BY HEATHER WOOD
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - As part of the effort in Minnesota to
build the Young Socialists convention, YS members organized a
speaking tour here November 11 - 13 for Maithong Yang, a leader
of the Young Socialists from Los Angeles. The convention-
building tour consisted of four informal meetings with students
at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Macalester
College in St. Paul, and St. Olaf College in Northfield. In
addition, Yang spoke at a Militant Labor Forum on defending
abortion rights.
Yang was invited to speak on campuses about fighting racist, sexist, and homophobic attacks in the wake of the recent lynching of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming and assassination of Dr. Barnett Slepian in New York state. In addition, Macalester students asked her to speak about student-labor solidarity. In her remarks, Yang pointed to the response of workers and students to right-wing attacks and encouraged students to be a part of organizing protest actions on their campuses.
Twenty-seven students came to a dinner meeting at St. Olaf College, sponsored by the Political Awareness Committee. Before the meeting, a couple of students stopped by a table the Young Socialists had set up and talked about a walkout they organized on their campus two years ago to protest the school's lack of diversity. In her remarks, Yang pointed to this example, spoke about attacks on affirmative action and bilingual education in California, and asked what students are doing currently to organize around diversity issues at their school. One student, LáCrystal Cooke, explained some of the problems of being Black at an almost all-white school. "You think it's cold outside? It's cold in here!" Cooke stated. Later she took a subscription blank for the Militant and talked to YS members about attending the convention in Los Angeles.
Seventeen students attended an informal lunch discussion on Friday with Yang at the Asian American Student Cultural Center (AASCC) at the University of Minnesota. The meeting was organized with the help of the Hmong Student Association. Most of the students present were members of the Hmong Student Association, other subgroups within the AASCC, and Africana Student Cultural Center, the university's Black student center. Following the meeting, one student asked for information about the YS convention, explaining that he would like to learn more about the organization.
In addition to the campus meetings, one of the highlights of Yang's visit here was meeting with members of CAAR (Community Action Against Racism). CAAR is an organization led by Hmong youth, which sprang out of racist attacks that occurred on local radio station KQRS's "Morning Show" with Tom Barnard. Barnard's used his June 9 airtime to belittle Hmong culture and the community with offensive remarks such as, "Assimilate or hit the goddamn road!" Following the racist attacks, young people in the community formed CAAR and organized two successful public protests demanding a public apology from KQRS and an end to racist slanders on air. KQRS was forced to back down and issue public apologies. Yang participated in a meeting with activists in CAAR to plan a victory celebration that is scheduled for November 21.
Out of the speaking tour, YS members met five students who expressed interest in attending the convention. One student from St. Olaf College is coming to St. Paul on November 21 to participate in the CAAR victory celebration with members of the Young Socialists, attend a YS-sponsored class, and help with a dinner planned by the YS to raise money for the convention that evening. He is interested in attending the YS convention.
A political science student from St. Benedict near St. Cloud, Katie Knutson, who met the YS at a book fair in Chicago last spring, will be attending the convention as well. Knutson has been participating in weekly classes sponsored by the Young Socialists, and will be leading this week's discussion on the fight for a workers and farmers government today with readings from the pamphlet An Action Program to Confront the Coming Economic Crisis. The class is the final in a three-part series on the crisis of capitalism and the increasing fight-backs of workers and youth. At the bookstore November 15, Knutson bought a copies of New International no. 10 featuring "Imperialism's March toward Fascism and War," the Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions, and The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State.
On November 20, the Militant Labor Forum is sponsoring a special program where young people will have an opportunity to speak out against U.S. imperialism and its war threats against Iraq. Chad McMann, a student at Macalester who helped organize Yang's visit there; Travis Henspeter, a member of Student Labor Action Coalition (SLAC) at Macalester; and John Coutley, a student at the University of Minnesota, will speak as part of a panel.
The next night is the fund-raising dinner, and a Sunday brunch and film showing will take place November 29. The YS has set a goal of raising more than $2,000 locally to help in getting YS members and contacts to Los Angeles and to contribute to the overall expenses of the convention.
So far, six people from Minnesota have plane tickets to Los Angeles for the convention.