7435 Michigan Ave., Detroit, Michigan 48210 www.labornotes.org   #268 July 2001

Charleston 5 Rally Draws Thousands to South Carolina

by Dennis Orton

On June 9 some four thousand people traveled from near and far to Columbia, South Carolina to march for the Charleston 5. The five dockworkers, members of International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422, are the targets of trumped-up charges following what they describe as a "police riot" against their legal picket of a non-union shipping line.

Rally speakers noted that the January 2000 attack occurred just days after a major anti-Confederate flag march in which Local 1422 had played a leading role. It is clear that South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon is using his attack on these men and their politically active, mostly African American union as a platform on which to run for governor.

Condon recently broke off negotiations over dismissing the charges against the 5-Kenneth Jefferson, Elijah Ford, Peter Washington, Rich Simmons, and John Edgerton.

Condon then issued a demagogic press statement in which he referred to Charleston 5 supporters as "sympathizers" and "comrades." Condon stated, "South Carolina is a strong right to work state and these rights will not be trampled upon…We intend to prosecute these cases fully and vigorously."

The AFL-CIO's John Sweeney and the NAACP's Julian Bond responded: "By using code words like 'sympathizers' and 'comrades,' Condon is engaging in the lowest form of race-mongering and union bashing. It's called 'red-baiting' and it draws to mind the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: 'The labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth.'"

POLICE PRESENCE
Under a hot sun and the watchful eyes of a heavy-handed police presence, the march and rally were characterized by strong conviction and passion. Supporters embraced each other, getting reacquainted or introducing themselves. Many shared thoughts of a sense of history they were making. Along the route, the throng switched from chants of "Free the Charleston 5" to "We shall overcome."

"This is my first time ever participating in a march and rally like this," said Edgar Richmond, a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta. "I now have a sense of spirit reflected in those past struggles I've watched captured on the Eyes on the Prize series."

Randy Nevels, a steward in Transport Workers Union Local 100 in New York City, added, "I had to be here to stand with these brothers. They're at the forefront of the struggle. I got a lot to take back with me. And I'm prepared to come back again if need be."

LONG AND STRONG
The program was strong, though long in that heat, with more than 26 speakers, including national union leaders from the AFL-CIO, ILWU (the West Coast dockers), ILA, Mineworkers, and Teamsters. Many in the crowd were moved, listening to family members describe the ordeal of the 5, who are under house arrest.

Speakers connected the Charleston 5 struggle with the history of the African American fight against racism and for political and workers' rights, with Black disenfranchisement in Florida and elsewhere, and with the need for international solidarity around globalization.

The crowd was reminded of the importance of being prepared to act on the International Day of Solidarity. The ILA, the ILWU, the International Transport Workers Federation, and the International Dock Workers Council based in Spain have agreed to shut down ports all over the world on the first day of the Charleston 5's trial.

[Dennis Orton is Associate Director of the Brisbane Institute: Southern Center for Labor Education and Organizing at Morehouse College.]