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History was made in recent elections for the leadership of the Minneapolis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People — 10 African-American women were elected to the board, making it the first all-woman team to lead the Minneapolis branch.
And, of the 10 women elected, four are current union members and one is a former union member.
“People of color in Minnesota face some of the most daunting racial disparities in income, employment, criminal justice, education, and housing,” said Nekima Levy-Pounds, the newly-elected Minneapolis NAACP president. “It is imperative that we work more diligently to close the gaps in our state. As president of the Minneapolis NAACP, I am ecstatic that several members of our leadership team are involved in pushing for racial equity and economic justice through their work with the labor movement.”
The union member women elected to the Minneapolis NAACP leadership shared their views.
Helen Bassett, the new Minneapolis NAACP treasurer, is a member of MAPE – the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees Local 502. Bassett has been a MAPE member since 2002 and a labor union member for most of her working life, after brief stint in the non-profit sector.
“I think that there is honor in labor whether professional or physical,” Bassett said. “There is synergy when people come together and collectively express concerns that serve the majority to make institutional change.”
Cathy Jones, the new Minneapolis NAACP second vice president, is a nine-year member of National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 9 as well as trustee on its executive board and a union steward. Jones also is a delegate from Branch 9 to the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation and a member of the MRLF’s People of Color Union Members caucus.
“I strive to be a champion for dignity and respect in the work place. I want to forge the racial and social justice movement with the labor movement,” Burton said. “I believe we were much more active together in the past and I would love to see more of that going forward.”
Kerry Jo Felder, the new Minneapolis NAACP secretary, is the community and education organizer for the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, the staff organizer for the People of Color caucus and a two-year member of Teamsters Local 120.
“The civil rights movement and labor have always walked hand in hand,” Felder said. “If we are not strong partners on a city by city or branch by branch level — then our grip with one another is not strong enough. There are a lot of organized forces working against the both of us and history has shown that collaboration works.”
Bertha Daniels, the new assistant secretary of the Minneapolis NAACP, is a 15-year member of Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 and union steward.
“There should be access and opportunity to all members of the union,” Daniels said. “I feel that there are changes that need to be made with our community — like equal rights. There should be more union representation of people of color in the working class. All workers should be able to form their own union within their company without being harassed.”
Former union member Shirlynn LaChappelle is a new Minneapolis NAACP executive committee member – at large and president of the Black Nurses Association. She was a leader of a historic 1976 strike by nurses at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
This article is reprinted from the Minneapolis Labor Review.