As the first dark, devastating clouds of smoke and burnt bodies cleared on our TV screens the realities that life had changed forever for each of us in the United States and the world, we opened our eyes slowly and painfully to the realities of 9/11. Quietly, we all grieved for the lives lost and families destroyed. Then we began the painful process of asking why this happened and how it happened to us as a nation.
Our first response was of determined and sometimes angry solidarity and nationalism. Immediately, the first horrors of rage became evident and the dangers, as violence was initiated to Middle Eastern citizens, businesses or religious organizations. Senators and Congressional representatives began slowly to call for sane and compassionate response to our fears; the lone and brave voice of Barbara Lee stood out for peace.
We need evidence before we attack another country and will the counter attack only increase our problems? We began discussing pre-emptive war and nuclear and biological weapons. Suddenly that “war on terror“ turned on us as citizens. Unions became alert immediately as did student activists and ethnic “minorities” that they had now become the potential “enemy of the state” along with anyone who appeared to question the current administration or the president and his policies.
Pride At Work seemed a logical place to test an official resolution against the war. We understand from our own lives what unfair discrimination and hatred can be. Our AFL-CIO leaders were silent. We had no direction as to what our official union stance would be. They were waiting to see what the union members wanted. The movement had to come from the rank and file.
“Could it be something is wrong with our information polls, they don’t seem accurate.” were voices expressed. Generic resolution examples against war were placed on peace Internet sites. I talked with our local PAW chapter and we agreed to make a resolution against pre-emptive war. I talked with Washington, D.C. and our national contacts and they indicated they would consider it if we sent one. Everyone was waiting for the other to go first.
Within a month the national Pride At Work policy convention met and voted for their resolution against war, using ours as an example. Each union that made a resolution increased the critical mass for others to do so. Sometimes we are discouraged by walls of silence. We simply do what we have always done. We educate ourselves, talk to each other, hash out our differences and respect each other’s differences, follow our conscience and our hearts and ORGANIZE.
It is our moral and ethical responsibility to do so. “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” We can change our world and future. We have the tools and we have the intelligence and I believe we have the heart and soul to be leaders and not blind followers in this life. We are union and we lead the way. We always have.
Astraea Kelly is a SEIU Local 250 steward at Kaiser Hospital, Vallejo and a community organizer for East Bay Pride At Work, affiliated with the AFL-CIO.