The Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters Executive Committee is proud to unanimously pass this resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement on this day, Juneteenth*, 2020:
We are deeply moved by the organizing efforts of hundreds of thousands of people in support of racial equity, justice, and safety for Black Americans in our country.
We denounce the violence of the few opportunists who distort the focus from a just cause. We praise the numerous police officers who are visibly supportive of peaceful protest and are demanding police reform.
We recognize that protest in the streets is the foundation upon which unions were built.
We remember that countless brothers and sisters have shed blood and died for the right to organize, the right to safety, the right to an 8-hour day, the right to provide for their families.
We reject the current and past attempts of anti-worker agendas to divide working people over race. We lament our own difficult past, when unions (including ours) have blocked entry to People of Color, specifically Black Americans.
We are deeply committed to engaging in stronger education and engagement on racial justice to grow understanding and unity among working people.
We recognize that conversations about race and injustice are complex and uncomfortable.
We invite our members and our communities to join this conversation with respect, humility, passion, and grace.
Black Lives Matter because humanity matters. Truer than ever: United we stand, divided we fall.
*History of Juneteenth:
Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – which had become official January 1, 1863. Click HERE for more