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BLACK HISTORY
Reconstruction and African American political power
(Carlito Rovira)
The 1927 Great Mississippi Flood
(C. Gonçalves)
‘Hammer and Hoe:’ communism and Black resistance
(Eugene Puryear)
Assata Shakur: a woman warrior
(Alina Serrano)
Black firefighters’ legacy of struggle
(Gloria La Riva)
TODAY’S ANTI-RACIST STRUGGLES
What’s behind the expansion of U.S. prisons?
(Eugene Puryear)
People’s power can push back the NYPD
(Ed Felton)
How the Klan and Minutemen can be beaten back
(Karina García)
Immigration detention centers hold whole families
(Enrique Vásquez)
U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Carter’s ‘Palestine: Peace not Apartheid’ Half the story is too much
(Richard Becker)
Anti-war coalition calls for ‘escalating’ street protests
(Statement of the ANSWER Coalition)
U.S. orchestrates Ethiopian invasion of Somalia
(John Beacham)
THE ENVIRONMENT
Global warming, capitalism endangering planet
(Jane Cutter)
EN ESPAÑOL
El legado de lucha de los bomberos negros
(Gloria La Riva)
ABOUT THE COVER
1968 was a dramatic year in the worldwide struggle of workers and oppressed people. National liberation movements were on the rise in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Thousands of U.S. soldiers—especially Black and Latino soldiers—were defying orders to shoot their Vietnamese sisters and brothers.
Cities across the United States were burning. Rebellions broke out in over 100 U.S. cities on the news of Rev. Martin Luther King’s assassination on April 4, 1968.
The movement against the war in Vietnam was spreading, combining with the widening Black liberation struggle and other movements of oppressed people against oppression and war.
The Olympic Games that year were held in Mexico City. Mexican student demonstrators chanted “We don’t want Olympics, we want revolution!” Hundreds of students were massacred by U.S.-backed Mexican troops to silence the demonstrations before the Olympics.
Against this backdrop, Black athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos, representing the U.S. Olympics team in track and field, captured the world’s attention by raising their fists in a Black power salute while the U.S. national anthem was played during their medal ceremony.
“We are Black and proud of being Black,” Smith explained. “Black America will understand what we did tonight.”
Millions of others around the world did, too.
This issue of Socialism and Liberation is devoted to Black History—the hundreds of years of resistance of African Americans in the United States. It is an example of struggle for workers of all nationalities.
(KRT Photos)
