James Harris (politician)

James Harris (politician)

James Harris (born 1948) is an African American communist politician.

Harris is a member of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was the party's candidate for President of the United States in 1996, 2000, and served as an alternate candidate for Róger Calero in 2004 in states where Calero did not qualify for the ballot. Harris served for a time as the national organization secretary of the SWP. He was a staff writer for the socialist newsweekly " The Militant " in New York. He wrote about the mass battles in South Africa to bring down the racist apartheid system and in 1994 Harris traveled to South Africa to attend the Congress of South African Trade Unions convention.

Born into a working-class family in Cleveland, Ohio, Harris first became politically active in the civil rights movement. With growing protests against racist discrimination, tens of thousands of Black families in the city staged a school strike in the early 1960s, setting up "Freedom Schools" to study African-American history.

On graduating from high school, Harris attended Cleveland State University, where he was a founding member of the Black Student Union. He organized fellow students into demonstrations opposing the Vietnam War as well as actions against racist practices of the college, which then had only a small percentage of Black students. He became a member of the Student Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam and later served on its national staff in Washington, D.C.

Through these experiences he joined and later became a leader of the Young Socialist Alliance. He ran for school board in Cleveland on the Socialist Workers ticket in 1969, and soon after joined the Socialist Workers Party.

A supporter of the Cuban revolution, Harris participated in the second Venceremos Brigade to Cuba in 1969 along with hundreds of other youth from the United States. Brigade members cut sugar cane for a couple of months in an expression of solidarity with the efforts by millions of working people in Cuba to maximize sugar production. Working alongside Cuban workers and meeting volunteers from Vietnam, Korea, and elsewhere deepened his sense of internationalism.

Harris moved to Atlanta in the early 1970s, and joined in the struggles of the Black community against police brutality. At the time, a number of young Blacks had been killed by police SWAT squad units. Later Harris helped mobilize supporters of Black rights in Atlanta to join actions in Boston in the battle for busing and school desegregation in that city.

In 1977 Harris moved to New York to join the staff of the National Student Coalition Against Racism, which had helped lead mobilizations for school desegregation. He became a national chairperson of the coalition.

Harris later worked in a garment factory in Los Angeles, as the SWP deepened its industrial base by building units of party members in the garment unions. In Los Angeles he was the chairperson of the SWP in the city.

He also participated in brigades to defend the Nicaraguan revolution in the mid-1980s, and joined a delegation to visit revolutionary Grenada in the early 1980s.

Harris lived and worked in Detroit in the early 1990s and was a member of the United Auto Workers there. He helped broaden solidarity with labor struggles such as those of workers on strike against Caterpillar. Harris spent several months in Peoria, Illinois, helping establish a branch of the Socialist Workers Party there in response to the battle by members of the UAW against Caterpillar.

Harris is a strong critic of the death-penalty and he has been active in a struggle against police brutality in Valdosta, Georgia, and has participated in activity with the People's Tribunal, an organization fighting to win justice for the family of Willie James Williams, killed while in police custody in that southern Georgia town.

Harris is currently on the No Fly List in the United States.

External links

* [http://www.themilitant.com/ The Militant, weekly paper of the Socialist Workers Party]
* [http://www.pathfinderpress.com Pathfinder Books, the bookstore of the Socialist Workers Party]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before=James "Mac" Warren
title=Socialist Workers Party Presidential candidate
years=1996 (lost), 2000 (lost),
after=Róger Calerosu|p=1


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • James Harris — may refer to:* James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury (1746 ndash;1820) *James Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury (1807 ndash;1889) *James Harris (American football) (born 1947), first modern black professional American football quarterback to start a… …   Wikipedia

  • James Harris, 5th Earl of Malmesbury — James Edward Harris, 5th Earl of Malmesbury, DL (December 18 1872 ndash;June 12 1950), styled Viscount FitzHarris from 1889 to 1899, was a British peer and Conservative politician. Malmesbury was the eldest son of Edward Harris, 4th Earl of… …   Wikipedia

  • Jim Harris (politician) — James R. M. Jim Harris (born February 12, 1961) is a Canadian author, environmentalist, and politician. He was leader of the Green Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006, when he was succeeded by Elizabeth May.Early life and Green activismHarris was… …   Wikipedia

  • Matthew Harris (politician) — Matthew Harris (also Mat or Matt) (1826–13 April 1890) was an Irish Fenian, Land Leaguer, nationalist politician and MP. in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and, as member of the Irish Parliamentary Party,… …   Wikipedia

  • Dan Harris (politician) — Dan Harris MP Member of the Canadian Parliament for Scarborough Southwest Taking office May 2, 2011 Succeeding Michelle Simson Personal details Born …   Wikipedia

  • Jack Harris (politician) — John James Jack Harris (born October 27, 1948 in St. John s, Newfoundland) is a Canadian politician and lawyer. He is the former leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party.Harris became a member of the Canadian House of Commons… …   Wikipedia

  • James H. Harris — Infobox Military Person name=James H. Harris born= died= death date|1898|1|28 placeofbirth=Saint Mary s County, Maryland placeofdeath= placeofburial= caption=Sergeant James H. Harris nickname= allegiance= United States of America branch= United… …   Wikipedia

  • James H. Harris (NC politician) — James Henry Harris (1832 1891) was an African American politician in North Carolina. Harris was born into slavery in Granville County, North Carolina but became free about 1848. He left the state and attended Oberlin College in Ohio. After the… …   Wikipedia

  • James Strang — James J. Strang edit data …   Wikipedia

  • James Morrison — James or Jim Morrison (or Morison) is the name of several persons:In music:* James Morrison (fiddler) (1893 1947), Irish fiddler * Jim Morrison (James Douglas Morrison) (1943 1971), lead singer of The Doors * James Neil Morrison (born 1960), aka… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”