Co-Author with Amy Sonnie to be published late 2010
What happens when poor and working-class whites, inspired by the CivilRights Movement and the Black Panther Party, start to organize their own at once against racism and towards a radical class politics? The women and men of Jobs or Income Now Community Union, Young PatriotsOrganization, Rising Up Angry, White Lightning and October 4thOrganization kept the vision of an interracial movement of the pooralive and offer valuable lessons for today's activists.
This book explores a part of the story of the New Left largely ignoredby historians and commentators on the sixties and seventies. Thegroups detailed here were characterized by a commitment toradicalizing the white working class; independence from the studentmovement, and a dedication to organizing communities for the longhaul. They focused on bridging the racial divide through coalitionswith organizations of color.The groups challenged the Right and competed for the allegiance ofwhite workers. Although by the end of the seventies,the right hadconsildated large swaths of power, these groups formed a crucial linkin reinventing an inclusive class politics. For a moment, it seemedthat white supremacy might be placed in the dustbin of history.
