Tech workers, warehouse employees and baristas have notched many victories in recent months at major U.S. companies long deemed long shots for unions, including Apple, Amazon and Starbucks.
To me, these recent union wins recall another pivotal period in the U.S. labor movement several decades ago. But that one was led by migrants from Central America.
I’ve been researching human rights and immigration from Central America since the 1980s. In today’s polarized debates over immigration, the substantial contributions that Central American immigrants have made to U.S. society over the past 30 years rarely come up. One contribution in particular is how Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigrants helped expand the U.S. labor movement in the 1980s, organizing far-reaching workers’ rights campaigns in immigrant-dominated industries that mainstream unions had thought to be untouchable.
Migrants and Unions
More than 1 million Salvadorans and Guatemalans came to the United States from 1981 to 1990, fleeing army massacres, political persecution and civil war.
Since the 1980s, I have researched, taught and written about this wave of migrants. Back then, President Ronald Reagan warned apocryphally that Central America was a threat to the United States, telling Congress in 1983 that “El Salvador is nearer to Texas than Texas is to Massachusetts.”
Just 2% of Salvadorans and Guatemalans who applied received asylum in the 1980s—so few that a 1990 class-action lawsuit alleging discrimination compelled the U.S. government to reopen tens of thousands of cases. In recent years, about 10% to 25% of their asylum petitions were granted.
Then, as now, many undocumented immigrants in the U.S. worked in agriculture or service industries, often under exploitative conditions. Unionization barely touched these sectors in the 1980s.
[embedded content][embedded content] On April 2, 2022, workers at one of Amazon’s warehouses on Staten Island in New York
JACKSON, Miss.—Algernon Stamps Sr. was driving his family home from Utica, Miss., where he had just stood at the pulpit ministering to the Browns Chapel C.M.E. Church congregation on a Sunday morning in the early 1970s.
The father of six owned and operated Stamps Grocery, a small mom-and-pop grocery store and meat market in the Washington Addition neighborhood of Jackson, Miss. While his store had ingratiated itself as a community staple, other bigger-name grocery stores started to spring up around Jackson, mitigating the need for a business like his. He needed to find a new avenue, he determined—a new niche.
As he drove his family the 30 miles back to Jackson, the idea came to him.
“I can’t find a good burger around here,” Stamps Sr. commented.
His wife, Barbara Stamps, served as the primary cook for the family, but he was not a total duntz when it came to cooking, as he handled breakfast duties. He liked a good burger, and if he could not find a good place to get one in Jackson, then he decided he would just have to do it himself.
“I’m gonna make a good burger,” he told his family.
Not too long afterward, Stamps Sr. began rising out of bed every morning at 4 a.m. to make his rounds with various butchers to secure fresh ground beef. After seasoning the meat, he would take it to the griddle installed in the back of the grocery store, where Stamps Sr. cooked around 150 pounds of beef burgers on a daily basis—allowing intuition to guide his flipping rather than relying on set times.
The quality of Stamps Sr.’s burgers remained consistent, which drew attention from his neighborhood, then Jackson and then beyond the capital city. Although he intended to simply call his establishment “Super Burgers,”
If cheesy crescent chicken casserole isn’t your kid’s favorite comfort food meal, it soon will be. Crescent rolls are stuffed with shredded chicken, cream cheese, cheddar, onion and pimentos.
My kids basically love anything made with those refrigerated crescent rolls that come in a tube. As a food blogger that tried to specialize in homecooked meals, that’s maybe not my proudest moment to admit to. You know what? Who cares? I will go on record and admit the same thing about Kraft macaroni and cheese. They are my kid’s guilty pleasure.
Instead of permanently relegating crescent rolls to something that sits on the periphery of
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced “significant” improvements in the Jackson water system on Labor Day while telling reporters he is open to numerous long-term solutions, including leasing its management to a private company.
“One week ago today I stood on this podium and I told you the state was going to take historic and unprecedented steps to intervene in Jackson’s water system because it had reached a crisis level,” the governor said at a Monday morning press conference in the capital city. “Not only were there issues with the quality of the water, but with the quantity of the water. The city could not produce enough running water for Jacksonians.”
The Republican governor said health officials told him this morning that the beleaguered O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant is now “pumping out cleaner water than we’ve seen for a very, very long time.” He said he is hopeful that “we will be able to measure potential for clean water and the removal of the boil water notice” within “days, not weeks or months.”
“We know that it is always possible that there will be more severe challenges. This water system broke over several years and it would be inaccurate to claim it is totally solved in the matter of less than a week,” he said. “… There may be more bad days in the future. We have however reached a place where people in Jackson can trust that water will come out of the faucet, toilets can be flushed and fires can be put out.”
Despite his optimism, the governor cautioned that while “the risk with respect to quantity of water has not been eliminated, it has been significantly reduced.” Jackson currently remains under the boil water notice that began on July 29, 2022.
Pearl, Miss- The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency will transition three water distribution sites as water pressure improves at the O.B. Curtin Water Treatment Plant. The three school locations will close Monday, September 5, at 6:30 p.m., in anticipation of students returning to the classroom. “As water pressure drastically improves at the water treatment plant, we feel comfortable closing three of our distribution sites while expanding at some remaining sites,” says MEMA Executive Director Stephen McCraney. “This is a good thing. It means students can get back to learning,” adds McCraney. The only site that will not expand is the Davis Road Park location. That operation is at maximum capacity.
Since the opening of these distribution sites on Thursday, September 1, the state has disbursed: 4,998,384 bottles of water. There are 153 truckloads of water en route, as well.
These sites will close at 6:30 p.m. Monday, September 5
Thomas Cardozo Middle School
3180 McDowell RD Ext
Jackson
Northwest Jackson Middle School
7020 Highway 49
Jackson
Hinds Community College Jackson
3925 Sunset Drive
Jackson
Each POD will be open for water pick-up daily from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. until further notice.
The remaining points-of-distribution (POD) sites are:
State Fairgrounds
1207 Mississippi Street
Jackson, MS
Metro Center Mall
3645 Highway 80
Jackson, MS
Smith Wills Stadium
1200 Lakeland Dr
Jackson, MS
Davis Road Park
2300 Davis Road (Byram)
Terry, MS 39170
Every site except the Mississippi Fairgrounds will also be providing non-potable water. Affected residents are asked to bring sealable containers to collect non-potable water for sanitation needs such as washing clothes, flushing toilets, personal hygiene, etc.
The Mississippi National Guard continues to help the efforts by providing guardsmen and operating the water distribution sites. “Adaptability to ever-changing mission requirements is something the Soldiers and Airmen of the Mississippi National Guard have learned to do very well. The consolidation of distribution sites allowing schools to welcome students back is great news. We continue to coordinate with our partnering agencies to support in any way we can. We are here to serve,” said Maj. Gen. Janson D. Boyles, the Adjutant General of Mississippi.
The state of Mississippi remains committed to working diligently to resolve the water issues and provide safe drinking water for the citizens of Jackson.
The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency’s Call Center remains OPEN for residents affected by the Jackson Water Crisis. This call center will be a place for residents to turn to get information on available resources.
The call center number is: 1-833-591-6362
Hours of Operation: Sunday-Saturday: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
September 4, 2022 marked the 140th anniversary of the world’s first electricity generation station at 257 Pearl Street in lower Manhattan (NYC). Thomas Edison dreamed it up and built it. The electricity came from six 27-ton “jumbo” dynamos powered by coal. At the start, Edison’s system delivered 600 kilowatts to 85 customers with 400 lamps, all within a quarter square mile of the station.
The system contained numerous innovations to include Edison’s incandescent light bulb. From that humble beginning, Edison’s brainchild has become critical infrastructure for civilization and a primary enabler of human flourishing.
Remarkably, 140 years of technological advancement later, coal is still the primary fuel used to generate electricity worldwide with a market share of 36.7%. In the U.S., coal’s share is 21.8%, which ranks second to natural gas at 38.3%.
These are ironic facts when one considers the massive efforts by many to consign coal to the ash heap of history. There is even richer irony in the trials, tribulations, brownouts and blackouts that are inflicting many of the most advanced economies across the planet. For those who don’t follow the European scene, there is an energy and electricity crisis roiling the U.K. and European economies with massive price increases and even shortages of firewood as winter approaches.
The past year has been a renaissance of sorts for electricity fuels. Even as financial markets have stumbled the past 12 months, fuels for electricity have enjoyed a bull market: Coal is up 140% to $427 a ton and natural gas is up 85% to $8.82 per MMBtu. It’s a puzzling development that flies in the face of the global zeitgeist to move the world to net-zero emissions.
Today’s electric grid is a massively complex and elaborate system designed to generate electricity, deliver it through elaborate transmission systems, substations, and distribution networks to billions of outlets at very stable voltage levels. And have it available everywhere at anytime with the flip of a switch. This is no easy task. If everything works as designed, you get “on-demand” electricity. And that is what the public has come to expect at a reasonable price.
The fly in the ointment of today’s amazingly complex electric system is the intermittent nature of renewables and their increasing market share of the fuel mix. In theory, free wind and sunshine sound great but the reality has been anything but. When the penetration of wind and solar get above 10% to 15% of the fuel mix, the grid management becomes much more difficult and the stability of the grid suffers. Imagine conducting a symphony orchestra when the woodwinds section is only available when the breeze is blowing briskly. Electricity is very hard to store at an industrial scale which marginalizes the utility of intermittent sources.
Grid instability caused by heavy reliance on intermittent renewables has already wracked Europe and the U.K. and California is now caught in a similar crisis. California’s electricity mix includes 14% solar and 11% wind. Facing rolling blackouts, the
A shooting incident at Forrest Glen (Bonhomie) Apartments has led to the arrest of six juveniles.
According to an HPD press release by Ryan Moore, the Hattiesburg Police Department has charged six Lamar County juveniles in connection to multiple felony crimes and recovered 16 weapons. The investigation was assisted by the Lamar County Sheriff’s Department.
One male 15-year-old, two male 14-year-olds, two male 13-year-olds, and one male 12-year old, all of Lamar County, have been charged with multiple felonies.
The charges and incidents are listed below:
Two counts of aggravated assault in reference to the 1810 Country Club Road shooting that occurred on Sept. 3, 2022, that injured two.
Two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling in reference to 1810 Country Club Road and Blakenship Circle that occurred on Sept. 3, 2022. (No injuries were reported)
A 13-year-old & 15-year-old are both also charged with one count of grand larceny auto in reference to a stolen vehicle from the Hub City on Sept. 1, 2022.
At this time, the 13-year-old & 15-year-old are also charged with one count of commercial burglary, in reference to Heritage Firearms being burglarized and nine guns stolen on Thursday Sept. 1, 2022.
With the joint investigation, 18 weapons were recovered at a residence on Dale Drive, in Lamar County. Additional charges are pending from both agencies as portions of the investigation continues. Five of the juveniles have been booked into the Forrest County Jail, and one juvenile was sent to the Forrest County Juvenile Detention Center.
The related crimes qualify the juveniles to be charged as adults. In Mississippi, when a crime is committed by a juvenile while using a handgun, the law requires that they be charged as adults.
A woman on Facebook stated,
“They started shooting at my kids and other kids that were playing in the circle on Friday and came back again Saturday…”
The inability of Mississippi’s capital and largest city to produce safe drinking water, if any water at all, is not a good look for political leaders both on the state and local levels.
It would at least provide citizens a little reassurance to think their elected leaders were working together to solve the crisis. For the most part — but not always — city and state leaders have conveyed in recent days that they were.
When Gov. Tate Reeves announced in late August a state of emergency because of the failure of the Jackson water system, he tried to establish a sense of collaboration and of common goal shared by both the primarily African American Democratic leadership of the city and the primarily white Republican leadership of the state.
That has not always been the case. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has not shied away from using language like “paternalistic” and “racist” in describing how the state’s white power structure has dealt with Jackson. And Reeves has gone out of his way to criticize Democratic leaders, often Black leaders of large cities, using his own incendiary language.
But that rhetoric subsided for a time after Reeves issued the state of emergency last week.
“Those who want to drive division and those who want to try to focus this effort … there will be plenty of time for that. But what we are focused on right now is the immediate recovery from this emergency,” Reeves said. “We have a unified command center.”
For his part, Lumumba has praised the fact that the state was agreeing to help with both manpower and finances to repair a water system that he had been saying publicly for months was on the brink of failure.
Granted, separate press conference — the African American mayor surrounded by Black members of his administration, and the white governor flanked by white male leaders in state government — could be seen as a troublesome optic. It created images of the separate but equal old South.
But Lumumba himself shot down those comparisons.
“I’ve heard people say we’re having dueling press conferences,” Lumumba said. “That is not how I would characterize it.”
And later in the week, Lumumba and Reeves had a joint news conference.
“I believe my representation here is a symbol of the unity that is taking place — a symbol of the coalition that is working arm in arm to ensure we keep the most primary focus on the residents of Jackson,” the mayor said.
“As the governor said, there may be a time when other questions come forward, but right now what we are focused on is this unified effort.”
In a time of an embarrassing crisis, it can at least present a positive image of the state to see white and African American politicians, white and Black Mississippians working together to help people in need.
But remember this is Mississippi, and such cooperation can be tenuous or short-lived. Less than 24 hours after the joint news conference, Hunter Estes, Reeves’ communications director, put out a social media statement saying the mayor’s announcement of another joint news conference was wrong.
“We have not invited city politicians to these substantive state press conferences on our repairs, because they occur to provide honest information about the state’s work. We are investigating why they are releasing misinformation.” Even the governor jumped in on social media, to say, yes, “accurate importation is important.”
Perhaps a phone call instead of social media post would be a sensible way to conduct that investigation.
Regardless of Estes’ troll, for the most part both the mayor and governor have been conveying a sense of cooperation.
But the question — and it is perhaps the most important question surrounding this crisis — is whether that cooperation will continue once the immediate problem is solved. The ongoing effort to restore water pressure and quality is in reality putting a Band-Aid on a much bigger problem.
This is not the first time that Jacksonians have been beset with empty faucets. It happened most notably during the winter storm of 2021 and multiple other times in recent years.
The current problem was caused by flooding and the inability of the city to adequately staff its water treatment plants. But other issues, such as 1,500 miles of water pipes — some more than 100 years old — running throughout the city, create a much bigger problem. That problem, the mayor has said, will cost more than a $1 billion to fix.
It is hard to envision that fix happening without additional cooperation between city and state leaders and perhaps federal officials.
That cooperation is needed to prevent Mississippi from remaining a national laughingstock — one that cannot provide the basics to its citizens.
JACKSON, Miss. – In order to repair the ammonia leak that was identified earlier this week at the O.B. Curtis Water Plant, officials will be transferring product from the leaking tank.
During the transfer of product and while emptying the leaking tank for repair, there may be a controlled burn-off of the gas that may cause a visible flare into the sky. There is no need for concern, and there is no threat to the public. The burn-off will take place intermittently throughout the day today.
Anhydrous Ammonia is a colorless non-flammable liquefied gas. Its vapor is lighter than air and has the same pungent odor as household ammonia. A propane flare is established at the site to burn-off any gas that may escape the transfer of product and repair of the leaking ammonia tank.
“Again, there is no danger to the public through this controlled burn,” said Jim Craig, MSDH Senior Deputy and Director of Health Protection. “This will put us one step closer to bringing safe and sustainable water to the citizens of Jackson.”
Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel arrived at the O.B. Curtis treatment plant on Friday to provide technical assistance as Jackson restores pressure in its drinking water system.
“The funding is available to support the temporary measures to reestablish the (water) pressure but also to sustain that pressure while they’re looking at the more permanent repairs,” Criswell said. “What the emergency declaration does not do is support the permanent repairs for this facility.”
The emergency declaration also frees up funding to reimburse Mississippi for bringing clean water into Jackson, as well as for staffing the plant, she said. Criswell added while the declaration lasts for 90 days, FEMA can reevaluate during that time to decide whether or not to extend its support for a longer period.
Jim Craig, senior deputy and director at the Mississippi State Department of Health, said the pressure at O.B. Curtis climbed back up to 85 pounds per square inch (PSI) on Friday, but later dropped back down to 77 PSI because of a “chemical imbalance.” Craig clarified that the city’s equipment for measuring the pH and turbidity of the water before it enters the plant is not working, meaning that it takes longer for the operators to treat the water.
Craig also estimated that both of the plant’s out-of-service pumps, which led to water pressure issues for Jackson in early August, will be “back on site” on Sept. 9.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba warned that while progress is being made to increase water pressure, doing so may cause the city’s decades-old distribution lines to burst in the coming days.
Earlier Friday, Lumumba appeared with Rep. Bennie Thompson, White House senior advisor Mitch Landrieu, and FEMA Coordinating Officer Allan Jarvis at Grove Park, where reporters got photos of the officials handing out cases of water to a line of cars. Landrieu was scheduled to appear with Gov. Tate Reeves and Criswell at their press conference later on, but was not present.
FEMA Coordinating Officer Allan Jarvis (left), Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Rep. Bennie Thompson, and White House senior advisor Mitch Landrieu speaking to reporters at a water distribution event at Grove Park in Jackson, Sept. 2, 2022. Credit: Alex Rozier/Mississippi Today / Mississippi Today
Friday began with a miscommunication between the governor’s office and Jackson officials, who announced that Reeves and Lumumba were set to hold a press conference together that afternoon. Within an hour, the governor’s communications director Hunter Estes tweeted that the release was false.
“We have not invited city politicians to these substantive state press conferences on our repairs,” Estes wrote, “because they occur to provide honest information about the state’s work. We are investigating why they are releasing misinformation.”
City spokesperson Justin Vicory quickly let reporters know afterwards that there would be no such briefing.
The mix-up came a day after Reeves and Lumumba first appeared at a press conference together since this week’s water crisis began. The mayor called his presence there a “symbol of the unity that is taking place.”
