Episode 13: Maurice Mitchell

Black Work Talk

In this thirteenth episode of Black Work Talk, Today’s guest is Maurice Mitchell. Maurice is the National Director of the Working Families Party. Since its inception, the Working Families Party has done a good job of navigating the complicated waters of combining Left political perspectives with building bases among working class people and maintaining effectiveness in the electoral arena. Maurice became national director about two years and we had a wide-ranging conversation on a variety of topics including:

• Policing and the issue of police accountability
• The need for social movements to claim their victories as we strive for greater victories
• The need for political education as we build durable progressive movements
• The importance of bringing a class analysis to an understanding of racial oppression.

For more background on Maurice Mitchell and the Working Families Party, here are links to some articles:

https://forgeorganizing.org/article/one-two-punch-how-green-new-deal-fights-ecofascism-and-racialized-capitalism

https://workingfamilies.org/2021/03/wfp-on-american-jobs-plan-we-need-to-build-back-a-lot-bigger/

https://forgeorganizing.org/article/our-movements-beat-trump-now-what

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/police-accountability-protests/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/2021/04/12/what-happened-biden-pledge-have-backs-black-america-column/7192178002/