Common Performs for Black Workers in the South

Friday's concert also features veteran activist Danny Glover

By Carla Murphy Mar 17, 2014

This Friday night, Common will headline a Jackson, Miss., concert in support of autoworkers seeking to unionize. Admission is free. Located in nearby Canton, the Nissan plant differs in one key respect from the VW plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. where workers’ in a February election with national implications, voted against joining the UAW. The Chattanooga plant is 90 percent white. The Canton plant, according to Labor South, is 80 percent black. (Blacks, immigrants, and low-wage workers, labor experts say, are all more likely to choose unions. White southern males are not.)

A couple of other things are working in the Canton workers’ favor, too. Jackson, still mourning visionary mayor Chokwe Lumumba, is a Democratic stronghold. And it’s looking like the Canton election will coincide with the 50th anniversary of Freedom Summer. Indeed, the civil rights legacy is said to be strong. One popular pro-union slogan: "Labor Rights are Civil Rights."

This Friday’s concert, "Fight 4 Justice," also features Danny Glover. We’ll be checking to see how it and other local organizing efforts impact the Canton election, as well as the larger fight to unionize the South.