Americans have a gang mentality. We have an instinct to choose sides on everything from sports to politics.  Once we pledge allegiance to a powerful institution, our objective lens all but disappears.
For example, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker attempted a political coup by trying to strip union members of their collective bargaining rights, unions seized on the moment to present themselves as the voice of the left.
Many liberal and independent news organizations rallied behind unions and published numerous pro-union stories without addressing their history of racism or challenging their claim as defenders of the working class.
Unions are neither Satan nor the savior. These institutions have a long, complicated history that merits critical analysis rather than blanket support.
This history is especially rocky when it comes to people of color.
According to author Noel Ignatiev, Irish laborers in New York in the 1850s fought for the dismissal of black workers, who they saw as competition for jobs. When these workers went on strike and black workers were brought in to take their place, it eventually resulted in the New York Riot of 1863. According to Ignatiev, Irish gangs served as surrogate unions. He cites an example in 1862 when an Irish mob in Brooklyn attacked black workers in a tobacco factory, eventually setting fire to the first floor while the workers were trapped in the upper stories. The factory was only allowed to reopen when the employer agreed to fire blacks and hire Irish workers.
According to the late journalist Thomas C. Fleming, former executive director of the Sun-Reporter, most unions in San Francisco excluded blacks during the height of the movement in the 1930s. Fleming, who was a member of the Waiters Union, wrote that the American Federation of Labor didn’t support black unions. Although black unions paid dues and engaged in limited bargaining, they were denied voting rights.
Even when the storied Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters was finally granted a charter in 1937, the whites on the AFL board of directors wouldn’t speak to their newest member, legendary labor leader A. Phillip Randolph, according to Fleming.
Although unions have a history of tolerating overt racism, the backing of institutional racism is what makes some suspect in the current political discourse.
For example, Portland Public Schools and the Teachers Union have come to blows constantly, often to the detriment of students. In its effort to protect teachers, the union has backed a number of teachers, specifically in low-income schools, who don’t have the ability to reach the kids and often resort to sending children home or unnecessarily referring them to the criminal justice system rather than teaching them.
Since it’s the union’s job to protect the teachers, we can’t expect them to always have the children’s best interests in mind. Thus, we can’t let them off the hook when their actions stunt the development of younger generations, especially when the affected kids are disproportionately from poor schools and ones with high concentrations of children of color. There is no reason all sides can’t work together for the betterment of kids as well as workers.
When it comes to being indefensible, the Portland Police Union takes the cake.
The group has consistently backed officers who have harassed, beat, wrongly imprisoned and even killed low-income people and people of color.
For example, last year they derided the Use of Force Review Board for calling for the firing of Officer Ronald Frashour, who shot and killed Aaron Campbell, an unarmed black man.
They claimed it would set a dangerous precedent for police who follow the bureau’s policy and training.
Campbell, who was suicidal and grieving over the loss of his brother earlier in the day, was shot multiple times with beanbag rounds before Frashour shot and killed him with an AR-15 rifle.
Although unarmed black men getting killed by the police is an all too regular occurrence, the fact that the union attempted to brush it off as policy exemplifies the legacy of racism that unions as a whole are trying to shake.
With unions under attack from the right, this would be a great time to make those that aid in the suppression of working people and their children change their attitudes and practices.
Instead, many on the left see this as an “Us vs. Them” issue. Short memory and the desire to have an ally with lobbying power have convinced people to set aside their best interests for a manufactured greater good.
Not every union is the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters or the Colombian labor movement, whose members face the constant threat of murder from right-wing paramilitaries supported and encouraged by American free trade agreements.
The left is no stranger to getting hoodwinked by institutions with substantial political capital. When we go to battle, shouldn’t we have allies that will not just fight for us, but for our children and our communities as well? Be careful whom you hitch your wagon to.