Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:13
Produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
**************************************
Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

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Band Aid Approach To Hemorrhaging Health Care System Continues To Prevail
with
U.S. Congressman John Conyers

The economic crisis has increased the urgency for real health
care reform now, yet the President and Congress persist in
advocating half measures, ignoring the real problem, the
health insurance industry. But, the voices for comprehensive,
meaningful reform like Rep. Conyers, whose legislation HR 676,
a single payer or Medicare for all bill continue to be raised.
Rep. Conyers makes the case for health care for all at an event
honoring one of the most vocal proponents of single payer,
Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator of Healthcare-Now!
**********
Do You Want To Get Sick To Your Stomach Then Think About The Cost Of Being Sick In America
with
Dr. David Himmelstein, primary care physician, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program

A frightening look at a new Harvard study finds that medical
problems contributed to nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies.
Surprisingly, most of those bankrupted by medical problems had
health insurance. Covering the uninsured isn’t enough, but
unfortunately, Washington politicians seem all too ready to cave
in to insurance firms. We’ll also examine the highlights of Sen.
Edward Kennedy’s draft health care bill, which some say is the most liberal in Congress, and find out if it is.

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“The Looting of America:
How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed
Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It”
with
Les Leopold Executive Director, The Labor Institute

A Warning on Obamanomics
with
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens
College & of Political Science & Sociology, Gradate
Center, City University of NY

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“The Looting of America:
How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed
Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It”
with
Les LeopoldExecutive Director, The Labor Institute

Les Leopold has given an entertaining account of the growth
of the derivative market that supported the housing bubble
during the last decade, and offers useful recommendations
for avoiding the next bubble-and-bust. He is one of the few
observers to have understood how today’s crisis has roots
going back three decades, and to have seen how it connects
to the upward redistribution of income over this period.
************************************************************
A Warning on Obamanomics
with
William Tabb, Prof. Emeritus of Economics, Queens
College & of Political Science & Sociology, Gradate
Center, City University of NY

Tabb asseses Obama’s economic strategy warning that thefinancial policy to bail out the big banks is costing so muchthat it will threaten job creation and infrastructure development.This is creating a situation which will lower living standards
and may recreate another economic crisis in 5-10 years .
The labor and other progressive social movements must speak out against these policies.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges:
Your Community & Labor Report
Produced by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash
56:27
****************************************
Domestic Workers United - Your Home, My Work

Building Bridges allows domestic workers to tell their stories -
stories of their pains, their pride and their efforts to organize for
labor rights. Since slavery, the domestic work force has been
predominately women of color. With the abolition of slavery
African-American women were still the predominate workers,
as immigrant woman began to enter that workforce. Today,
women of color, from around the world work as domestic
workers. Everyday, 200, 000 domestic workers (nannies,
elderly companions, housekeepers) in New York make it
possible for their employers to go to work. Most are employed
without a living wage, healthcare, and basic labor protections.
Domestic work is vital to the economy and the community,
but domestic workers remain invisible, vulnerable, and
undervalued. “Your Home, My Work” recognizes and values
domestic laborers.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:08
*************************************
DANGER AHEAD: AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN
with Tariq Ali,
author "The Duel:
Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power"

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Tariq Ali demonstrates Pakistan's unique influence on
the emergence of a secure world or global conflagration.
The west's 'good war' in Afghanistan has turned bad. A
local solution, rather than a neocolonial one, is needed.
U.S. failure in Afghanistan is now evident and NATO
desperation only too visible. Spreading the war to
Pakistan was a disaster for all sides. One way out of
the impasse would require a withdrawal of all U.S./NATO
forces, either preceded or followed by a regional pact
to guarantee Afghan stability for the next ten years.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition – 27:24
*************************************
Immigrant Guest Workers – Now and Then
With
Stephanie Black, Filmmaker, “H-2 Worker”,
Winner of the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival
and
Bruce Goldstein, Exec. Director, Farmworker Justice



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A fascinating exposé of Florida’s sugar cane industry,
“H-2 Worker” reveals the systematic exploitation of Caribbean
laborers by the Florida sugar industry from WW II through the
1990s. Each year more than 10,000 foreign workers were
granted temporary guest worker (“H-2”) visas to spend six
brutal months cutting sugar cane near Lake Okeechobee. They
were housed in overcrowded barracks, denied adequate
treatment for frequent on-the-job injuries, and paid less than
minimum wage.


Originally released in 1990, and now with update material to
cover the present , H-2 Worker provides an invaluable resource
to understand the current debate over guest worker provisions of
immigration legislation. While Florida’s sugar cane cutters have
been replaced by mechanical harvesters, guest worker programs
have expanded in agriculture, hotel, restaurant, forestry and other
industries. H-2 Worker illuminates how our foreign worker
program continues to benefit employers at the expense of vulnerable
underpaid workers.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 26 minutes
**************************************
Focus Mexico – Crisis Upon Crisis
with
Benjamin Anaya, an independent journalist, muralist
and Mexican activist
Daniel La Botz, editor, Mexican Labor News & Analysis
Prof. Manny Ness, author of the new extraordinary International
Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

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We explore how has the current economic crisis which
started in the U.S. has greatly impacted workers in Mexico.
It has compounded an economy already broken by NAFTA.
The drug trade and a narco culture has exploded which
has also resulted in increased repression by the Mexican
military against the general population. We look at
deterioration of working conditions and casualization of
labor, the continuing struggle in Oaxaca & by Independent
unions & especially the struggle of the Mexican Miners
and Metal Workers Union++++++++++++++++++++++++++

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
************************************
Warehouse Workers Sit-Down in California’s Inland Empire
with
Isabel Castelan, Warehouse worker (sit-in participant)
Esther Portillo, Community Organizer (sit-in participant)
Greg Denier, Communications Director, Change to Win

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A southern California rally calling for improved warehouse jobs turned into a sit-in action that led to the arrest of 13 people. The workers were protesting the economic tragedy which is unfolding in the “hub” of the new global economy— the Inland Empire region of southern California which houses massive warehouses for the nation’s biggest retailers. This region is in the middle of a depression with one of the highest rates of unemployment, however, its low- wage, temporary workers are speaking out and are at the core of a growing fight back.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27:41
**************************************
An Occupation and On the Picket Line At The Visteon
Plants In Belfast And Enfield, London
with
Phil Wilson, machine setter, Visteon Ensfield plant
Jerry Campbell, retiree, Visteon, Belfast plant

Are Attacks on Social Security Coming Soon?
with
Dean Baker,
Co-Director,Center for Economic & Policy Research,
and author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of
the Bubble Economy

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An Occupation and On the Picket Line At The Visteon
Plants In Belfast And Enfield, London

with

Phil Wilson, machine setter, Visteon Ensfield plant

Jerry Campbell, retiree, Visteon, Belfast plant

More than 600 Workers in Visteon car parts plants in Belfast,
Northern Ireland and Enfield and Basildon, England were given
6-minutes notice before their factories would be closing leaving
them without jobs and without contractually agreed upon layoff
benefits.The workers staged spontaneous sit-ins, first in Belfast
on March 31st that spread to two other plants. The workers in
Enfield stopped their occupation after being threatened with long
jail sentences. They are now picketing the plant around the clock.
The occupation continues in Belfast.
*********************
Are Attacks on Social Security Coming Soon?

with

Dean Baker,
Co-Director,Center for Economic & Policy Research,
and author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of
the Bubble Economy

Baker had warned for years about the coming recession due to
the real estate bubble and unregulated financial markets. Now that
we are in the middle of the crisis , the geniuses that got us into
the mess have been appointed to get us out of it, How smart is that?
But we can think of few better to outline what went wrong and how to
begin to set it right than Dean Baker who now warns us that some
in the the Obama Administration and Congress are planning attacks
in this year's budget on the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for the
bank bailouts.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
**************************************
Excerpts from
The People’s Agenda:
Working For An Economy For The People!

A forum presented recently by WBAI, Building Bridges
and the New York Society for Ethical Culture which examined
the present crisis of capitalism and peoples’ demands that the
road to economic recovery lies in directly increasing their living
standard and abandoning trickle down economics.
with
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Representative, Cleveland, Ohio
and
Stanley Aronowitz Prof. of Sociology, & Urban Education,
at the City University of NY Graduate Center, and author
of Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future

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with
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Representative, Cleveland, Ohio

As mayor of Cleveland, Ohio Kucinich had the courage to
stand up to the banks. He has been Representative of the 10th
Congressional District of Ohio since 1997 He continues to stand
up for principle, advocating for the impeachment of former Pres.
George W. Bush for war crimes, his co-sponsorship with Rep.
John Conyers of HR 676, a single-payer health care system
and his criticism of the financial industry in the current economic
crisis.
and
Stanley Aronowitz Prof. of Sociology, & Urban Education,
at the City University of NY Graduate Center, and author
of Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future

Prof. Aronowitz is author of over 25 books and a plethora of
articles on education, sociology, the nature of class, trade unions,
and economics. His analysis Is always right on target and in the
current crisis he has advocated for a massive federal jobs
program, WPA-style as the centerpiece of economic recovery.
But that no meaningful progress can be made without a mass
movement .

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
**************************************
The Bail Out Our Streets, Not Wall Street Protests. Thousands and thousands of protesters marched to and rallied on Wall Street on April 3rd and 4th. The actions were sponsored by the Bail Out the People Coalition and United for Peace and Justice, both coalitions fighting to make clear it’s the people, who are suffering in the current economic downturn, not the financial institutions who created the crisis, that must be bailed out. Looming large and stimulating the protest messages was the figure of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose efforts on behalf of striking Memphis sanitation workers when he was gunned down April 4 1968, echoed through the mass gatherings.

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Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27 minutes
**************************************
Will President Obama’s Overhaul Of Healthcare Be More Than A Band-Aid?
with
Oliver Fein, President, Physicians for a National Health Program, and
Dr. of Internal Medicine, the Weill Cornell Medical Center
and
David Himmelstein, Assoc. Professor of Medicine, Harvard Univ. and
Co-Founder Physicians for a National Health Program


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President Obama summoned health care figures of all stripes to the White House to debate ideas for overhauling the nation’s costly system and declared, “The status quo is the one option that is not on the table” . He wants healthcare reform within a year. We’ll discuss what’s on the table so far and what is the best way, the simple way, the economical way, the humane way to stop the bleeding with two of the leading voices for universal healthcare.

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WBAI Radio and the New York Society for Ethical Culture
present
The People’s Agenda:
Working For An Economy By The People, For The People!
Produced by WBAI’s Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash

Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 7:00 – 9:30 PM (doors open at 6:30pm)
NY Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St (at Central Park West)

An examination of the present crisis of capitalism and peoples’ demands that the road to economic recovery lies in directly increasing their living standard and abandoning trickle down economics. In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who gave his life fighting for the rights of the Memphis sanitation workers and for a poor people’s movement for economic rights, “A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth…and say: `This is not just.'"

.The program (partial list):

. Ajamu Sankofa, Private Health Insurance Must Go Coalition

. Lillian Roberts, Ex. Dir. DC 37, American Federation of State County &
Municipal Employees (AFSCME)

. video message from U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich

. Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research; author of Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy

. Stanley Aronowitz, Prof. of Sociology, & Urban Education, CUNY Graduate Center; author of Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future ; University Wide Officer, Professional Staff Congress, AFT

. Representatives of the April 3 and 4 marches on Wall Street Coalitions

. presenters from housing and community service coalitions

Suggested donation $10, (no one will be turned away)
To Benefit for WBAI and the NY Society for Ethical Culture

Further information: buildingbridgesradio@gmail.com

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition 27.5 minutes
**************************************
Seventy Five Thousand In Country’s Largest Protest Say No To Budget Cuts & Demand Tax The Rich
speakers
Randi Weingarten, AFT; Lillian Roberts, DC 37; George Gresham, 1199; Faye Moore, Local 371, DC 37; Barbara Bowen, PSC; Nancy Wackstein, United Community Houses; Selah Brown, student, NYC Technical College; Harry Nespoli, IBT Local 831, Sanitation Employees; Lynne Muchinsky, lab technologist, Mary Immaculate Hospital; Noel Auld, Jewish Home and Hospital Nursing Home; and a cast of tens of thousands

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New York City just hosted the country’s largest protest to date, 75,000strong, declaring no to proposed state and city budget cuts and yes to taxing the rich. New Yorkers rallied against budget cuts being considered by the Governor and the Mayor. Unions, social service organizations and community groups came together to unite and fight. They demanded a more equitable tax share by the state's wealthiest taxpayers which would generate an estimated
6 billion dollars annually. Just as the protesters expressed their class interests in a show of solidarity the NY Times, and Daily News failed to run articles on the rally clearly expressing their class interest.

Read More...

WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
March 2, 2009, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM 58 minutes ****************************************

Economic Aid To Feed Extreme Poverty
with
Jeffrey Sachs, economist is Director of the Earth Institute at
Columbia University, Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-Moon, is founder and co-President of the
Millennium Promise Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending
extreme poverty and hunger, and he’s authored numerous books
including his best seller, recently released in paperback Common
Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.

Mayor Bloomberg’s Union Busting is Disgusting:
Bloomberg Contracts Out Housing Authority Jobs & Fires Workers
with
Fitz Reid, Pres. Health Services Local 768,
DC 37Faye Moore,Pres. Social Service Employees Union Local 371,DC 37

What Domino’s Pizza Dishes Out
Makes Worker’s Sick To Their Stomachs
with
Mike, a fired Domino’s Pizza Deliveryman
and
Josephine Lee, representative of the Justice Will Be Served Campaign

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Economic Aid To Feed Extreme Poverty
with
Jeffrey Sachs, economist is Director of the Earth Institute at
Columbia University, Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-Moon, is founder and co-President of the
Millennium Promise Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending
extreme poverty and hunger, and he’s authored numerous books
including his best seller, recently released in paperback Common
Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. Prof. Sachs talks about how to
address the fact that one-sixth of the world remains trapped in extreme
poverty, and now we’re in a global financial meltdown and how to respond
to the challenge.
************
Mayor Bloomberg’s Union Busting is Disgusting:
Bloomberg Contracts Out Housing Authority Jobs & Fires Workers
with
Fitz Reid, Pres. Health Services Local 768, DC 37
Faye Moore,Pres. Social Service Employees Union Local 371,DC 37


More than 200 social service and health-care workers employed in Housing
Authority community centers were laid off Feb. 20 despite community and
labor protests, and multiple lawsuits by the unions, The City Council had
agreed to provide $18 million to keep the centers open, then Bloomberg
administration decided to fire the city workers and contract out the
operation of the community centers.
************
What Domino’s Pizza Dishes Out
Makes Worker’s Sick To Their Stomachs
with
Mike, a fired Domino’s Pizza Deliveryman
and
Josephine Lee, representative of the Justice Will Be Served Campaign


Domino’s Pizza forces delivery workers to work over 60 hours per week and then
refused to pay them overtime and minimum wage. And, when workers at a New
Jersey Domino’s Pizza stood up for their rights, the boss fired them, but, they’re not taking it lying down.

Read More...

Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition - 27:52
**************************************
The Israeli Warfare State
with
Prof. Jeff Halper,
Director Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions,
Author of "An Israeli in Palestine"and nominee for he Nobel Peace Prize

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Halper argues that whichever parties coalesce to form the new Israeli government there will be no progress in movingtoward serious peace talks with the Palestinians ending the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has become addicted to war in its dealings with the Palestinians, in itseconomy and society. the Israeli economy thrives on the export of urban warfare strategy and weaponry. Change will have to come from outside forces pressuring Israel.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
28 minutes
******************************
Earl Robinson’s Cantata, Lonesome Train,
as part of Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial

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The Riverside Church in NYC presented the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, The NYC Labor Chorus and The Riverside Inspirational Choir in Earl Robinson’s cantata, The Lonesome Train in honor of the 200th birthday of the great emancipator Abraham Lincoln. The work had not been heard in its entirety for more than 50 years. The performance featured theatrical direction by LorcaPeress,a narrator played by acclaimed actress Ruby Dee (American Gangster, Steam), a chorus led by a balladeer, Michael Mark (I Love My Wife, Cotton Patch Gospel), barn-dance caller David Amram (composer/Author/Jazz musician), banjo soloist Eric Weissberg (Dueling Banjos, Deliverance) and Sam Waterston (Law and Order) as President Lincoln. The four join gospel preacher Tyrone Aiken and his choir, a barn dance caller and fiddler to honor Lincoln’s message of “a new nation conceived in liberty.” The Riverside production was introduced by Pete Seeger.

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
27:22
******************************
Chicago Strikers Stood Up for Justice by Sitting In
with
Ricky Maclin,VP L. 1110, United Electrical Workers(UE)
Raul Flores,Steward,Local 1110,UE
Mark Meinster, UE Field Organizer
Joycleyn Campbell, Domestic Workers United
Sara Rodriguez a striking Stella D'Oro Cookie Worker,
L. 50, Bakery, Confectioners, Tobacco Workers Union

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In December, in an electrifying action 260 workers at Republic Windows occupied their plant for 6 days in response to the closing of their plant. Their militancy and the national support they gained helped them win a partial settlement from Bank of America and Republic Owners, but the struggle continues to regain their jobs. Now, in a national tour they tell their story, and their efforts to create a broad campaign for worker justice.

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WBAI Radio's Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, January 26, 2009, 7 - 8 p.m. EST, over 99.5 FM ****************************************
Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit
with
David Lewis-Colman, author Race Against Liberalism: Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit

The Citizens Budget Commission Lets Big Business Off The Hook And Scapegoats Public Workers
with
James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist,Fiscal Policy Institute

Chicago Strikers Stood Up for Justice by Sitting In
with
Ricky Maclin, VP Local 1110, United Electrical Workers

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Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit
with
David Lewis-Colman, author Race Against Liberalism: Black Workers And The UAW In Detroit

Too many blame the gain of autoworkers as responsible for the plight of the auto industry. Auto is one of the most critical sectors of our economy and the wages and benefits of unionized auto workers to date & how they achieved them is critical to the advancement of organized labor. We’ll probe with Lewis-Colman his careful history ofthe black labor movement in Detroit and its compelling contributions that shaped the politics of the labor movement.
*****
The Citizens Budget Commission Lets Big Business Off The Hook And Scapegoats Public Workers
with
James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist,Fiscal Policy Institute

The Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) released a report claiming NY City & State employees receive bloated compensation - unfair pensions and benefits. But, James Parrott corrects the record, explaining that a main cause of the economic crisis is the shift of income and assets to the wealthy, and that the cure must be to redistribute income to the people and not attack the benefits that they have.
*****
Chicago Strikers Stood Up for Justice by Sitting In
with
Ricky Maclin, VP Local 1110, United Electrical Workers

In December, in an electrifying action 260 workers at Republic Windows occupied their plant for 6 days in response to the closing of their plant. Their militancy and the national support they gained helped them win a partial settlement from Bank of America and Republic Owners, but the struggle continues to regain their jobs. Now, in a national tour they tell their story,

Read More...

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Building Bridges: Your Community and Labor Report
National Edition
******************************
America at a Crossroads
With Dr. Cornel West,
Class of 1943 Professor, Princeton Univ.. Author of “Race Matters”,
“Democracy Matters” and “Hope on a Tightrope”

Cornel West is one of our most renowned public intellectuals. As we approach an economic, political, & spiritual crossroads, the next chapter of the American story is about to be written. Professor West reflects about America’s continuing dialogue on race and justice, the Obama Presidency, and the economic
crisis.
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