On Nov. 6, 2024, the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University held a luncheon to commemorate the “56th Anniversary of the 1968 Student Strike,” led by the BSU (Black Student Union) and the TWLF (Third World Liberation Front). I was invited to attend the luncheon as a veteran of the strike, whose activism, along with many others, contributed to the founding of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State and the movements for Ethnic Studies nationwide.
Read MoreSolidarity greetings to all who are in attendance at this gathering this evening. My college education started here at City College in 1965 through 1966, before transferring to San Francisco State College in 1967. Before I get started, I just wanted to mention for the record, that I’m dealing with the lingering effects of shingles which have impacted my left eye. I would urge all who are 50 years and older to get a shingles vaccine if they have not already. It is the most debilitating health issue I’ve ever faced.
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Solidarity greetings to all assembled here for this important conference in honor of Brother Jack Hunter O’Dell.
I had the honor and privilege of meeting Brother O’Dell in Oakland, California, in 2012. The occasion was a lecture sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee and former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris. It was part of a series of civil rights lectures by veterans of the movement. I shall always remember our relatively brief but memorable and meaningful conversation about the ILWU and Local 10 specifically.
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Special Guest Speaker
Meet the “Real” Clarence Thomas!
Retired Oakland Longshoreman, ILWU Local 10 Pensioner, Million Worker March Co-Founder & Author of the book “Mobilizing In Our Own Name” Reporting on the fight to stop billionaire developers from privatizing a terminal in California. Get first hand knowledge of this struggle.
Read MoreKCSB's Zoha Malik spoke with Clarence Thomas and Michael Letwin, two representatives of Labor for Palestine (LFP), a union-led campaign
Read MoreThe ILWU Local 10 African American Longshore Coalition is hosting an event at which actor Danny L. Glover will be made an honorary member of ILWU Local 10 on June 19th.
Read MoreClarence Thomas, the retired Secretary Treasurer of ILWU Local 10 talks about the life and struggle of Harry Belafonte. Harry Belafonte was made an honorary member of ILWU Local 10. This interview was done on 5/24/23.
Read MoreWhen I received this beautiful book from Delores Lemon-Thomas and Clarence Thomas, I could not wait to begin reading it.
I had the honor of meeting and talking with Sadie Williams, wife of Cleophas Williams, on two occasions. Once in Oakland at her home at the Cleophas Williams Rose Garden dedication shortly after the book “Mobilizing in Our Own Name: Million Worker March” was published and again about a year later at the ILWU Pacific Coast Pensioners Association convention in Long Beach, Calif.
Read MoreMany ILWU locals are following the call by Locals 10 and 52 to shut down all West Coast ports on June 19 — Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when news about the emancipation from slavery finally reached the last workers in Texas. Prawl added, “It is a day for workers to protest conditions rising out of slavery that are currently getting worse — homelessness, child labor, hunger. … The ILWU needs to celebrate Juneteenth with a shutdown to show the PMA that they are a strong and angry workforce.”
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By Martha Grevatt posted on April 19, 2022
This article originally appeared in Mundo Obrero Workers World
Mobilizing in Our Own Name: Million Worker March – An Anthology by Clarence Thomas
DeClare Publishing, 2021
In a commentary introducing his anthology on the 2014 Million Worker March and its impact, Clarence Thomas writes: “On January 15, 2014, when he called me, brother Trent [Willis, now president of International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) Local 10] was a young, emerging, rank-and-file leader and business agent for the local. He wanted my opinion on an idea: What did I think of organizing a Million Worker March in Washington, D.C.?”
Read MoreCongratulations to the Amazon warehouse workers on Staten Island, New York who voted to unionize. The excitement generated by your victory is the spark that can inspire workers at Amazon worksites across the country.
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On Feb. 1, author and Black trade union activist Clarence Thomas spoke on a webinar called: "Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and All Anti-Racist and Anti-Imperialist Freedom Fighters!" organized by International Workers Action to Free Anti-Racist Political Prisoners.
In Thomas' talk he read the letter, right, that Mumia wrote on Oct. 5, 2021, to International Longshore & Warehouse Local 10 President Trent Willis.
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Question: Brother Clarence, you're a convener of the February 1st International Forum and its Call to Action to free Mumia Abu Jamal and All Anti-Racist and Anti-Imperialist Freedom Fighters. You issued your own personal Call to Action for this forum in which you underscored the need to put an end to the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, Apartheid and racial violence perpetrated against African Americans, in particular.
Why is this International Forum so important today? And what are the new developments with the Mumia case that make it absolutely imperative that Mumia should be freed immediately?
Clarence Thomas: Mumia is an innocent man. He was framed because as a revolutionary journalist he documented the repression facing African Americans in Philadelphia and other crimes committed by the ruling class in Pennsylvania. He was listened to widely. He was, and remains,
Read MoreThe International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has a long tradition of defending oppressed nationalities and political prisoners such as Angela Davis in the 1970s. As a retired member and officer of ILWU Local 10, I have been a part of the Local’s efforts to free Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners.
Read MoreReplay the Zoom Webinar Event
"Mobilizing in Our Own Name: Millions Worker March"
Original Event Date and Time: November 18, 2021 | 5:00 pm Pacific Time
The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies hosted a Zoom Webinar with labor activists Gabriel Prawl, Chris Silvera, Clarence Thomas, Brenda Stokely, and Trent Willis to discuss the new book "Mobilizing in Our Own Name: Million Worker March." The event was moderated by Professor Peter Cole (Western Illinois University).
Read MoreRadio Interview with Clarence Thomas, author of “Mobilizing in Our Own Name: Million Worker March.”
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Read More“Your book shows what can happen when workers stand together.”
—James P. Hoffa, General President
Democracy Now speaks with Clarence Thomas of the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union Local 10, which shut down the ports of Oakland and San Francisco on April 4 in solidarity with workers in Wisconsin.
Read MoreBy Clarence Thomas
First Published in Workers World, May 5, 2008 9:19 PM
The writer is a Local 10, ILWU Executive Board member; Co-chair, Port Workers’
May Day Organizing Committee; and National Co-chair, Million Worker March Movement.
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), known for its militant and democratic traditions as well as its economic and social justice activism, has written a new chapter in its glorious labor history by shutting down all 29 ports on the West Coast for eight hours on May Day.
This historic and courageous action on the part of the ILWU came about as the result of a “No Peace No Work Holiday” resolution adopted by the Longshore Division Caucus, its highest ruling body, in February. The caucus passed this resolution by an overwhelming majority of the 100 longshore delegates representing all locals on the West Coast.
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