White River Junction
It also was the efforts of civil rights groups and people of color that awarded Americans many of the rights they now enjoy, he said.
“I stand here today to remind you that the human rights struggle and the workers’ rights struggle for years have been one and the same,” Davis told those gathered for the annual Labor Day rally headlined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Davis told how Pullman porters — African-Americans who worked shining shoes, carrying bags and working as janitors on railways after the Civil War — contributed greatly to both the American labor and civil rights movement, forming a union that not only fought for workers’ rights, but also for desegregation.
Their struggle was one for dignity and who deserves it, Davis said, and it’s a fight that isn’t over, not even in the progressive bastion of Vermont.
“In our home, we battle inequitable systems, minorities feeling unwelcome and a predatory criminal justice system,” he said, adding the Green Mountain State also is well situated to combat prejudice.
“Unity is needed in our society, now more than ever,” Davis said. “In the state of Vermont, the town of Hartford is the best community to lead that charge.”
However, Olivia Lapierre, a White River Junction community organizer and racial justice activist, painted a different picture of Vermont during the rally.
“Although much of the country mistakenly perceives Vermont as progressive because of politicians like Bernie Sanders and David Zuckerman, this state has one of the highest proportionally black incarceration rates in the country,” she said.
African-Americans make up a little more than 1 percent of the state’s population but are about 10 percent of its incarcerated population, Lapierre said. Across the country, she said, many of those prisoners are working manual labor and earning little to no pay, she said.
“I encourage y’all to think about whose labor is valued by labor day,” Lapierre said. ”On this day, my thoughts are with black and brown incarcerated folks.”
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive from Hinesburg, Vt., also called on people to be more vigilant of racial injustice. He reminded the crowd that state Rep. Kiah Morris, D-Bennington, recently ended her re-election bid after receiving racist threats.
“That is unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable,” Zuckerman said. “We all have to be speaking out.”
So much of the success of America is on “the backs of our black brothers and sisters,” he said, adding people need to stand up for one another.
Sanders later rallied the crowd with familiar messages, calling for a $15 minimum wage, universal health insurance, tuition-free college and equal pay for women.
It’s those ideas, and progressives that are willing to fight for them, that are leading to a “revitalization of American democracy,” Sanders said.
“More and more people going to the streets, more and more people getting involved in the political process, more and more people voting, more and more people — young people, people of color, women, people in the LGBT community — getting involved in the political process, running for office and winning elections,” he said to applause.
Sanders called this political moment one that’s “pivotal” in American history. With a president and Congress that are out of touch with average Americans, he said, it’s imperative that people elect Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
“The only way that I know how we can take on that wealth and power is to educate and to organize and to bring our people together,” he said.
People from both sides of the Connecticut River attended Monday’s rally, wearing Sanders’ campaign stickers and shirts and flocking around the lectern when it was the senator’s turn to speak.
West Lebanon resident Danielle Dearth said she began closely following Sanders while she was living in Lima, Ohio, about two years ago.
“We really heard Bernie’s message in Ohio about needing to help students with student loan debt, needing to get health care to everybody,” Dearth said, adding her former community also saw a great deal of income inequality.
“We just saw every day the two different Americas,” she said.
Others said they’re hopeful Sanders will consider another presidential campaign.
James Verrill, of McIndoe Falls, Vt., said he would like to see Sanders run again alongside a young progressive.
“Normally I would be concerned by age, but in this day and age, we can’t be,” he said. “We’ve got to get there, and if it takes Bernie to get us there, I’d love to see him run with a good, progressive female vice president.”
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com.