Augusta Thomas, Civil Rights, Labor Leader Honored

March 1, 2016

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(This article first appeared in the March-April 2016 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.) 


Above: The original Greensboro sit-in participants. Insert, l-r: AFGE President J. David Cox, 
Dimondstein, Ms. Thomas, and museum founders Skip Alston and Earl Jones. 

Augusta Thomas, an 80+ year-old leader of the movements for civil rights and workers’ rights, was honored with the “Sit-In Participant” award at a gala sponsored by the International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM) in Greensboro, NC, on Jan. 31.

Thomas is one of the top three officers of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), where she serves as Vice President for Women and Fair Practices.

The unions share a special bond: AFGE has shown tremendous support for the APWU’s campaign for a good contract and the fight to save the public Postal Service

Her Life Changed

Thomas’ life was transformed in 1960, when she watched on TV as four young men from Greensboro were refused service at Woolworth’s segregated lunch counter. Thomas had already participated in sit-ins in Louisville, KY, and when she saw the injustice in Greensboro, she felt compelled to go.

Despite pleas from her husband and father to stay away, the mother of six went to the scene of the confrontation. At the gala, she explained her motivation: “If I don’t go and the next person doesn’t go and the next person doesn’t go,” she thought, “who’s going to be there to help?”

After arriving in Greensboro, Thomas sat on a stool in Woolworth’s day after day. For her courageous acts, she was spit on, kicked, knocked off the stool, arrested, and jailed.

But her actions, and those of thousands of others, gave rise to a mighty movement that changed the course of history.

Back to Where it All Began

“Augusta Thomas’s life story illustrates the unity of the Civil Rights movement and the labor movement,” said President Mark Dimondstein, who serves on ICRCM’s board of directors. “To succeed, these movements must support one another.”

Dimondstein also praised the work of postal union activist and ICRCM board member Richard Koritz for bringing the award to life and for organizing a special event the following day on the “Life and Legacy of Augusta Thomas.”

The Woolworth’s store that was the site of the sit-ins was converted into the ICRCM. The original counter and stools where protesters sat has never been moved from its original footprint.


Poisoned Drinking Water: Michigan Locals Call on Governor to Resign

Three APWU locals in Michigan have called on Gov. Rick Snyder (R) to resign, charging that he allowed Flint’s drinking water to be poisoned. Members of the Flint Michigan Area Local, the Detroit District Area Local and the 480-481 Area Local voted unanimously for the governor’s ouster at union meetings in January.

A Snyder-appointed Emergency Manager switched the city’s water supply from the pristine Lake Huron to the toxic Flint River in 2014 as a cost-cutting move. The water supply was soon contaminated with lead, which causes a multitude of health problems, including cognitive impairment, especially in kids. Although Flint’s residents quickly pointed out that the water was discolored, Snyder’s administration denied there was a problem.

Children began filling up hospitals, losing hair, and suffering from rashes.

A generation of children is likely to suffer permanent damage, medical experts say. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, who works in the pediatric ward of Flint’s Hurley Medical Center, told CNN, “It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it’s been linked to criminality. It has multigenerational impacts.”

APWU President Mark Dimondstein praised the locals for taking initiative to pass the resolutions.

The resolutions called on the federal government to “pursue all appropriate legal and criminal action against all that were involved in poisoning the Flint water.”

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