The Richard Hooker Show March 23, 2025

by Clarence Thomas

Solidarity greetings to all that are on the broadcast today, and a special thank you to Richard Hooker and Chris Silvera for allowing me to be a part of this important labor forum.

For those of you who may not be aware of the duties of longshore workers, they are some of the most important workers in the global economy. They are responsible for the loading and discharging of maritime cargo. My union the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is responsible for moving that cargo at all 29 ports on the West Coast including Vancouver, Canada.

The cars you drive, the athletic shoes you wear, the cell phones, computers, the food you eat the clothes you wear, and many more commodities all come off of a ship. It is longshore workers who are responsible for moving the commerce of the world.

ILWU Local 10, of which l was a member for thirty-one years, is the only predominantly African American longshore local in the ILWU. Harry Bridges and the other founders of our union were all members of Local 10. These individuals were radical, and leftists representing a variety of ideologies. They were anti-capitalists and anti-racists. They all believed in rank-and-file democracy and unity. They also believed the union should be ruled from the bottom up and not the top down.

The first of the Union’s TEN GUIDING PRINCIPLES established in 1953 at its Tenth Biennial Convention explains that clearly: “A union is built on its members. The strength, understanding, and unity of the membership can determine the union’s course and its advancements. The members who work, who make up the union and pay dues, can best determine their own destiny. If the facts are honestly presented to the members in the ranks, they will best judge what should be done and how it should be done. In brief, it is the membership of the union, that is the best judge of its own welfare, not the officers, not the employers, not the politicians, and the fair-weather friends of Labor.

Above all, this approach is based on the conviction that given the truth, and an opportunity to determine their own course of action, the rank-and- file in 99 cases out of 100 will take the right path in their own interest and in the interest of all the people.”

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

ILWU policies and actions on foreign affairs have always been built on the belief that international labor, solidarity and world peace are the cornerstones of social and economic justice for all workers, including the membership of the ILWU.

In the 1930s, the ILWU blocked the shipment of supplies to the rising fascist movements in Europe and Asia. After World War II, the union opposed the escalation of the arms race and the Cold War. In the early 1960s, ILWU was the first union to stand up in opposition to US military intervention in Vietnam in 1964.

ILWU was the first union to oppose the imposition of apartheid in South Africa the brutal system of racial segregation legislated by the minority governments in 1948. In 1976, it was African American rank-and-file leader Leo Robinson, who wrote a resolution calling for the boycott of South African cargo after learning of the Soweto massacre in 1976 in South Africa. In the following eight years, there were many community protests at marine terminals, when ships came into the Port of San Francisco carrying South African cargo. Dockworkers respected those picket lines.

Local 10 members Black and white organized the Southern African Liberation Support Committee and shipped humanitarian supplies to freedom fighters and displaced people in the regions. In 1984 Howard Keylor, a radical white local 10 member, made the motion, amended by Brother Leo Robinson, which led to the 11-day Longshore Boycott of South African cargo on the Ned Lloyd Kimberley. This action took place while Nelson Mandela was on Robben Island

When Nelson Mandela spoke at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990 after his release from prison, he acknowledged and credited Local 10 for igniting the anti-apartheid movement in the Bay Area, placing it on the front lines in the struggle against apartheid.

Leo and his wife Johnnie opened up their home in Oakland to South African freedom fighters who were living underground in the US. They along with others provided financial support to the freedom fighters while some attended universities in the states. On January 14, 2013, legendary rank-and-file leader, Leo Robinson passed away.

On March 23, 2013, the Local organized a memorial at its William Bill Chester Hiring Hall in Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Prior to the event, my wife Delores and I met South African Ambassador, The Honorable Ebrahim Rasool at a cultural event in San Francisco. We were introduced, and a conversation ensued about the role Local 10 played in the anti-apartheid struggle. We presented him with a Million Worker March tee shirt designed by Brother Leo and asked the Ambassador to consider attending the memorial in the coming weeks. He spoke of how there had not been the kind of recognition of the Bay Area and the West Coast participation in the struggle as there had been on the East Coast. He asked us to contact the office of the South African Consul General regarding an invitation.

We contacted the office and extended an invitation to the Consul General as well. It was our intention to have them, join the membership as well as community activists to be part of this momentous occasion. As it turned out the Ambassador and the Consul General, Honorable Cyril S. Ndaba both attended. Much to our surprise the Ambassador arrived early and met rank-and-filers including brother Chris Silvera. The Ambassador a man of color, was a most unpretentious and engaging individual for a person of his position one could ever hope to meet. He also honored the occasion by wearing the MWM tee shirt. His speech at Local 10 is on YouTube.

The Ambassador presented the Nelson Mandela Humanitarian Award posthumously to Leo Robinson accepted by his wife Sister Johnnie Robinson and the Nelson Mandela Freedom Award to Local 10 for its contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle in the labor movement!

On March 15, 2025, just a week ago, Ambassador Rasool was expelled from the US for speaking the truth about Donald Trump. The Ambassador was speaking on a webinar virtually in Johannesburg. A veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle and himself a victim of that racist white minority rule was not going to mince his words in assessing the Trump Administration. He’s reported to have said: “President Trump was mobilizing supremacy and trying to project white victimhood as a” dog whistle“ as a white population faces becoming a minority in the United States. We all should realize by now that anyone who dares to speak the truth about Donald Trump is subject to some kind of reprisal. Consequently, voices are silent in speaking the truth! And that is why I, Clarence THOMAS retired member of IlWU Local 10, speaking in my own name, am lending my voice to the speakers of truth about this white supremacy mobilization in the White House. Let’s be clear. DOGE leader Elon Musk’s fingerprints are all over this decision. He is a born and raised South African oligarch, the richest man in the world who is now ruling the White House. Let the historical record of the rank-and-file of ILWU Local 10 and its actions on behalf of the South African Black majority in dismantling apartheid be proud to have met the Ambassador in the labor house of: Harry Bridges, Henry Schmidt, William Bill Chester, Cleophas Williams, Leo Robinson Howard Keylor, Larry Wright, Lawrence Thibeaux, A.J. Mitchell, Herb Mills, Jack Heyman. Just to name a few of those who have committed themselves to the anti-apartheid struggle and also to ending tyranny, oppression and exploitation of the working class at home and abroad.

For the record, I’m speaking as a retired member of ILWU Local 10, who has been a part of many historical rank-and-file struggles! Remember, no one can speak for the working class like the working class can speak for itself!

The struggle continues! Peace and solidarity.