Longshore Workers Speak Out on Juneteenth in San Francisco; Texas Birthplace of Juneteenth; Report from Cuba on Genocidal Oil Blockade; Massie Puts USS Liberty into Congressional Record

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On Juneteenth 2026 longshore workers in Seattle and San Francisco shut down the ports. At San Francisco ILWU Local 10, which has a majority of Black workers, former ILWU 10 Secretary Treasurer Clarence Thomas and ILWU Local 10 Vice President Trent Willis talked about the history of Juneteenth and its lessons for today as Blacks and all workers face a fascist state that is preparing to bring back segregation and disenfranchise Black people in the Deep South. They spoke with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer.

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Attorney Craig Washington, former Houston activist and politician – served in the Texas State House of Representative, the Texas State Senate and  the U.S. House of Representatives. He spoke with former IGM, scholar/poet and guest host of CRD – Dr. Obidike Kamau, of KPFT Houston about the history of Juneteenth.

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Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio are seeking to strangle Cuba with a total blockade of oil shipments to the island nation, in order to get the Communist government to capitulate to the demands of the United States. At last week’s Labor Notes Conference in Chicago, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Cuba to the United States, Ambassador Tanieris Diéguez spoke about the starvation and closure of hospitals killing babies and other patients from the lack of energy. 

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On the floor of the House of Representatives, on June 8th, recently primaried Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie ended 59 years of Congressional silence about the Israeli military’s deadly attack on the USS Liberty. The Liberty was a US Navy technical research, i.e. electronic surveillance, spy ship then sailing in international waters off Palestine when Israel launched its 6-Day War against Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine on June 5th.  The Israeli air and naval attacks on the ship which began on  June 8th went on for more than 30 hours and killed 34 American sailors and naval personnel while wounding 174 others. 

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We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates that contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective, with contributions from Steve Zeltzer, Ann Garrison, Akua Holt, Polina Vasiliev, and Thomas O’Rourke.

You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.

Thanks for listening. 

Music:

Prince,  “When Will We Be Paid”

Fertile Ground, “Broken Branches”

Carlos Puebla, “Y en eso llegó Fidel”