Gulf Coast Labor Movement Mourns the Passing of Civil Rights & Labor Leader John Bland
Last night John Bland, Vice-President of the Transportation Workers Union and Executive Board Member of the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, passed away.
“Our hearts are heavy today at the news of the passing of John Bland,” said Lacy Wolf, President of the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation. “ John spent his life fighting for justice, from leading the fight for racial justice in Houston in the 1960s, to his decades of advocacy for working people in the Gulf Coast labor movement. We mourn our brother today, but celebrate his legacy.”
On March 4, 1960, 13 students at Texas Southern University met at a flagpole on campus. Their goal was to travel 15 blocks to Weingarten’s Supermarket to be served lunch. John Bland was one of those students, and he helped lead Houston’s first sit-in, which eventually led to the desegregation of lunch counters and other businesses throughout the city.
John Bland continued his fight for racial justice and equality as a member of the Transportation Workers Union Local 260.
“When workers would doubt their ability to beat the odds and make change, Mr. Bland would say, ‘When we fought for integration in the 1960s, they arrested me 27 times, jailed me, and fined me, but that didn’t stop us,’” said Hany Khalil, Executive Director of the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation,
“When George Floyd was killed, Mr. Bland called upon the labor movement to refuse to be bystanders or accomplices and to throw ourselves into the fight for racial justice. John, we’ll do all we can to be faithful to your vision of what the labor movement should be.”
