Soul Force, Part II

05/05/22 • 31 min

Civil rights icon, Reverend James Lawson Jr., shares his recollections of the 1960s and working closely with Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend Lawson presents the nonviolent movement in America as the "nuclear engine" of the mid-20th century civil rights movement, and as a strategic series of organizing campaigns for racial and economic justice. This is the second part of our miniseries on Reverend James Lawson Jr. Transcript: bit.ly/soulforcepart2 This episode contains material from Rev. Lawson's UCLA Labor Studies course, Nonviolence and Social Movements, which he teaches with UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong. To watch the class, visit bit.ly/UCLALawson. Books by Rev. Lawson: bit.ly/revolutionarynonviolence books.labor.ucla.edu/nonviolence Related Links: irle.ucla.edu/labor-studies/comm...-social-movements/ newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/ucla-cla...ther-king-legacy newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/dedicat...ing-james-lawson newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/james-la...lding-dedication

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Soul Force, Part 1

On Dec. 11, 2021, the UCLA Labor Center’s historic MacArthur Park building was officially named the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, in honor of a civil and worker rights icon who has been teaching at UCLA for the last 2 decades. In this episode of Re:Work, 93-year-old Rev. Lawson shares stories from his youth, and how he came to discover soul force and the path of nonviolence. Transcript: bit.ly/soulforcepart1 This episode contains material from Rev. Lawson's UCLA Labor Studies course, Nonviolence and Social Movements, which he teaches with UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong. To watch the class, visit bit.ly/UCLALawson. Books by Rev. Lawson: bit.ly/revolutionarynonviolence books.labor.ucla.edu/nonviolence Related Links: https://irle.ucla.edu/labor-studies/community-engagement/nonviolence-social-movements/ https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/ucla-class-connects-students-to-martin-luther-king-legacy https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/dedication-ceremony-labor-center-building-james-lawson https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/james-lawson-labor-center-building-dedication

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Re:Work presents "Hunger Strike!" (from Self Evident and AZI Media)

We’ve partnered with Self Evident, and are excited to share an episode from their show! Self Evident is a podcast focused on the full range of Asian American perspectives, which are too often erased from the national discourse. This episode is a collaboration between Self Evident and AZI Media, and is part of a project called “Advancing Democracy” by the Solutions Journalism Network. When Augustine Tang’s father passed away, Augustine decided to inherit his taxi medallion – the license that had allowed his father to drive a yellow taxi cab in New York City for decades. But the medallion came with a $530,000 debt trap and years of struggling to escape it. Augustine’s friend Kenny, a fellow taxi cab driver, committed suicide. So did several other drivers who were crushed under the weight of these impossible debts. In hopes of preventing another death, Tang joined a push by the local taxi drivers’ union, to campaign for debt relief. And eventually, city resistance to worker demands culminated in a 15-day hunger strike to convince City Hall that immigrant taxi drivers deserved a fair deal. The drivers’ struggles for livable working conditions showed how political power doesn’t just come down to votes. It’s a reminder how strong collective will can be, especially for those often silenced and ignored by our imperfect democracy. Please take a short survey after listening at tinyurl.com/azitaxi — to help Self Evident fund more stories like this one!