This is how you respond to slanderous rumours

Rgular readers of the Activist won't believe this, but some lunatic from my old station (Letter carriers work out of stations) has claimed that I left white supremacist literature in the breakroom there before I left.

This is insane. No one loves people more than I do, all people, particularly those who have faced hundreds of years of oppression by white colonial rapists, thieves and slavemasters. So to have this allegation come out on the heels of my creating the NALC 130 Community Caucus, an organization deisgned to help young people, women and people of color get more involved in the union is outrageous. And considering that as a delegate to the Central Labor Council I am an elected officeholder within my union, this is more than just an offhand remark - this is a personal attack.

So I'm going to do what John Kerry didn't have the balls to do. I'm going to come back swingin'. I've sent the following response to the editor of our newsletter with the encouragement that he sends it to everyone he has an email address for within the Post Office. He may even post it in our next monthly newsletter, the Flame. Check it out, and tell me what you think.

Open Letter to All My Fellow Workers:
An allegation has come forward recently that I left white supremacist literature at Proctor Station before I left to come to TCCF. Anyone who knows me knows that this allegation is not only false, but ridiculous on its face.

My wife is Mexican-American. I count among my personal heroes Caesar Chavez, Dr. King, and Harriet Tubman. I founded the NALC 130 Community Caucus (at www.communitycaucus.blogspot.com) to give young people, women, and people of color assistance in seeking to win positions within our union's leadership. I have spent my entire adult life advocating for economic equality and improvements in the standard of living for all workers, regardless of race, creed, or country of national origin. To me, all human beings deserve respect, for we are all aspects of one universal source, from which all good human actions originate. I do not now, nor have I in the past, ever believed that race is anything but a quirk of genetics and cultural history, and I would never advocate the rule of any race over another.

As far as I can tell, this allegation is an attempt by someone to tarnish my reputation and to blunt my efforts to improve our society and our union. I consider this allegation a personal attack and I will not sit back and allow this libel to go unchallenged. As far as I'm concerned, when you target my character, you devalue my worth as a human being and you divide me from my fellow workers, which simply can not be allowed.

Whoever originated this complaint is welcome to contact me at tahomaactivist@yahoo.com and explain their mistake. Anything less than a direct, personal communication will be viewed as an act of dismissal, and will be likely be followed with legal action against the originator of this complaint.

Sincerely,

Jeff Richardson
Delegate to the Pierce County Central Labor Council, NALC 130

Categories: Organized Labor, Personal Stuff