol Roberts Greenville, NC
Zach Robinson Pitt County Coalition Against Racism* Greenville, NC
Randi M. Romo North Little Rock, AR
Dale Rosengarten McClellanville, SC
Theodore Rosengarten McClellanville, SC
Jeremy Tobin Jackson, MS
Lewis Turner Rocky Mount, NC
Trevia Turner Winston‐Salem, NC
Mattie Wilson Stoddard Jackson, MS
Dexter Wimbish General Counsel, Southern Christian Leadership Conference* Atlanta, GA
Samirra Wise Durham, NC
Lynne Wolf Savannah, GA
Nick Wood National Lawyers Guild* Durham, NC
Emily Young Raleigh, NC
Carol P. Zippert Eutaw, AL
*Organization listed for identification purposes only.
Wayne Turner North Carolina Green Party* Chapel Hill, NC
Liz Veazey Knoxville, TN
Carla F. Wallace Louisville, KY
Hollis Watkins Jackson, MS
Southern Strategies Contacts: Highlander Center (TN) 865-933-3443; Southeast Regional Economic Justice Network (NC) 919-403-4310; Colectivo Flatlander (TX) 512-644-8035; Project South (GA) 404-622-0602; Appalshop (KY) 606-633-0108
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