Post by TonyV on Mar 3, 2012 15:19:35 GMT -5
There will be a delegation traveling this Thursday at midnight to Montgomery Alabama in joining our UAW leadership in the re-enactment of the 1965 March into Montgomery Alabama. I have been authorized by our Region 8 leadership Gary Casteel and Ray Curry to lead our delegation via union transportation to this event. We will be leaving the LAP union hall at 12 midnight on Thursday the 8th. We will arrive in the morning on the 9the in Montgomery Alabama. We will march with our leaders starting at 9AM from St. Judes’s Educational Institute, 2080 West Fairview Ave. and travel 4 miles to the Alabama State Capitol, 600 Dexter Ave., Montgomery, Alabama 36104. You must be able to walk the 4 miles or travel in our UAW transport to the capitol and wait for us to arrive. Please bring the appropriate footwear and clothing. We will return after we attend the rally, and at a predetermined departure time that will be communicated to members that attend. We plan to return home at approximately 10PM on the 9the of March. There will be no lost time, only drinks and snacks will be provided on the way to and from Montgomery. We will make provisions to stop and get a meal for the trip home. The volunteers that wish to attend must respond to secretaries at both union hall locations, LAP 969-9136/KTP 241-9491, or the Retiree Chairperson Mary Briscoe, and Louis Sexton Retiree Executive Board Local 862 Representative. You must provide a phone number and be able to be contacted on Wed. the 7th of March. The slots will be filled on a first come first serve basis. The number of request and the availability of transportation will determine the number of attendees. The cut off for signing up for this event will be Tuesday the 6th of March. Wednesday the 7th I will collect the names and assign in order of request provided we are able to contact you on the 7th of March. This will be a historical event that will lead into other actions against the negative impact on working families, such as the attack on workers’ rights in Indiana, and voting rights. We will be joining national and state organizations and representatives along with fellow trade unionists to rally against these modern day attacks on labor, civil and human rights.
(History):
In 1965 Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership conference made Selma, Alabama the focus of its efforts to register black voters in the south, That March, protesters attempting to march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery were met with violent resistance by state and local authorities. That historic march and King’s participation along with UAW leadership, greatly helped raise awareness of the difficulty faced by black voters in the South, and the need for a Voting Rights Act, passed later that year. We face the same dilemma today with voter rights being threatened across our nation in a different manner with identification mandates that threaten everyone by limiting the number of citizens the eligibility to vote unless they have a state issued I.D..
I look forward in attending this event with the membership of Local 862. Please respond asap so that we may make this event a success.
In Solidarity
Todd Dunn
President UAW Local 862
mdunn7@ford.com
(502) 241-9491
(502) 241-9365