I simply cannot ignore what is happening right now. The recent mass slaughter of innocent life in El Paso and Dayton is weighing heavy on my heart.
It was less than two years ago that a madman stood from a perch just down the street at Mandalay Bay and committed the worst mass shooting in American history.
Since then, there's been massacres at schools and stores and synagogues. And our political system-with its division and distraction and outright incompetence-has failed to deliver a coherent solution to this national crisis.
Americans are being scapegoated, minimized, dehumanized and told to go back where they came from. Racist dog whistles have been replaced with megaphones. Women are openly degraded and discriminated. The free press is under attack. The very foundation of our democracy is being chipped away.
And America's welcome mat, long a beacon of hope for immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, including my parents, is being bulldozed and paved over, replaced with a clear message: "you're not welcome here."
The El Paso shooter traveled more than 600 miles to kill Mexican immigrants. Let that sink in for a minute. In moments like this, it is easy to say America has lost her way. But I think it's even worse than that. The forces of greed in our nation, both elected and not, are pulling America apart, deliberately and strategically, in order to line their own pockets.
Dr. King called the labor-hater and the race-baiter a twin-headed creature. He understood that the guardians of the status quo want us poor, weak and divided. Today, they are laughing all the way to the bank. The cure for this cancer has always been the same: solidarity. I'm talking about real solidarity, not empty gestures and bandwagon posturing. The type of solidarity where the outcome is still uncertain-and it may cost you in the short-term.
Solidarity is most important when times are tough and disagreements are strong-when it's so dark, you can't see your hand in front of your face. How we respond to the challenges and opportunities of today and in the days to come will define who and what we are as a labor movement, as a nation and as a generation. Together, we are the strongest force for good in the history of the world. Apart, we are nothing more than competing tribes fighting over the scraps that fall off the table.
In the richest country in the world...at our richest point in history...every worker should be paid enough to support their family. One job should be enough! No one should go broke just because they get sick. No one should be afraid of dying at work or school or the mall. No one should earn less because of their gender. No one should be fired for who they are. Everyone should have a voice. Everyone should have a fair shot and a fair shake. And everyone should be able to form a union.
My message today is this: If you want to change the direction of this country, if you want to beat back hate, if you want to save our democracy and win a new day for America's workers, come join us in the labor movement!
Editor's Note: The above opinion piece started out as a series of tweets by AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka. The tweets were assembled into an opinion piece by Texas AFL-CIO spokesperson Ed Sills.
