Letters Home

i know i’ve seen a post about this floating around before but i can’t find it rn so: the term “scab” has an antiblack history and at times has referred specifically and exclusively to black laborers. us unions were often segregated, leaving black workers to either try to form their own unions or remain unorganized and thus unable to afford striking. additionally, there is a long history of bosses offering black workers the jobs of striking white workers without admitting they were being used as strikebreakers. when we talk about the history of us labor we are very often talking about organizations that were openly, blatantly racist, and we ought to be more mindful of that.