Adopted:  July 25, 2013

WHEREAS, USW Local 3657 is committed to promoting and advancing the cause of social and economic justice, and equality for everyone, and;

WHEREAS, USW Local Union 3657 is committed to the principles of non-violence as advocated for and demonstrated through the work of civil rights and labor leader A. Philip Randolph, and;

WHEREAS, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teenager was racially profiled while walking down the street and unjustifiably killed, and;

WHEREAS, in 1955 Mamie Bradley Till, with the assistance of USW activist Rayfield Mooty and other labor leaders throughout the country, organized rallies and demonstrations to bring attention to the horrific murder of  her son Emmett Till, demanding justice and igniting the spark to the American Civil Rights Movement, and;

WHEREAS, the protection of our most basic civil and human rights are sacred and when those rights are violated, the federal government must uphold them when state and local government will not;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that we demand that Attorney General Eric Holder and the United States Justice Department conduct a thorough investigation into the violation of Trayvon Martin’s civil rights, and;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we send this resolution to Attorney General Eric Holder and to the congressional representatives in the jurisdiction of the members of our local union, to our senators, to our members, community allies and partners asking for their immediate concurrence and action.