Thanks to everyone who helped make the AJRC 2nd Annual Fundraising Dinner a great success! Over 80 people attended. It was a thoroughly multicultural evening, reflecting the many communities we have worked with over the past two-plus years.
The dinner was a joint fundraiser held with the Wisconsin Injured Workers Network, which catered the meal. Music was provided by Raices Mexicanos, a three-member guitar group that donated their services. The evening’s program was co-chaired by Lutecia Gonzalez and Gwen Wood of AJRC, with Lutecia giving an historical overview of the organization.
Patricia Cooper, welfare rights activist and leading member of AJRC, gave an update on recent developments in the struggle against W-2. Our close friend Robert Miranda reported on the successful community campaign to push back the racist "English Only" bill, a campaign which he helped to lead.
James Cameron, Director of America’s Black Holocaust Museum, made an inspiring presentation on the modern struggle against the Ku Klux Klan. Rose Lee, Coordinator of Sisters By Choice, addressed the "Urban Crisis", particularly as it affects the Black community. Bill Koenen of the Sokaogon Chippewa community in Mole Lake, Wisc. gave an update on the struggle to stop Exxon’s Crandon mine next door to the Sokaogon Chippewa’s Mole Lake reservation. Stan Yasaitis, president of AFSCME Local 82 in Milwaukee, spoke on building the alliance between organized labor and the community. All these speakers are members of the AJRC Advisory Committee. AJRC Coordinator Phil Wilayto addressed the question, "Solving the Crisis of Capitalism: Reform or Revolution?" (The answer was Revolution.)
Also recognized at the dinner were Advisory Committee members Evelyn and Lamorn Morris of Freedom of Residence, Freeport, Ill.; John Johnson, former president of AFSCME Local 3362, Rockford, Ill.; and longtime Madison activist Norm Stockwell.
Each guest received a 33-page Commemorative Journal with a pictorial history of the organization, greetings from over 150 organizations and individuals and 21 pages of ads.
Special thanks to labor singer/songwriter Anne Feeney who ended the evening with an original song.