Yesterday was Labor Day.
On this #LaborDay2020, I was, and am, thankful for all those who fought for (and continue to fight for) Workers' Rights.
I am grateful that, as a Black Woman, from a long line of Black Workers who were underpaid, exploited, and enslaved, that I can set my own wage doing the work I love while lifting up others and doing my small part to dismantle oppressive practices and systems so that we may all be free. #liberation #antioppression
For those of you that had to work yesterday, I hope you get moments for rest this week.
For those that got the day off, I hope you also had an opportunity to rest.
I encourage everyone reading this to follow The Nap Ministry for reminders of why rest is a part of anti-racism and anti-oppression work.
I invited everyone to look at the roots of the Labor Day holiday to understand how we came to get #LaborDay as a day off.
As our nation is experiencing protests advocating for Black Lives and Democracy, please know that it took #protests and actual #riots to end the practice of 5-year-olds working in factories, the 12+ hour standard workday, and dangerous work environments.
Those protests and riots and organizing resulted in legal worker protections and a nationally recognized Labor Day, a federal holiday that many of us get off from work.
For all the workers who are being exploited today—I’m thinking of the factory workers in the meatpacking plants being exposed to COVID-19, and the farmworkers within 100 miles in either direction from my home that are picking produce for the nation in 120-degree heat and smoke-filled air from the fires—I stand in deep gratitude for their sacrifices of health and well-being they make every day so that WE may eat and be well. I’m consistently thinking of how I can do more for you.
LA Black Workers Center:
LA Black Worker Center is fighting against the systemic racism that keeps Black Workers under-employed at rates below the average unemployment rate. They organize workers and advocate for changes in policies that promote & protect workers' rights. https://www.lablackworkercenter.org/one_time_donor
UFW Foundation:
The UFW Foundation works on behalf of the workers picking our produce in a #heatwave in a #pandemic in the toxic, smoke-filled air caused by the #wildfires, that put their lives at risk so that we may literally eat. United Farm Workers Foundation is raising money and you can donate here: https://www.ufwfoundation.org/wildfires