3/31/2004

Educate yourself this labor month

Editorial Board
Daily Kent Stater

This week National Student Labor Month is being recognized at Kent State. The week is booked with activities and speakers trying to spark an interest toward labor issues. The events that are to be held will demonstrate how labor has improved in diverse fields, from coffee bean farmers to strippers. All students are responsible to themselves and their future work force to hear what these speakers are saying. Specific examples may not apply to many of today’s college students, but everyone faces the injustices of labor somehow, whether they recognize it or not.

The student group, Coalition for a Humane and New Global Economy (CHANGE) is providing activities to expose the student body to labor issues all week. Today, at 11 a.m., there will be a rally in Risman Plaza to energize and encourage all students to participate in the activities. Later, at 7 p.m., Staughton Lynd will speak in Room 317 of the Student Center. Lynd was a labor organizer active in Youngstown during the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1970s he worked to make sure the steel mills remained in operation there. Lynd will provide tremendous insight of historical value, which students can apply to future labor crises.

Thursday at 6 p.m., in Room 314 of the Student Center, a workshop is being held concerning the current labor issue. CHANGE has been working to sell fair trade coffee on campus with some success, and this workshop will be about potential solutions. Following at 7:30 there is a documentary titled Live Nude Girls Unite! This provocatively titled film tells how strippers from San Francisco formed a union in 1996. Attending this screening proves the relevancy and diversity of the Labor Action Week. Anybody can take part revolutionizing the work force. Those who didn’t think labor movements would affect them probably would have never expected them to affect strippers.

A benefit concert will cap off the eventful week. Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Rathskeller there will be performances by Blitz, MC Homeless, the Riverbottom Bushwhackers, Sue Jeffers and Kill the Hippies.

These activities are worth the attention of everyone. They will help students become informed adults. Labor issues could come up in any field at any time, and students should be educated about entering the workforce. Injustices similar to the specific examples that will be discussed are everywhere, and responsible citizens will recognize the need for change. As Martin Luther King Jr. argued, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.”