On August 28, the right-wing populist Tea Party Movement, an assortment of conservative organizations, and Fox News commentator Glenn Beck will descend on Washington, D.C. for the so-called “Restoring the Honor” rally. For the black freedom movement, August 28 marks the 47th anniversary of the great March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Dr. King’s oratorical benchmark “I Have a Dream” speech. The selection of this day by the Tea Party Movement and Glenn Beck is blatantly intended to tarnish the memory of that historic day when the Civil Rights Movement marched to demand that President Kennedy and Congress end Jim Crow in the South and extend full citizenship rights to African-Americans.

According to President Obama, America has come “90 percent of the way” towards ending racism. This statement, however, is violently contradicted by the brutal police killing of Oscar Grant, a young black man, by a police officer in Oakland, CA on New Years Day. The case provoked angry demonstrations in Oakland after the police officer was recently found guilty of involuntary manslaughter—by a jury without a single black member. This drives another nail in the coffin of the idea about the “end of racism” that Obama holds so dear.

On May 17 several undocumented immigrant youth staged a sit-in at Arizona Senator John McCain’s office demanding he support the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) sponsored by Senators Dick Durbin and Richard Lugar.

The neo-liberal transformation of New York City since the mid-1970s has meant increasing pain and social exclusion for working people, but especially for people of color.

To effectively combat the anti-immigrant “law and order” rhetoric, the most essential point to popularize is that the American corporate elite have created a vicious cycle with their free-trade, imperialist policies against Latin America. Decades of military adventures, covert operations and systematic economic pressures have geared much of Latin America’s economy toward the profit needs of U.S.-based multinational corporations, no matter the impact to ordinary workers and farmers in those countries.

Spring 2010 was a season of resurgence for the immigrant rights movement, with the largest demonstrations since the immigrant rights movement erupted in 2006. Anger was already building at stepped up ICE raids, deportations, and lack of action from Congress or Obama on comprehensive immigration reform. On March 21, 200,000 marched on Washington demanding reform.

In the spring of 2006, millions of immigrants, overwhelmingly Latino and working class, came onto the streets of dozens of cities and towns, culminating in the rebirth of May Day in the United States. This represented the beginnings of the first real mass social movement in this country in a generation. The scale of the protests caught most of the organizers completely by surprise. It was nothing less than the uprising of one of the most exploited and oppressed sections of the population and was reminiscent of the Civil Rights movement of the 50s and 60s. It also demonstrated the enormous social tinder lying just under the surface of American society as well as the rapidity with which real developments in the working class can occur.

Arizona Republican leaders have thrown down the gauntlet to immigrants with new racist legislation. Anyone who “reasonably” looks like an “illegal” immigrant must be stopped by the police and forced to cough up documents and identification. When asked what an undocumented worker looks like, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer had no answer. Clearly, the bill will affect anyone with brown skin or an accent.

This year’s May 1st, International Workers’ Day, was marked by hundreds of thousands marching to support immigrant rights. In over 80 cities across the U.S. actions included marches, rallies and student walkouts as well as civil disobedience. Following on the heels of the 200,000 strong March 21st immigrant rights rally in Washington DC, the movement had already been developing momentum due to the built up frustration on lack of action from Congress or the Obama White House. The recent passage of the racist anti-immigrant law SB 1070 in Arizona just added fuel to the fire, all but promising the May 1st demos would be much bigger than previously anticipated.

On March 21 of this year, the immigrant worker rights movement was reborn with hundreds of thousands protesting in Washington, D.C. An “immigration reform” bill is being discussed in the halls of power, co-sponsored by Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Lindsey Graham. While many immigrants’ rights activists are excited for the prospect of this bill passing, the legislation would leave many workers as indentured servants under a guest worker program while tax-payer money would be wasted on militarization of the border.

On March 21 of this year, the immigrant worker rights movement was reborn with hundreds of thousands protesting in Washington, D.C. An “immigration reform” bill is being discussed in the halls of power, co-sponsored by Democrat Charles Schumer and Republican Lindsey Graham. While many immigrants’ rights activists are excited for the prospect of this bill passing, the legislation would leave many workers as indentured servants under a guest worker program while tax-payer money would be wasted on militarization of the border.

According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2007, African Americans still can expect to live 6-10 fewer years than whites and face higher rates of illness.

Black History Month in February will mark just over a year since the election of Barack Obama. Still, in this Black History Month and beyond, the real day-to-day lives for tens of millions of African Americans forces the question: Is the rise of this one man also the rise of the great mass of black people? And if not, what gives?

Former President Carter said in September that racism is playing a significant role in the mounting opposition to President Obama by the right wing. The politics of racism are once again on display, as the forces of right-wing mass media and reaction look to divide and confuse the working class.

On July 16, world-renowned African American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was questioned and arrested in his own Cambridge home as though he was an intruder. A neighbor had called 911 after seeing what she thought might be a burglary in progress. It was just Gates and his driver trying to force open the front door, which was jammed.