by Pam Verner, posted on Monday, June 25th, 2012 at 7:00 am
It was 1921. He was a young man with a bunch of hopes and dreams, just barely twenty, and entering this country from Sweden with a trunk as his only possession. He came from the farms of Sweden hoping to some day buy a farm in America. Someone there had told him it might be possible to own a farm here. It was a wild dream really, but one in which he believed.
In Sweden he knew it was an impossible dream. All the farms and all the land was owned by a small group of large moneyed families and rented out in parcels to tenants. Reuben’s family had been tenant farmers for generations and generations, able to eke out a living but never able to build a secure foundation from which a family can grow. As far back as records can document, no one in his family had ever owned any of the land they farmed.
And so for over two decades in America, Reuben toiled the land. Milked the cows. Learned to read and write English. Fell in love. Married a farmer’s daughter named Rose. Had three boys. And did buy that farm.
Amber Hollibaugh of Queers for Economic Justice argues that though there’s plenty to be proud of this Pride weekend, there’s still a long way to go for the LGBTQ movement.
In a major policy move, President Obama has issued an executive order that will stop the deportations of some undocumented youth. Under the administration’s plan, immigrants who meet certain requirements will not be deported if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30. We speak with one of the key lawmakers dealing with immigration reform today: Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ Immigration Task Force.
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow and Director of Climate Strategy Daniel J. Weiss explains why the Carbon Pollution Rule is important for the environment.
In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to raise the minimum wage every year once elected, but the hourly rate of $7.25 hasn’t increased since 2007. Low-wage workers now make far less than they did four decades ago. Last week Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012. It draws its name from the idea that the federal minimum wage would be $10.55 an hour now if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years. While the bill has about 20 co-sponsors so far President Obama has yet to endorse it. We speak to longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
Leah Fried of the UE, talks with Laura Flanders about the decision by Chicago factory workers to purchase the factory they once famously occupied when it was Republic Windows and Doors. Fried and Flanders spoke at Labor Notes 2012 in Chicago.
Have the elite leaders of our meritocratic society failed us? Nation Editor-at-Large Chris Hayes speaks with Editor and Publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel about the ways intelligence is used to detrimental ends, and how we can ensure it is used for good.
The Center for American Progress visited Wisconsin, one of a handful of states that have recently passed strict voter identification laws, to see how such laws disenfranchise voters
This video introduces the Bering Sea, and the animals who rely on it. Bad fishing practices have hurt this ecosystem, including the people who live near it.
Every day, far too many gay and transgender Americans are forced out of their jobs and into the ranks of the unemployed at a time when all families are struggling to stay afloat. Until Congress passes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) it will remain perfectly legal to fire someone based simply on their sexual orientation or gender identity in a majority of states in this country.
To learn more, go to http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/domestic/justice
