The Philadelphia Chapter NWU presented its first Juneteenth event on June 16 at the Paul Robeson House and Museum, where Dr. Gerald Horne spoke to an excited, packed house on the topic of ‘The United States Enslavement Effecting the Present: The Globalization Struggle.’
NWU members staffed the event, including Irving Jones, chair; John Mason, secretary; Violetta Kidd, documentary planner; Richmond Gardner, webmaster; and Ken Heard, treasurer. Some active and retired unionists volunteered their labor.
In addition to delivering the keynote, Dr. Horne accepted the BRC ‘Excellence Award’ from past BRC co-chair Diane Lackey. She acknowledged him as the Working Class Academic Professor.
Horne has appeared on numerous radio and television talk shows to discuss research relevant to the working class, and is the author of more than 30 books and 100 articles including:“Colin Kaepernick and Racism of the Star Spangled Banner”; “Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America”; and “Race and Revolution: The United States and Cuba During Slavery and Jim Crow”.
Dr. Mahdi Ibn Ziyad, of Rutgers University, presided over the event, and spoke to Dr. Horne’s decades-long involvement in raising political consciousness:
“Horne…was extremely impressive in his historical overview and assessment of the crisis in Southern Africa, and how our local actions should align with those of the African National Congress and its primary allies in Africa and worldwide,” said Ziyad.
Brandywine Peace Community, Philadelphia Social Science Forum, Friends Of SOMAFCO, and Philadelphia Area BRC co-sponsored the Juneteenth event, and a video is being edited.
NWU is the sole provider of IFJ Press Passes to freelance journalists in the U.S.