AFSCME in San Francisco – Lucy: “Our fight is to slay privatization and to save this nation!”

by   |  July 29, 2008

Day 2 of AFSCME's 38th International Convention: AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy delivered the main address to delegates today. In his speech, Lucy called the fight against privatization nothing less than a fight to save our nation. Lucy also spoke movingly of the long history that led up to June 3rd, the day Barack Obama won enough votes to secure the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States. Said Lucy:

“To understand Tuesday night, June 3rd, you have to understand the journey from Goree Island to Charleston, South Carolina, crossing over five thousand miles of ocean chained in the bottom of a ship… To understand Tuesday night, June 3rd, you have to understand the sacrifice of Fannie Lou Hamer, Viola Liuzzo, Rosa Parks, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, Jimmy Lee Jackson, Medgar Evers, E.D. Nixon, the walkers in Montgomery and the marchers in Selma, and the four little girls in a church in Birmingham... And as we look toward the future we do so understanding that nothing is certain but all things are possible.”

Watch an excerpt below: