Nominated for: being a community organizer and helping organizations build capacity to fight for social justice, dignity and fairness for workers; and against environmental racism & gentrification. She is one of the co-founders of #BlackLivesMatter, a call to action after the death of Trayvon Martin.
For more information: http://thefeministwire.com/2014/10/blacklivesmatter-2/
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/29813-building-movements-without-shedding-differences-alicia-garza
Nominated for: Transgender and labor rights activism.
Quotes: “Everybody’s scared, but if you don’t let your fears stop you, that’s bravery!”
“We are pitted against each other in order to keep us from seeing each other as allies. Genuine bonds of solidarity can be forged between people who respect each other’s differences and are willing to fight their enemy together. We are the class that does the work of the world, and can revolutionize it. We can win true liberation.”
For more information: http://www.transgenderwarrior.org/
Nominated For: being a fierce labor organizer and fighter for the working class in the early days of the movement, when such activities could very easily get you killed. She strove especially hard for miners and to abolish child labor.
Frequently arrested for her hell-raising ways, she was once in court when objections were raised to the defendants’ profanity-laced testimony. When called out by the judge she said:
“Why, Judge,” Mother Jones said, “That’s how working people pray.”
“Do *you* pray that way, Mother?” the Judge asked.
“When I want an answer in a hurry, I do!” she replied.
Quotes: “Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living!”
“I have been in jail more than once and I expect to go again. If you are too cowardly to fight, I will fight.”
For more information: http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-People-in-Labor-History/Mother-Jones-1837-1930
Nominated for: being a union/labor organizer, his political songs, satirical poems, and being a rousing orator.
For more information:
http://www.iwwbookreview.com/The-Man-Who-Never-Died.htm
http://www.aflcio.org/About/Our-History/Key-People-in-Labor-History/Joe-Hill-1879-1915
http://www.joehill.org/
http://www.folkarchive.de/hill.html
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/8/25/exclusive_joan_baez_performs_joe_hill
Grassroots Greatness 