The 1st Grape Boycott, & Capital Punishment Ruled Unconstitutional, In Peace & Justice History for 7/29

I wasn’t an adult in 1972, but it was a relief to me, that there was no more death penalty! Four years later, it was back, and I cannot explain how that happened. My town had a death penalty trial almost immediately. A teacher had access to an execution film; the state was required to keep that on record for a while, whenever anyone sat on Ol’ Sparky; we viewed it before the trial (no one present was on the jury, of course.) It was medieval. And, here we still are in 2025, killing people in the names of everybody who lives here. There are ways to work against it; let me know if there is interest in comments.

July 29, 1970

Signing the contract
After a five-year strike, the United Farm Workers (UFW) signed a contract with the table grape growers in California, ending the first grape boycott.

Exploring the United Farm Workers’ History
July 29, 1972
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty to be cruel and unusual punishment by a 5-4 vote. The Court called the wide discretion in application of capital punishment, including the appearance of racial bias against black defendants, “arbitrary and capricious” and thus in violation of due process guarantees in the 14th Amendment [see July 28, 1868].
Influence of race on imposition of the death penalty 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjuly.htm#july29

Peace & Justice History for 12/5

(Barfbag alert for the 2002 entry. But it is US history.)

December 5, 1955
Five days after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, the African-American community of Montgomery, Alabama, launched a boycott of the city’s bus system.
The Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) was formed to coordinate the boycott with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
elected as its president.

Out of Montgomery’s 50,000 black residents, 30,000-40,000 participated. They walked or bicycled or car-pooled, depriving the bus company of a substantial portion of its revenue.
The boycott lasted (54 weeks) until it was agreed the buses would be integrated.


Waiting at a transportation pickup point during the Montgomery bus boycott – 1955-1956
< What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott? > 
December 5, 1955
The American Federation of Labor, which had historically focused on organizing craft unions, merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, an organization of unions largely representing industrial workers, to form the AFL-CIO with a combined membership of nearly 15 million.
George Meany was elected its first president.


AFL-CIO history 
December 5, 1957
New York became the first city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in housing (Fair Housing Practices Law).
December 5, 1967

Dr. Benjamin Spock  
264 were arrested at a military induction center in New York City during a Stop the Draft Week Committee action. Dr. Benjamin Spock and poet Allen Ginsberg were among those arrested for blocking (though symbolically) the steps at 39 Whitehall Street where the draft board met. 2500 had shown up at 5:00 in the morning to show their opposition to the draft and the Vietnam War.
 
Allen Ginsberg
December 5, 1980
The United Nations adopted the charter for the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Its purpose would be “promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress . . . .”

The monument sculpted by Cuban artist Thelvia Marín in 1987, is the world’s largest peace monument.
It also established short-wave Radio for Peace International (RFPI)which was shut down by the University in 2004 when RFPI exposed a plan between the University for Peace and the U.S. to hold anti-terrorist combat training on campus. 
Interview with James Latham, CEO of RFPI when it was under siege 
December 5, 2002

President George W. Bush with Sen. Lott and Sen. Thurmond
At the 100th birthday celebration for Senator Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina), Senate Republican leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) praised Thurmond’s Dixiecrat Party 1948 presidential campaign (official slogan: “Segregation Forever!”).
“I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of him. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.”
The reaction to this sentiment led to Lott’s resignation as Senate majority leader.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december5