In These Times
06-01-2017, 07:44 PM
Welcome to Interviews for Resistance. Since election night 2016, the streets of the United States have rung with resistance. People all over the country have woken up with the conviction that they must do something to fight inequality in all its forms. But many are wondering what it is they can do. In this series, we'll be talking with experienced organizers, troublemakers and thinkers who have been doing the hard work of fighting for a long time. They'll be sharing their insights on what works, what doesn't, what’s changed and what is still the same.
Bishop Dwayne Royster: Hi, I am Bishop Dwayne Royster. I am the political director of the PICO National Network (http://www.piconetwork.org/) and PICO Action Fund (http://give.piconetwork.org/team/PAF). I also serve as the first national vice chair of the Working Families Party (http://workingfamilies.org/).
Sarah Jaffe: You are part of quite a large coalition that launched a Millions of Jobs campaign last. Tell us about that.
Dwayne: We are working with a coalition of organizations that have pressed the Congressional Progressive Caucus to come up with a plan for a jobs and infrastructure bill that will put millions of people back to work. In particular, those folks that have been really locked out of the job market, locked out of infrastructure opportunities and jobs; also making sure that we are looking towards the future and not looking towards the past by building out green jobs, by working in urban areas, making sure people of color are prioritized in the work around the infrastructure builds that need to happen, that we are building our education infrastructure across the country, building schools. We want to make sure we get parents and other people in the communities where those schools are getting built and those jobs by creating job opportunities for them.
We are really excited because we think the legislation that is going forward is going to be really progressive legislation that is going to be transformative for communities. It is not about privatization. It is actually about making sure that public dollars are put towards the public trust and that the public ultimately benefits both from the resources that are being built, but from the job opportunities that are being created at the same time.
More... (http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20182/new_progressive_coalition_calls_for_millions_of_jobs/)
Bishop Dwayne Royster: Hi, I am Bishop Dwayne Royster. I am the political director of the PICO National Network (http://www.piconetwork.org/) and PICO Action Fund (http://give.piconetwork.org/team/PAF). I also serve as the first national vice chair of the Working Families Party (http://workingfamilies.org/).
Sarah Jaffe: You are part of quite a large coalition that launched a Millions of Jobs campaign last. Tell us about that.
Dwayne: We are working with a coalition of organizations that have pressed the Congressional Progressive Caucus to come up with a plan for a jobs and infrastructure bill that will put millions of people back to work. In particular, those folks that have been really locked out of the job market, locked out of infrastructure opportunities and jobs; also making sure that we are looking towards the future and not looking towards the past by building out green jobs, by working in urban areas, making sure people of color are prioritized in the work around the infrastructure builds that need to happen, that we are building our education infrastructure across the country, building schools. We want to make sure we get parents and other people in the communities where those schools are getting built and those jobs by creating job opportunities for them.
We are really excited because we think the legislation that is going forward is going to be really progressive legislation that is going to be transformative for communities. It is not about privatization. It is actually about making sure that public dollars are put towards the public trust and that the public ultimately benefits both from the resources that are being built, but from the job opportunities that are being created at the same time.
More... (http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20182/new_progressive_coalition_calls_for_millions_of_jobs/)